Librarian: As a reader, I love this book. It's a beautiful, atmospheric story that sweeps you along, sometimes quickly, sometimes at a snail's pace, just like the river at the heart of the story. As a librarian, on the other hand, I don't know what to think. I'm just not sure if this book is likely to circulate in a lot of libraries. On the one hand, The Thirteenth Tale was popular for a time, and a lot of book clubs read it. On the other hand, that was a long time ago. If this was her first book since then, I could see there being a ton of excitement around it, but unfortunately we had Bellman & Black in between, and the lesser quality of that one may turn readers off of this one. I feel like we professional readers are going to have to book talk this one a lot, and promote it for book clubs if we want it to be read. Otherwise it may well end up as yet another book that librarians love and the public couldn't care less about.
Reader: As mentioned I love this book. It's gorgeously atmospheric with characters that feel real. Part of this is the fact that she gives back story to practically every character (and tells us about all of it). Part of it is the fact that the world feels lived in. This story also has a bit of a timeless quality. It feels like a story that has been retold a hundred times, and will be retold a hundred more.
Reader: As mentioned I love this book. It's gorgeously atmospheric with characters that feel real. Part of this is the fact that she gives back story to practically every character (and tells us about all of it). Part of it is the fact that the world feels lived in. This story also has a bit of a timeless quality. It feels like a story that has been retold a hundred times, and will be retold a hundred more.