Saturday, March 3, 2018

Book Review: The Vineyard



Title: The Vineyard
Author: Marie Duenas
Genre: Historical Fiction 
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars 

DNF 10% 


Normally I have a rule to read at least 20-30% of a book before giving up. 

I'm making an exception to this book for two reasons: 

1) all it is doing is telling me boring things (instead of showing) 

2) the third person narrative is rigid and feels more like a screenplay than a story. Where's the descriptions of setting, characters, etc. 


I was really hoping for a rich look at Mexico and mining during the US civil war (1800's) instead it was a lecture on so-so did this and so-so did that. And all I want to know is why? And how does that affect our lead guy? But I don't want to learn this via a stuffy conversation of basic figures and investments. Again there needs to be more. More richness, more feelings and less content. 


I read a lot of historical fiction and when done right you feel like your there and not just a spectator. The Vineyard made me feel like I was reading a historical document describing the facts with no feelings, setting or context applied. 


Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

1 comment:

Leonore Winterer said...

Oh no, another frustrating one! I hope you'll get to something more engaging after this.