anndahlquist's Reviews (156)

I listened to this audiobook because it was chosen for the Big Library Read at CPL. It was not particularly enjoyable or engaging. I feel that the author had some very interesting life experiences that were glossed over in a paragraph, while she went on and on about lose of luxury. It is a memoir, but it read like a whiny diary and did provide much insight or life lessons from having to rough it. I learned a little bit about raising goats. But only a little.

There were a few things I really liked about this book, but for the most part it didn’t deliver.
The book is broken up into short segments that rotate the narration between the large cast of characters. Each telling their stories, and what they know of the towns tragedies, from their perspective. Because I was reading this at work (on an airplane), I really liked that it was easy to read in short sections. However, I didn’t feel like I got to know the characters very well and many of them lacked any type of dynamic to empathize with.
The book did keep me engaged enough to keep going until the anticlimactic end.
I feel that this story had a lot of potential and I was hoping for some twists and shocks, but they didn’t come and I found that by the time “everything” was revealed I didn’t really care that much about any of the characters. It’s disappointing because I think this book included some very important and riveting themes about domestic issues, power dynamics and the treatment of “troublesome women” throughout history as well as in modern times.
This was what I would call a beach read, lacking in substance but just entertaining enough to finish.