A series of vignettes
- Book: The House With The Lilac Shutters
- Location: England, The South of France (Le Midi)
- Author: Gabrielle Barnby
The House with the Lilac Shutters is a series of vignettes, populated by characters who tumble across the pages. The author has a great writing style, lyrical at times in her use of words and can capture the feel of France, the narrative occasionally straying to England.
For me I felt I was observing a merry-go-round as the characters interacted and went about their business. But could I get on that fairground attraction with them? I really struggled. I thought perhaps it was the manner of my reading – I read the first half up to Irma Lagrasse and found a real disconnect. I then tried each “story” on its own subsequent to that but still struggled to get a feel/empathy for the people, beyond the black and white of the page.
The feeling of being discombobulated comes right from the cover at the outset – I loved the stark sunny photo, it just shouts SUNSHINE (and where I live, boy, do we need more of that). The photo depicts, however, blue shutters…. So, overall not a book for me.
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