Book Review:
The Gallery of Lost Species by Nina Berkhout
Spoilers?
Maybe. (I think there are).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title - The Gallery of Lost Species By - Nina Berkhout
Publication - May 31st, 2016 by Thomas Dunne Books
Format - Hardcover, 352 pages
Genre - Fiction, Contemporary, Adult
Edith grows up in her big sister Vivienne's shadow. While the beautiful Viv is forced by the girls' overbearing mother to compete in child beauty pageants, plain-looking Edith follows in her father's footsteps: collecting oddities, studying coins, and reading from old books.
When Viv rebels against her mother's expectations, Edith finds herself torn between a desire to help her sister and pursuing her own love for a boy who might love her sister more than he loves her. When Edith accepts a job at the National Gallery of Canada, she meets an elderly cryptozoologist named Theo who is searching for a bird many believe to be extinct. Navigating her way through Vivienne's dark landscape while trying to win Liam's heart, Edith develops an unlikely friendship with Theo when she realizes they might have more in common than she imagined; they are both trying to retrieve something that may be impossible to bring back to life.
The Gallery of Lost Species is about finding solace in unexpected places - in works of art, in people, and in animals that the world has forgotten.
The Rating :
My Review:
My review in a gif. Which equals 3 stars.
via GIPHY
via GIPHY
I want to say that this was sent to me for review from publisher and that, as all my reviews, this one is full of my honest opinions.
The Cover:
The Story:
Two sisters who grew up very different. The older sister, Vivianne, grew up under her mother's control and her father's artistic talent. While she was put into pageants and beauty competitions her sister, Edith hanged out with her father. Going to garage sales and junkyards in search of valuables they could repurpose.
Relationships:
There are a couple of pairing in this book but I decided not to talk about them since I didn't really consider them good, healthy or complete couples.
Family Dynamics:
As for Edith's family.
Her father was a tortured artist, a good father, and a cheater.
Her mother used to want to be an actress (??) but she ended up putting all that onto her daughter's shoulders by putting her trough various pageants.
And she was messed up in the process by being left out.
I thought this family was messed up in general. There wasn't a single person in this family that ended up with a happy ending. They tore each other apart and didn't stay to patch things up.
Settings:
There was no place in this book that made me want to visit or even like it.
Overall:
I initially thought this book was going to have some kind of fantasy element, seeing as there's a unicorn on the cover. But I quickly noticed it didn't have anything magical or else.
It's just the story of a girl and her growing up in a family where she's the last person to notice things. How she's left out because her older sister has her father's admiration since she's a great artist and her mother's attention since she's beautiful and through her, she can fulfill her dream of being in beauty pageants.
That premise alone sounds pretty good. And I thought I would like this book or at least read it quickly. But I had problems reading it since it was slow in places and since I am an already slow reader plus I was going tough finals, I didn't read it fast enough. That along with the fact that I didn't like where the story was going and I had started disliking the main character, who is also the narrator made mo want to dnf this book.
I had said in my Goodreads review that:
Although they say never judge a book by it's cover I believe the cover should represent what the book is going to be like or at least some aspect of it.The cover of this book is simple but with a white, almost silver or pearl, unicorn it makes it look interesting. That certainly was the thought I had when I got it on my hands.
The Story:
Two sisters who grew up very different. The older sister, Vivianne, grew up under her mother's control and her father's artistic talent. While she was put into pageants and beauty competitions her sister, Edith hanged out with her father. Going to garage sales and junkyards in search of valuables they could repurpose.
Relationships:
There are a couple of pairing in this book but I decided not to talk about them since I didn't really consider them good, healthy or complete couples.
Family Dynamics:
As for Edith's family.
Her father was a tortured artist, a good father, and a cheater.
Her mother used to want to be an actress (??) but she ended up putting all that onto her daughter's shoulders by putting her trough various pageants.
And she was messed up in the process by being left out.
I thought this family was messed up in general. There wasn't a single person in this family that ended up with a happy ending. They tore each other apart and didn't stay to patch things up.
Settings:
There was no place in this book that made me want to visit or even like it.
Overall:
I initially thought this book was going to have some kind of fantasy element, seeing as there's a unicorn on the cover. But I quickly noticed it didn't have anything magical or else.
It's just the story of a girl and her growing up in a family where she's the last person to notice things. How she's left out because her older sister has her father's admiration since she's a great artist and her mother's attention since she's beautiful and through her, she can fulfill her dream of being in beauty pageants.
That premise alone sounds pretty good. And I thought I would like this book or at least read it quickly. But I had problems reading it since it was slow in places and since I am an already slow reader plus I was going tough finals, I didn't read it fast enough. That along with the fact that I didn't like where the story was going and I had started disliking the main character, who is also the narrator made mo want to dnf this book.
I had said in my Goodreads review that:
I'm giving this 3 stars but it more like 2 and a half. I half disliked it, half enjoyed it.I've learned that I don't like literary fiction books. Some of them are not my kind of books and I find myself getting annoyed or bored. This book did have things that I liked but I just couldn't like the main character and seeing as she was also the narrator it was a tough book to read through.
Get a copy at:
Barnes&Noble | Amazon US
Barnes&Noble | Amazon US
Or get it here using my affiliate link. Please:
Book Depository
No comments:
Post a Comment
Welcome, all lovely booknerds!