The Silent Tide Rachel Hore
This book was not well received by the majority of the group, it had comments like ‘chicklite’, rubbish, no depth and pretentious. Others were a little kinder, a relaxing and reasonably competent read, non-demanding, non- pretentious, a real mixture in fact. We felt the facts were incorrect, and we didn’t care enough about the characters.
There were two love stories intertwined in with a mild mystery thrown in, one was about the writer Hugh Morton and his first wife Isobel who he wood and wedded, the second was about his biographer Joel and his editor Emily. The parallels were that both men were writers and both female characters were their editors.
The story about Hugh, Isobel, daughter Lorna and his second wife Jacqueline was interesting but tedious, this could have been condensed. The love story concerning Emily, Joel and ex lover Mathew was immaterial except that Emily kept unearthing facts about Hugh and Isobel’s life together, with more than a little help from Lorna.
It started with a well written chapter and ended with such a highly unlikely one.
Marks ranged from 0 to 6 (1 six, 4 fives, 1 four, 1 three, 1 two, 1 nil = 35) which brings the mark to 3.5
DRW
Toby’s Room
Pat Barker
We as a group had different thoughts about this book, some thought it
was a well crafted book and enjoyed it, but others didn’t like her
writing style. The main complaint was the slipping from one scene to
another, sometimes in the same paragraph.
The main characters were Toby, Elinor, Kit and Paul. Toby’s character was not liked by the group, we didn’t have any feeling for Elinor either, Kit was well drawn and Paul made up the foursome as he was infatuated with Elinor, and allowed her to use him.
The book was set around WWI, it depicted the horrendous life in the trenches in France, this was well researched and documented, the atmosphere portrayed was just right. We also read about the effect the war had on certain elements of British society, and in the social circles the foursome belonged to many were pacifists with no thought of the war at all. The German people who had settled in Britain before the war were treated with suspicion, by people and the British Government, their movements were restricted. Life was difficult for them.
The book focused on two areas the incestuous relationship between the brother and sister, Toby and Elinor, which some felt difficult to read. Elinor was obsessed with Toby an Officer in the Medical Corp, when he was declared ‘Missing in Action’ she needed to know how he died and selfishly took every opportunity to find out.
The other area was the on the facial surgery of the injured. Elinor an artist, who took classes of anatomy and dissection during her college course, enable her to work at a specialist hospital helping to reconstruct the soldiers faces who had been injured in the war, by drawing their injured faces enabling surgeons to carry our the necessary operations. It was also to delve into Toby‘s death. Many in the group found this aspect of the book fascinating, a discussion took place between some members regarding the differences between treatment then and now, and how things have changed in this specialist area over the years. During WWI reconstruction surgery was mainly experimental, the description of the smell and work of dissection in the book was as some of our members remembered.
How Kit, a pacifist who was drafted into the Medical Corp. as a stretcher bearer, dealt with his horrific injuries, his treatment, and the impact it had on his life was a story in itself.
This was really bleak book, the marks ranged from 5 to 8 (1-five, 5-sixes, 3 sevens, 1 eight = 64) which brings the mark to 6.5.
DRW
The main characters were Toby, Elinor, Kit and Paul. Toby’s character was not liked by the group, we didn’t have any feeling for Elinor either, Kit was well drawn and Paul made up the foursome as he was infatuated with Elinor, and allowed her to use him.
The book was set around WWI, it depicted the horrendous life in the trenches in France, this was well researched and documented, the atmosphere portrayed was just right. We also read about the effect the war had on certain elements of British society, and in the social circles the foursome belonged to many were pacifists with no thought of the war at all. The German people who had settled in Britain before the war were treated with suspicion, by people and the British Government, their movements were restricted. Life was difficult for them.
The book focused on two areas the incestuous relationship between the brother and sister, Toby and Elinor, which some felt difficult to read. Elinor was obsessed with Toby an Officer in the Medical Corp, when he was declared ‘Missing in Action’ she needed to know how he died and selfishly took every opportunity to find out.
The other area was the on the facial surgery of the injured. Elinor an artist, who took classes of anatomy and dissection during her college course, enable her to work at a specialist hospital helping to reconstruct the soldiers faces who had been injured in the war, by drawing their injured faces enabling surgeons to carry our the necessary operations. It was also to delve into Toby‘s death. Many in the group found this aspect of the book fascinating, a discussion took place between some members regarding the differences between treatment then and now, and how things have changed in this specialist area over the years. During WWI reconstruction surgery was mainly experimental, the description of the smell and work of dissection in the book was as some of our members remembered.
How Kit, a pacifist who was drafted into the Medical Corp. as a stretcher bearer, dealt with his horrific injuries, his treatment, and the impact it had on his life was a story in itself.
This was really bleak book, the marks ranged from 5 to 8 (1-five, 5-sixes, 3 sevens, 1 eight = 64) which brings the mark to 6.5.
DRW
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