The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel by Diane Setterfield Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel
Book Review: the thirteenth tale
Summary: 3 Stars
really enjoyed the book but the ending totally spoiled it for me, it felt like the author couldnt think how to end it and made up a pile of rubbish, very dissapointingBook Review: A pastiche that tries too hard
Summary: 2 Stars
...to emulate the density of plot, rich characters and fog-bound atmosphere of the classic story tellers. It clunks along, failing to captivate (me at any rate) and convince. Like a Victorian melodrama - or, indeed, a part work of the time - it's piled deep with words. But verbosity doesn't necessarily equate to substance and, as this book proves, it can sap any trace of vitality from the story.
The main character, poor old mousy Margaret is stuck in early adolescence. Actually, she's dull (as are her choices of favourite books) and curiously hard to like. Vida Winter is a posh Catherine Cookson with a similarly creative approach to a childhood she'd rather forget.
Anybody trying to convey genius of any sort is setting themselves up for a fall. Ms Setterfield does herself and Vida Winter no favours by attempting to explain the qualities that set her work apart - and failing miserably.
The central themes of preternaturally close if not perverse relationships between various combinations of siblings (won't go into any more detail) are universal and will always be potentially potent. In this case, however, the characters are templates ripped straight from the big girl's book of gothic stereotypes. All the stuff we're told about their banal doings to prove how `odd' is simultaneously melodramatic and tedious.
For example, the mad, bad and dangerous to have near your perambulator (or topiary garden) twins. After years of being subjected to a plethora of nasty abuselit (check out the book shelves in your local supermarket) and endless `opening of hearts' on TV, radio and in print, a bit of wandering around a dilapidated stately home untended and unwashed is a pretty limp portrayal of a chaotic and ultimately destructive childhood.
There are a number of books of this type around at the moment. Almost without exception, the authors succeed only in proving that the originals (Dickens, Wilkie Collins, etc) were damn fine writers.
...to emulate the density of plot, rich characters and fog-bound
Book Review: Gripping Gothic tale
Summary: 5 Stars
An amazing book about books. I loved all the characters and the story drew me in from the very first page. It's about Margaret whose father owns a bookshop. She is writing a biography for Vida winter, who is a reclusive author and has one final secret she needs to tell. As Margaret learns more about Vida's life she finds herself confronting the ghosts from her own past.
Dianne Settlefield's writing style was so masterful it was as if she was reading aloud to me . I kept feeling as if I knew where the story was heading but then it would take another turn and I would realise I wasn't quite right. I loved the twist towards the end of the book and the last few pages were unexpectedly moving. This is a captivating gothic tale that I just could not put down and I know I will re-read it time and again.
Book Review: Brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
I enjoyed the Thirteen Tale immensely, as soon as I turned the first page I could not put it down. I have not enjoyed a book so much in years, and since reading it have not found anything that compares even slightly to it. Would highly recommend. Book Review: An excellent and unusual read
Summary: 4 Stars
I hesitated about buying this for a long time, mostly because of the wildly differing reviews. But I'm glad I finally did so because it's a very good book indeed, although I would guess it wouldn't be to everyone's taste. It's deep and at times rather Gothic, and beautifully written with wonderful imagery within the words, so that the reader is pulled inside the mind of Margaret, the narrator. There are no especial dramatic climaxes in the plot, but it's a compelling and unusual story, and excellently constructed.