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missy_reading 's review for:
When We Believed in Mermaids
by Barbara O'Neal
Grade: 82 B
Characters 1-10: 8
Worldbuilding 1-10: 9
Plot: 1-10: 8
Writing style: 1-10: 8
Enjoyment: 1-10: 8
Thoughts:
I liked the characters in this story. So, this whole story is based on the fact that Kit believes her sister to be dead after a terrorist attack to a train that Josie was on in France. From the beginning we are to believe that Josie died on the train, until one day Kit sees someone who looks exactly like her sister and with some insistence from their mother Kit decides to go and see if it really was her sister because Josie’s body was never found in the terrorist attack. Kit and Josie had a very close relationship when they were children and through some traumatic events the sisters take some very different turns in life. I feel like Kit was a character that I wanted so badly to connect to but there was just something that didn’t let me fully connect to her. I think that is because Kit has grown to be a standoff type of person. Her job as an ER physician probably doesn’t help. Then there is Mari who is a mom and wife who flips houses and has many secrets that she is keeping hidden. I think that the characters are both supposed to be standoffish in some ways due to their past experiences, but I wish that I would have been able to connect with both of them more.
The worldbuilding was so immersive. I loved all of the descriptions of the beaches. I found myself wanting to go to the beach so badly while reading this book. I loved how the world felt so tangible and I could imagine all of the scenes in my head.
The plot moved a little slow sometimes but that didn’t take away from the story. I just found the jumping from points of view to be a little jarring to the moving of the plot at times. I think that the overall story well since we had two unreliable narrators because each one remembered thing about their childhoods in a little different way.
I though the writing style was easy to read. I think that the jumping of POV sometimes took me out of the story because I feel like it would switch POV at weird times sometimes. I feel like this was also supposed to be a mystery about what happened between these sisters and I don’t feel like there was any real mystery there was just miscommunication.
I did enjoy my reading experience of this book I think I just wanted more of a story about the love of sisters and how that love beats odds. From a personal aspect having a sister I just found some of what the characters did to be unbelievable and I wanted their bond to really be something that kept them together even through the traumatic events. I think that this did discuss some darker topics, but I also think that it could have been delved into more. If this sounds like something you would like, then I say go for it and read it. If it doesn’t sound interesting, I don’t think you are missing the next great American novel.
Characters 1-10: 8
Worldbuilding 1-10: 9
Plot: 1-10: 8
Writing style: 1-10: 8
Enjoyment: 1-10: 8
Thoughts:
I liked the characters in this story. So, this whole story is based on the fact that Kit believes her sister to be dead after a terrorist attack to a train that Josie was on in France. From the beginning we are to believe that Josie died on the train, until one day Kit sees someone who looks exactly like her sister and with some insistence from their mother Kit decides to go and see if it really was her sister because Josie’s body was never found in the terrorist attack. Kit and Josie had a very close relationship when they were children and through some traumatic events the sisters take some very different turns in life. I feel like Kit was a character that I wanted so badly to connect to but there was just something that didn’t let me fully connect to her. I think that is because Kit has grown to be a standoff type of person. Her job as an ER physician probably doesn’t help. Then there is Mari who is a mom and wife who flips houses and has many secrets that she is keeping hidden. I think that the characters are both supposed to be standoffish in some ways due to their past experiences, but I wish that I would have been able to connect with both of them more.
The worldbuilding was so immersive. I loved all of the descriptions of the beaches. I found myself wanting to go to the beach so badly while reading this book. I loved how the world felt so tangible and I could imagine all of the scenes in my head.
The plot moved a little slow sometimes but that didn’t take away from the story. I just found the jumping from points of view to be a little jarring to the moving of the plot at times. I think that the overall story well since we had two unreliable narrators because each one remembered thing about their childhoods in a little different way.
I though the writing style was easy to read. I think that the jumping of POV sometimes took me out of the story because I feel like it would switch POV at weird times sometimes. I feel like this was also supposed to be a mystery about what happened between these sisters and I don’t feel like there was any real mystery there was just miscommunication.
I did enjoy my reading experience of this book I think I just wanted more of a story about the love of sisters and how that love beats odds. From a personal aspect having a sister I just found some of what the characters did to be unbelievable and I wanted their bond to really be something that kept them together even through the traumatic events. I think that this did discuss some darker topics, but I also think that it could have been delved into more. If this sounds like something you would like, then I say go for it and read it. If it doesn’t sound interesting, I don’t think you are missing the next great American novel.