Dec 07, 2018KarenTee rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
Being a huge fan of historical fiction, I was looking forward to reading this book. My book club chose it partly because of its long tenure on the NYT bestseller list. I started it three times. The first two, I couldn't make it past the first 150 pages. I gave it a third try, but skipped quite a few pages in the middle, finally finishing it and still not understanding why it is so critically acclaimed. I found it to be tedious, sluggish and not particularly well-written. None of the characters' fates mattered to me. It repeatedly bounces between past and present in the same paragraph. There are many obscure references that I had to google. And this sentence: "the fillip of collective opprobrium had summoned their lust." Puh-lease! One star is all it gets from this reader.
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Manhattan Beach