Rating: 
Summary: excellent
Review: wonderful book.i couldnt put it down and it had a surprise ending that made it all the better.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: This was an interesting book and it kept me turning the pages. I liked the author's style of writing and I felt that she had done her research into Victorian times. She was amusing at times and I really enjoyed how she told the story from each different character's perspective. One reviewer said that the two girls would never have been friends in real life but I believe that they would have. At five years old, all kinds of things attract kids to one another and the fact that these two girls had such a different upbringing was pretty irrelevant to them. As a kindergarten teacher, I see this all the time. I felt that I was not only entertained in this book but learned some history as well. I enjoyed Tracy's writing enough that I now have her first book "Girl with a Pearl Earring" on hold at the library. I do recommend this book. It is a fast read and a good story.
Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous!
Review: This is simply put, a magnificent book - very well done. Definitely on the sad side, but it's worth every tear. Don't miss this one either!
Rating: 
Summary: Scandal and Mayhem in the Victorian Age
Review: I picked this book up with no idea of where this story would lead me. It is a historial piece that spans 10 years in history intertwining the lives of two families, the Colemans and the Waterhouses. Kitty Coleman and her husband Richard are more liberal minded (as is evident in the first chapter!) but still obey the social class rules of their society. Their neighbours, Gertrude and Albert Waterhouse are more conservative and close-minded, both firmly entrenched in the mindset of their era. Their daughters, Maude and Lavinia, respectively, become friends and are key players in this coming of age story.The author tells the tale through different points of view which I found extremely useful. Each character's perspective of what was happening was what made this story come alive. To see the varying social class differences, between the servants and cemetary staff as opposed to the elite of society was interesting and a definite eye-opener. There is a little of everything in this book...sex, scandal, betrayal, love, loss and even politics, particularly the education on the suffragette movement in London at that time. It all plays its part in this wonderful novel. I have not yet read her previous novel, A Girl with a Pearl Earring, but I will most definitely look for it now. Any writer who can convey so much heart within one paragraph, containing two lines, towards the end of the book, has proven herself a worthy writer. The style is exceptional.
Rating: 
Summary: No Character Development
Review: Tracey Chevalier's second novel, "Falling Angels," concerns itself with two families, the Colemans and the Waterhouses. They meet at a cemetery, where they happen to have adjoining family plots, on the morning following the death of Queen Victoria. On that morning, the serious, intelligent Maude Coleman becomes lifelong friends with the shallow and self-indulgent Lavinia Waterhouse (both five years old at the time) and the destinies of the two families become intertwined. While the above may be a very engaging premise for a novel, especially given the time period and the setting in which it takes place (fin de siecle England), Chevalier simply fails to capitalize on her idea's potential, due in great part to her lack of a consistent narrator and her inability (or refusal) to make us privy to the thoughts and emotions of the characters involved. While Chevalier often lets more than one character describe the same thing, she really doesn't let us see into that character's being and so this writing device, one she also employed in "Girl With a Pearl Earring," simply falls flat. And, although I was one of the minority who did not like "Girl With a Pearl Earring," at least the title character, Griet, grounded us and gave us some degree of consistency. This simply doesn't happen in "Falling Angels." This is not to say that Chevalier doesn't manipulate the third person subjective. She does. She simply doesn't do it well. Her characters have many interior monologues, they simply aren't good monologues. Rather than revealing their personalities and detailing their emotions, these monologues serve to describe historical data instead. Had Chevalier written her book with an omniscient narrator, or had she chosen a single narrator (Kitty Coleman would have been the obvious choice), this awkward situation could have been so easily avoided. One of the worst examples of the above occurs when Lavinia writes out a guide to mourning etiquette, presumably "so I shall always have it," but in reality, so the reader will have it. This is, as any first-year writing student knows, a very bad choice. I don't know many authors who could get away with this and I'm surprised Chevalier even tried. Even if a reader can't put his or her finger on the problem, a discerning one will know that a problem does exist and will certainly be put off with the choppy writing style. What makes this even more puzzling is the fact that Kitty Coleman would have made such an engaging narrator and, had Chevalier made Kitty her narrator, the characters would then have been free to come alive, to live in the pages of this book, rather than serve as little more than guides through a tour of 19th century England. If a guide to post-Victorian England is what you're looking for, this book will certainly fill the bill. It's chock full of detail and there is absolutely no reason to doubt its authenticity. Chevalier seems to have done her research very well. But if it's an engaging story you're looking for, better think twice before delving into "Falling Angels." While all the makings of a wonderful book are there, Chevalier simply fails to deliver what could, and should, have been.
Rating:
Summary: Good read
Review: If you would like to learn about the life of women at the beginning of the millenium - read this book. I think a good "go-with" is The Awakening by Kate Chopin. She writes of the same era but - her book was written at that time. It is interesting to see how Ann Tyler follows the same pattern - but adds to it our modern sensiblities.
Rating:
Summary: Star Bright
Review: Tracey Chevalier provides a gripping and emotional follow-up to her best seller, "The Girl With A Pearl Earring." "Falling Angels" depics two London families with different perspectives about the end of the Victorian era. Maude Coleman befriends Lavinia Waterhouse and, together, they grow from children to womanhood during a tumultuous era of technology and social change. Two protaginists, Maude's mother - Kitty and Simon - a young grave digger, are critical in propeling the plot from melodrama to a thought-provoking story about relationships - both here and in the here-after. Chevalier is gifted in developing distinct and often realistic voices for each character. She strikes gold in the voices of Lavinia, Maude's grandmother, and Kitty. She strikes-out with the voices of Simon -- too mature & worldly, and Mr. Waterhouse -- too reserved for a man going through such pain and anxiety. Those flaws aside, the author blends the history, the colors and the sybolism into a satisfying recipe that lingers with the reader in a satisfying manner.
Rating:
Summary: Women and Friendship
Review: Falling Angels is a glimpse into a fragile time in the lives of several women. The story takes place between 1901 and 1910, and follows the friendship of two young girls, Maude and Livy, from the first time they meet, at age 5, until the story ends, when they are 14 years old, and have become young women.
The two girls meet by accident in the cemetary where their families' graves are located. They become friends instantly, much to the consternation of their mothers, who are nothing alike, and who do not want to be friends.
We, the reader, are allowed a very intimate glimpse into the lives of these characters. The Suffragette Movement plays a pivotal role in the story, as Maude's mother, Kitty, becomes an avid Suffragette and lives for nothing but the cause.
In addition, this story offers a fascinating view of early 20th century England, the rigid class system, and the rigid rules for men and women.
This is a story of friendship, of strength of character, of following your heart and doing what you think is right. It is a story that will stick with you long after you've read the last page.
Rating:
Summary: Very well written
Review: This is a story of love between 2 young friends. Their families are joined in friendship through these 2 girls who are raised quite differently but somehow are a perfect match. The girls are put through a tyrade of family secrets and hardships, loss and guilt. May I recommend the audio book read by Anne Twomey. She has an excellent voice that is wonderful to listen to. This book was a delight and I found myself not wanting to get home after work...I listened to it in my car during my long commutes to and from work. It was very well written with flavorful characters and acute details. Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: An interestng look at a distant time
Review: This book is highly intriguing and deftly written--not as much so as "Girl With the Pearl Earring", but I look upon that as something a writer is likely to produce once in a lifetime. Some plot choices here seemed too easy a way to neatly wrap things up.
Nonetheless, there is much to be marveled at and enjoyed here. I await Chevalier's next book.
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