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Rating: 
Summary: Flawless first half, then an unfortunate melodramatic turn
Review: This book was written exquisitely. The author chose every word for its full value, possibly its strongest point. The characters she fleshed out to the fullest extent were realistic, and I enjoyed the fact that she wrote the book credibly from a male point of view, a very neat trick for a female author. I enjoyed its slow and languid pacing during the first half, most particularly during Will's stay in India. While not meant to be the focal point, Will's relationship with Mim, to me, was the best part of the book. Unfortunately the book took a very melodramatic turn at about the second half. Involving a very real historical figure such as Hitler even somewhat centrally to the plot, for instance, is hard to achieve credibly. The story evolved rather abruptly from a languid, realistic story of Will's loves and needs (different types of love with different types of people) to some kind of ethnic war-torn adventure tale. It is not that it was done poorly, because it was not; it is that it belongs in another book, which belongs in another genre. I still enjoyed the book deeply. The ending had a nice circularness to it (the story coming almost full circle); a nice completion.
Rating:
Summary: Flawless first half, then an unfortunate melodramatic turn
Review: This book was written exquisitely. The author chose every word for its full value, possibly its strongest point. The characters she fleshed out to the fullest extent were realistic, and I enjoyed the fact that she wrote the book credibly from a male point of view, a very neat trick for a female author. I enjoyed its slow and languid pacing during the first half, most particularly during Will's stay in India. While not meant to be the focal point, Will's relationship with Mim, to me, was the best part of the book. Unfortunately the book took a very melodramatic turn at about the second half. Involving a very real historical figure such as Hitler even somewhat centrally to the plot, for instance, is hard to achieve credibly. The story evolved rather abruptly from a languid, realistic story of Will's loves and needs (different types of love with different types of people) to some kind of ethnic war-torn adventure tale. It is not that it was done poorly, because it was not; it is that it belongs in another book, which belongs in another genre. I still enjoyed the book deeply. The ending had a nice circularness to it (the story coming almost full circle); a nice completion.
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