Talking to the Dead

Rating:
Summary: Melodrama at its worst
Review: I am very surprised this book has garnered so much praise. The plot is predictable and thin, and the characters are not much better. Ms. Dunmore's writing is elegant, but Talking to the Dead is little more than a simplistic romance and mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent. Grabs your attention through different style.
Review: I bought it before I left for a month long trip to Sweden this summer. I though it would last me about a week to read; I ended up finishing it in 2 days. I thought that Dunmore used a very unique style to grab your attention and keep you wanting to learn more about these two sisters and their unusual past. I enjoyed it to the last word.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: I found this to be quite an interesting novel. There are questions unanswered that MAKE you think. It would be fantastic for a book club.

Rating:
Summary: Tense, brittle, doomed
Review: I liked this book a lot. I didn't expect everything to be explained, because Nina the narrator doesn't know all the answers (for example, about Edward's role in Isabel's life); I didn't expect to be shocked by plot twists--the whole book moves like a magnet to its climax and conclusion. The interest came for me in the gorgeous writing, and in the author's ability to sustain a terrible tension, a sense of gathering doom, like a summer storm rolling in slowly, but with stunning force. I enjoyed imagining Isabel through the eyes of the various characters; and imagining how Isabel's various mental troubles developed and manifested through life, while she remained (on the surface) a perfectly functional woman. We keep getting new information that changes that imagined course, right up to the end; so maybe it's the unwritten parts of the story that kept me fascinated. I didn't read it very quickly--I spent a couple weeks reading it in short sittings at the gym--maybe that helped me remember it as more attenuated, more impressive in the way its tone is maintained.

Rating:
Summary: Very sensual descriptions but characters are lacking
Review: I think I would have found this book even more interesting but I had just completed Anita Shreve's Weight of Water which had very similar themes of jealousy, past mystery, oppressive weather and people living in close quarters. Both books build slowly, ending in tragic results. One wonders if the climax in each could have been avoided. Ms. Dunmore's description of food and the gardens are quite sensual and I reveled in these passages especially. However, I never came to care what happened to the sisters since they seemed so selfish and into their own needs to begin with. The dream-like quality of this story, though, does stay with you long after completing the book.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but that's about it, unfortunately.
Review: I think that the author is very talented, but the book never clicked for me. I never made a true connection to the characters and the story seemed a little "rushed" (the book IS very small). The sex scenes between Nina and her brother-in-law were a little too frequent and a little over the edge for me, but I realize different readers have different tastes. I LOVED the author's style of writing and it was very visual, but the book is definitely not a "re-read" for me, nor would I recommend it to anyone. I think the author has great potential and the people who really enjoyed this book would probably also love any books by Alice Hoffman (check site for reviews). I like Alice Hoffman's prose as well, but she does a much better job with her storylines. I'll admit that the ending was pretty darned good in that I had to go back and reread the previous page just to make sure I got it right. :) Best wishes to Ms. Dunmore!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but that's about it, unfortunately.
Review: I think that the author is very talented, but the book never clicked for me. I never made a true connection to the characters and the story seemed a little "rushed" (the book IS very small). The sex scenes between Nina and her brother-in-law were a little too frequent and a little over the edge for me, but I realize different readers have different tastes. I LOVED the author's style of writing and it was very visual, but the book is definitely not a "re-read" for me, nor would I recommend it to anyone. I think the author has great potential and the people who really enjoyed this book would probably also love any books by Alice Hoffman (check site for reviews). I like Alice Hoffman's prose as well, but she does a much better job with her storylines. I'll admit that the ending was pretty darned good in that I had to go back and reread the previous page just to make sure I got it right. :) Best wishes to Ms. Dunmore!

Rating:
Summary: I wish it gripped me more.
Review: I wanted to be entranced by the book. I was taken in by the cover flap. But, alas, the flat characters and predictable story failed me. I usually judge a book by the intensity of the characters. I wanted to care about Nina's affair and her strange relationship with Isabel. None of the characters became real. I want to feel like I am in their soul. And it just never happened. The end was so predictable that it took every ounce of energy just to finish the book. Too bad...the plot had potential to grip me. It just couldn't

Rating:
Summary: The Prose of a Poet
Review: Isabel seems like an ordinary woman, until her sister Nina begins to dig in and think about the past they shared as children. Isabel's new baby is just adorable, but staring at the infant Nina begins to remember the little brother she once had, called Colin, a baby who died of cot death--I imagine the same thing as "crib death" here in the USA. To pay Isabel back for years of being more beautiful and evil, Nina undertakes a love affair with Richard, Isabel's older husband.

The two of them have sex, sex and more sex, outside mostly, in the various gardens of the beautiful country farmhouse. Their pale bodies crush the courgettes.

I couldn't understand why Nina would want to have sex with Richard, unless it was to punish Isabel.

The two sisters share a strange dynamic. Both are selfish and destructive. I didn't like the way Isabel calls Nina "Neen." When you read that word "Neen" two hundred times or more, you get sick of seeing it.

As far as I'm concerned, Nina's a pig. Nevertheless TALKING TO THE DEAD is a masterpiece of sensuality and vertiginous desire. Might be the best Barbara Vine book that Barbara Vine didn't write. However my old dad used to say that if a book has a gerund for a title it's going to be horrible. Not since WAITING FOR GODOT, said Dad, and the novels of Henry Green, has there been a good one.

Rating:
Summary: Two Twisted Sisters
Review: My english professor had the class read this book.I thought it would take me forever to read the book, but i finished the book in one day. It is non-stop action. From betrayal to adultery, this book has it all. The symbolism in this book is emaculate, especially the cover. If you want to read a suspenseful novella that you will keep you wondering into the hours of the night read this one. Dunmore has wrote the classic who dun it.