Update: By part way through book 2 this became one of my favorite series. The characters feel like real people and it was a treat to follow them throuUpdate: By part way through book 2 this became one of my favorite series. The characters feel like real people and it was a treat to follow them through the years before, during and after WWII. This series is up there with Harry Potter as one of the best I've read.
I thoroughly enjoyed book 1 of this series about a close knit, well-off family at their summer home in England just before WWII. It follows three generations of the family: the Duchy and the Brig, their four adult children and all of their grandchildren.
Highly recommended for fans of epic sagas, British literature and historic fiction. I can't wait to read book 2. It was difficult to stop reading about the family....more
The first half of this book was a 4 star read for me. I flew through it and loved following the Cleary family in the early 1900s in New Zealand and thThe first half of this book was a 4 star read for me. I flew through it and loved following the Cleary family in the early 1900s in New Zealand and then when they moved to Drogheda, a giant sheep farm in Australia. It did get pretty long for me and I thought it dragged a bit at the end and got over melodramatic. I would still recommend this book. I might have liked the last 1/4 better if I hadn't taken a pause before reading it to read another book for a book club. This satisfies "Australia" for the around the world reading challenge I'm participating in....more
I didn't care for the first 200 pages or so and skimmed through them, but I really enjoyed the rest of the book once it turned post-apocalyptic. GreatI didn't care for the first 200 pages or so and skimmed through them, but I really enjoyed the rest of the book once it turned post-apocalyptic. Great characters and plot.
Second time reading: I skimmed through some brief parts of this book and found some parts more interesting than others. The story overall intrigued me and while the plot gets pretty wild, it is still interesting to read. This book mixes a lot of genres: horror, sci fi and literary fiction. It is probably much longer than it needed to be, but is still enjoyable to read. For people who want to dip into the post apocalyptic genre I would probably recommend a book that focuses more on survival such as "Alas Babylon" or "The Day of the Triffids"....more