Kim

I can't believe there are so many bad comments about this book! I put it on my list of books to read before I die just because so many people rave about it and basically call it a comtemporary classic. Still gona have to read it though, will let you know how I get on.

I really enjoyed this book, at first I found it quite slow, but somewhere towards the middle everything started to take shape and the story began to pick-up. Even right at the end new pieces of information came to light, which I loved; it completely changed my perception of Grace. I agree with a lot of the criticisms mentioned above. The biggest issue for me though was the similarities between this and The Blind Assassin by Margaret Attwood, which I found quite amazing!!! Although The Blind Assassin is probably a better book from the point of view of a literary critic or anyone that knows about books, I think I enjoyed The House at Riverton more. This is mainly because although it could be seen as a shortfall that certain parts of Grace's life were left undeleveloped, I think it would have been boring to give that kind of detail, I feel a bit guilty admitting it, but I didn't care that much about Grace's life post-Riverton and pre-old age and I was glad I didn't have to read too much detail about those years. It also allows the reader to use their imagination a little to fill the gaps... Bit of a babble, sorry!

I read this a couple of months ago, completely agree about the story skipping from one moment to another, it is confusing, but if you persevere it does become easier to understand. Although it was tough-going I really loved it in the end, particularly having something described from the perspective of an elderly person. I'm reading The House at Riverton by Kate Morton at the moment and it seems quite similar in that respect, so far anyway.

I just finished reading My Cousin Rachel and was really disappointed by it! I'm feeling quite miffed because Rebecca is one of my all-time favourite books and I also really enjoyed Frenchman's Creek and Jamaica Inn. I think it was mostly because the main character, Philip, kept doing all kinds of daft things and I couldn't decide whether to love or hate Rachel. Not entirely sure how I feel about The House on the Strand either, it's so different from Jamaica Inn/Rebecca, but quite interesting to see the direction Du Maurier took in her later books.