03 June 2010

Book Review: The Great Lover

Title:  The Great Lover
Author:  Jill Dawson

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, Reading Resolutions, GLBT Challenge, Hogwarts Reading Challenge,

Buy  |  Borrow  |  Accept  |  Avoid

Plot Synopsis
Nell Golightly, a maid, meets Rupert Brooke when he takes a room at the tea garden where she works. Brooke is beautiful, narcissistic, and unconventional, and Nell, a practical girl, finds herself falling for this enigmatic man.

Part history, part fiction, The Great Lover uses Brooke's own letters, his own words, to create a new vision of a poet deemed "the handsomest young man in England" by W.B. Yeats.

My Thoughts
Rupert Brooke seems a fascinating man and a ripe topic for a book.  His fluid sexuality and controversial beliefs beg to be explored.  The Great Lover doesn't shy away from Brooke's non-traditional life, and through the combination of Brooke's own words and Dawson's imagination, a portrait of a rather eccentric man is formed.

The book is told through two characters, Rupert and Nell, with alternating passages. The use of dual perspective to tell a story can be elegant and revealing or it can be artificial and frustrating. In this case, I felt a mixture of the two.  The voices were distinct, and allowing each to narrate part of the story offered telling glimpses into the characters. I did have some difficulty, however, with the separate perspectives as the two characters spend so much time apart. Using both voices, telling both lives, I felt added extraneous detail to the story.  So much of what each has to say has so little to do with the other that I could see the two voices being different books.

This would be my main difficulty with the book.  I felt that the story could have been told in half the time.  Perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for minutiae.  The book seemed to be about creating a world instead of telling a story.  And while I'm typically a character-driven reader, I could not relate to either Rupert or Nell, and hence needed something of a plot to maintain my interest.  After about page 100, I started skipping, sometimes entire sections.  So much time was spent on sitting around, on passive voice reflections, on telling instead of showing, that I couldn't focus.  And honestly, even skimming large portions of the book, I don't feel like I missed much.

That is not to say that this is not a good book.  Reviews of this novel seem to be rather mixed, so I urge you to read the links I've provided below. I've always wondered if mixed reviews aren't a positive because while I was not in love with this novel, I would still encourage reading it for yourself because of the differing opinions.  Afterall, I'm giving only one opinion - and it's a personal, not a professional one.

Other Reviews
If I've missed yours, let me know!

Vulpes Libris; Asylum; The Guardian; The IndependentBooks Like Breathing;

You should also check out the other stops on the TLC Book Tour.

Question: Doesn't he just seem haunted and gorgeous?

Visit Jill Dawson at her website

Giveaway
I have two copies of this book to giveaway.  If you are interested, put your email address in the comments.  Amy from Amy Reads has offered to be a shipping Angel, so anyone from anywhere feel free to enter to win.

20 comments:

  1. I'm sorry this didn't completely work for you, Trisha! But I think I'd like to read it sometime anyway. He does sound like a fascinating man, plus I've been in the mood to gobble up anything from/about the early 20th century these days.

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  2. I'd like to try this book.

    page46@gmail.com

    Page Inman
    http://asthepageturns-page.blogspot.com

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  3. Hmmm...he is quite the looker! I think that level of detail is appealing only in certain moods. There are some books I read (like the one right now, This Body of Death by Elizabeth George) where I think in my mind "words, words words, so many words!". It is working for me now, but doesn't always. I get impatient. I think I'll pass on this one, just because I'm drowning in a sea of books and tedious books generally work better on audio for me!

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  4. Too bad to hear this wasn't a winner for you. I can see how it would be frustrating having all that extra information not relating to the story.

    BUT, I wouldn't mind being a 'shipping angel' and shipping it on to an international person, if you would like to open it to international bloggers too :)
    amy[dot]mckie[at]gmail[dot]com

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  5. Nymeth - Amy has offered to be a shipping angel. Did you want to be entered to win a copy?

    Page - Cool.

    Sandy - Words words words...that sounds exactly right. I was just not hooked into the story for some reason.

    Amy - You are too cool! Now, did you want to be entered into the giveaway yourself too?

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  6. Hmm... after your review I think I'll stick to just being a middle man if an International blogger wins. I have a staggering tbr pile to get through, and this doesn't sound superb. :)

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  7. I know what your saying....a book has to grab me, or else it feels like a chore...

    Love your honesty...

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  8. Amy - That BEA pile keeps staring at you doesn't it?

    Empress - Exactly. There are just too many books to spend time on one that doesn't connect with you. And thanks for the comment about honesty.

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  9. Heh. Is it that obvious? Also, I feel like maybe I saw this book in a pile, though I may have made that up, but I'm not home to be able to verify!

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  10. Amy - You probably did get it in NYC! They put a copy in the Blogger Con swag bag! That's why I have two copies. Total brain freeze on my part.

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  11. I thought I saw it! Glad I wasn't imagining things. Though I don't remember unpacking it, but oh well, I'll check after work!

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  12. I'm sorry this one didn't work for you the way it hoped. I'll keep it in mind for when I'm in the mood for a quiet, character driven read.

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  13. Can you email me and let me know what the GLBT elements were in this? This is one I sort of thought I'd give a 5-page trial to and possibly give it away when my BEA box finally comes, but if it's got GLBT undercurrents, I might be more willing to give it a larger try.

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  14. Amy - :)

    S. Krishna - I'm thinking I'll give it another try when I'm in a different mood. Mood plays such a large role.

    Amanda - The main character is bisexual and the book deals with his sexual exploits with both genders. If you are in a slow sort of mood, I do think this book could work.

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  15. I like the anyone from anywhere part the best as I am from Sri Lanka.

    Please count me in for this intriguing book.

    mystica123athotmaildotcom

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  16. Rupert Brooke is a hottie with "fluid sexuality." Yum!

    God, I'm shallow.

    Too bad this didn't work for you.

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  17. I would like to be entered into this giveaway. I just know I've read another book by Jill Lawson called Wild Boy which I loved.

    BTW, It looks like you had a great time at BEA. :--)

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  18. Mystica - Got you entered!

    Jenners - Shallow fantasies are the best. We can be all high minded in real life but when it comes to fantacrushes, I'm completely shallow. :)

    C.B. - Got you entered! And BEA was tons of fun. Are you going next year?

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  19. I've heard that the writing in this book is gorgeous but that like you, most people can't really related to either of the characters. Some reviewers didn't mind that, but I think it would be an issue for me.

    Thanks for being part of the tour!

    (no need to enter me)

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  20. Thank you for entering me. =)
    tiredwkids at live dot com

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