Hope : Adventures of a Diamond

Rating:
Summary: Reads Like a Romance Novel -- And that Ain't Good
Review: Fowler's style seems to have been dervied from romance novels, and her prose inclines towards the purple and the precious in ways that frequently leave the reader wanting to gag. Though this is a well-researched work, there's just too much padding, too much fictionalized interpolation, too much gaudy prose. Which is a shame, because this could have been a very good book -- but then again that would have required a different style and a more respectable (and skeptical) historical sensibility; in short, a better writer.

Rating:
Summary: I Don't Think So
Review: One of the dumbest books I have ever read. Fowler does OK, just OK, when she writes of the more recent history of the diamond because she has well-documented information from which to draw. But, in her chronicles of the stone during the early years of its murky existence, she lets her imagination run wild, her prose becomes over-blown and turgid, and "facts" she throws about are questionable in the extreme. Ghastly, ghastly writing. Do NOT buy this book!

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat entertaining
Review: The most interesting part of this book for me was a glimpse into the lives of French kings who owned the diamond. For the most part, the first 3/4 of the book were a good read. I liked the way the diamond was personified, but didn't care for the way the curse was dramatized, as there was quite frankly little evidence to suggest such a curse. In the more modern history of the diamond, the book starts to become boring, I don't need so many words to tell me that Harry Winston planned not to cut the diamond at all, but changed his mind later and cut it anyway. If you have the time and are interested in the history of the diamond, read the first part of the book and skim through the rest.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat entertaining
Review: The most interesting part of this book for me was a glimpse into the lives of French kings who owned the diamond. For the most part, the first 3/4 of the book were a good read. I liked the way the diamond was personified, but didn't care for the way the curse was dramatized, as there was quite frankly little evidence to suggest such a curse. In the more modern history of the diamond, the book starts to become boring, I don't need so many words to tell me that Harry Winston planned not to cut the diamond at all, but changed his mind later and cut it anyway. If you have the time and are interested in the history of the diamond, read the first part of the book and skim through the rest.

Rating:
Summary: I Don't Think So
Review: There isn't a lot that could have done to make this more interesting, and the attempts made at conjecture and embellishment (regarding its curse, for example) don't add very much to the content. But, a reader does learn the story of the Hope Diamond and through the telling, about an interesting mix of historical information such as the French Revolution, Regency England, and Gilded Age America. And gem novices can learn about the nature of diamonds and of cultural attitudes to diamonds at various places and times in this book.