The Postmistress

Synopsis
The intertwined stories of three American women during World War II.

My thoughts
Frankie Bard is an American broadcaster reporting from London during the Blitz. Her stories bring the war into the sleepy Cape Cod living rooms of postmistress Iris James and newlywed Emma Fitch. Frankie's story is haunting, especially when she travels to the continent and connects with Jews who are desperate to leave. But then she returns to the United States and the action grinds to a halt. In the meantime, Iris and Emma's storylines have progressed at the speed of molasses before getting completely stuck. Once Frankie connects with the other two I decided I was just about done with the book. They just sucked the life out of her storyline.

I always looked forward to Frankie's chapters because they were such a relief after the tedium of Iris and Emma's. Sarah Blake's writing comes alive when she writes from Frankie's perspective and it's noticeably more awkward when she uses Iris and Emma's voices. Blake's writing is beautiful, but it's not effortless and that makes it distracting.

Sarah Blake worked hard to make everything come together seamlessly at the end. But the drama felt manufactured and then it fizzled into two huge narrative copouts. Instead of the confrontations I'd been promised, I came away absolutely empty.

Bottom line
Not recommended. Read Frankie's chapters and skip the others (or skip the entire book).

Fine print
The Postmistress, by Sarah Blake
Genre: historical fiction
Photo from Goodreads
I borrowed this book from my library.

The Red Queen

Synopsis
Fanatically religious Margaret Beaufort makes it her life's mission to see her son become king of England during the Wars of the Roses in one installment of Philippa Gregory's mesmerizing "The Cousins' War" series.

My thoughts
"The Cousins' War" loses some of its allure, all because Margaret Beaufort is supremely unsympathetic. Even in Philippa Gregory's capable hands, Margaret's religious asceticism is dull as dirt.

Margaret Beaufort was the polar opposite of those lusty, fertile Woodvilles, and as a Lancastrian she was pitted against them in the Wars of the Roses. She was the mother of Henry Tudor, who would grow up to defeat Richard III to become king of England as Henry VII. She had already been widowed when she gave birth to Henry at the age of thirteen (say it with me: good God!). She was a very devout Catholic who believed it was God's will that her only child succeed to the throne of England.

If there's one weakness in "The Cousins' War" series, it's that the books overlap so much. While it can be interesting to see the same event from opposing perspectives, it's ultimately too repetitive.

I didn't care for this book, but I did like Margaret Beaufort in the Starz miniseries The White Queen (which was based on Gregory's book series), mostly because of Amanda Hale's marvelously twitchy performance. Now on to the final two books in the series (Gregory is nothing if not prolific)!

Bottom line
"The Cousins' War" is worth reading, but you won't miss much if you skip this one or just watch the miniseries.

"The Cousins' War" Reviews
The White Queen
The Lady of the Rivers
The Kingmaker's Daughter

Fine print
The Red Queen, by Philippa Gregory
Genre: historical fiction
Photo from Goodreads
I own this book.

Divergent

Synopsis
Another book about teens in a dystopian society with a PG love story.

My thoughts
For YA dystopian fiction, there's Lois Lowry's The Giver and then there's everything else. Nothing will ever top The Giver, but reading books like Divergent is an irresistible guilty pleasure for me. The key is to erase all your expectations and suspend disbelief.

The setting is a vaguely futuristic Chicago. There's been some sort of minor apocalypse, and the city has been walled in and society has been reordered into factions that can theoretically coexist in harmony. Except ... not so much with the harmony. Or the coexistence.

What Divergent has going for it is a feisty heroine and a lot of page-turning action. There's a tame romance with a guy with a predictably mysterious past thrown in for good measure. It's a fun, mindless read and I'll probably pick up the next book in the trilogy at some point.

Bottom line
Read the book, skip the movie (yeah, that's right—I watched the movie, too).

Fine print
Divergent, by Veronica Roth
Genre: YA, science fiction
Photo from Goodreads
I borrowed this book from a friend.