We Hope for Better Things is beautifully written, but the author's choice of storytelling style made it impossible for me to love it like I could have.
This story is told in three timelines. The current timeline with Elizabeth, which the description features, is actually a small part of the story. The second timeline takes place in 1963, and the third timeline takes place in 1861. The two timelines in the past feel far more prominent and engaging than the current timeline.
Elizabeth's story is quite short by comparison, and I don't feel I ever got to know her well at all. I actually think her part is the weakest of all the timelines. Nora's story, from 1963, is the most developed. The story feels like it belongs to her rather than Elizabeth. But, just when I'd start falling into Nora's story, we'd again switch to the next narrator. The timeline from 1861 has immense potential, but had to be cut short in order to keep returning to the other narrators.
This book is many things; perhaps too many things. We have a love story, family dramas and secrets, a look at racism and its effects from the perspective of three separate eras, and the role of women during the Civil War. It wound up feeling too far-reaching, and I couldn't maintain a connection with any of the characters. Ultimately, Elizabeth's story in the present timeline serves as nothing more than a way to connect all the past to the present.
I do hope Erin Bartels writes a historical novel without the added present timeline. Her writing beautifully captures some difficult periods in history, and I'd love for the focus to remain there with a single timeline.
This story is told in three timelines. The current timeline with Elizabeth, which the description features, is actually a small part of the story. The second timeline takes place in 1963, and the third timeline takes place in 1861. The two timelines in the past feel far more prominent and engaging than the current timeline.
Elizabeth's story is quite short by comparison, and I don't feel I ever got to know her well at all. I actually think her part is the weakest of all the timelines. Nora's story, from 1963, is the most developed. The story feels like it belongs to her rather than Elizabeth. But, just when I'd start falling into Nora's story, we'd again switch to the next narrator. The timeline from 1861 has immense potential, but had to be cut short in order to keep returning to the other narrators.
This book is many things; perhaps too many things. We have a love story, family dramas and secrets, a look at racism and its effects from the perspective of three separate eras, and the role of women during the Civil War. It wound up feeling too far-reaching, and I couldn't maintain a connection with any of the characters. Ultimately, Elizabeth's story in the present timeline serves as nothing more than a way to connect all the past to the present.
I do hope Erin Bartels writes a historical novel without the added present timeline. Her writing beautifully captures some difficult periods in history, and I'd love for the focus to remain there with a single timeline.