Member Reviews
Four men and different perspectives as you follow them into various countries across the globe and for some reason, it took me longer to read and fully appreciate the characters and story line.
However, I would still recommend it as a historical fiction.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.
I was not able to get interested in this book and I did not finish it. The characters and the plot were not able to catch or keep my attention.
This book was unlike anything I have read along the WW2 genre lately. Four different men, different views and how each of them is seeing the war.
Unlike the historical romances that I have been reading, this was a male perspective book. Definitely different for me, but not unappreciated.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.
I don't even really know how to leave a review for this book. The dialogue was strange. Couldn't connect to any characters which made it difficult to care about what happened to them. It sounded like a great premise - I love WW2 fiction. But this was so hard to get into. The language is dense, runs on endlessly at times. I often had to go back and read sections again after realizing I'd lost interest halfway through. Very thankful that the Google translate app has a camera function which came in handy. Other than that ... I don't have much to say about this one. Which is crazy since it took 674 years to finish.
Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for my maybe-too honest review.
I love period pieces and this gave me a view I had not seen. It began slow and took s bit to grab my interest. I liked the way the book traveled to many locations and how the young men viewed it. This book needs patience when reading because of the character development. I enjoyed it.
This very attractive reprint of Thackara's immense WWII novel will doubtless attract many new readers to its story of four characters whose lives are shattered and re-forged by the Second World War. The first wave of readers were alerted to the book by John Walsh's famous New Yorker article, which both accurately assessed the book's worth and enormously over-praised the book's accessibility. New readers are likely the same pleased-but-puzzled reaction: this is a big, sprawling, obviously important novel, but it's also a self-indulgent, often opaque, and sometimes bewildering one as well.
Excellent, well-researched historical fiction. I enjoyed each character's story. I appreciate the opportunity to read Book of Kings
An interesting look at WWII and the following decades through four different POVs. I found some of it difficult to follow and a challenge to get through.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.
This book is too much for me to even summarize in my typical review. I find the language and descriptions confusing. The relationships of the four roommates are at times tedious and convoluted. Thackara does a good job of describing WWII but I struggled to get that far in the book. Although I finished the book, it taxed my patience..
This is a very hefty read, as it is 773 pages I found it hard to stay engrossed in it at times, as I felt that there were parts of the story that could have been left out or edited down.
Unable to finish. So slow. I’m sorry but life is too short to read this. I won’t publish a review on good reads or my blog. I feel like this is well researched for background but just nothing grabs me.
I decided to read this book on a whim. Since this book is so out of my comfort zone I figured why not. Even through it was long it was interesting. The authors description of of the war made me feel like I was there. He did make me want to finish the book .
The characters which were of different backgrounds were unique.They brought substance to the story.The book was beautifully written on a tough topic which is war. Thank you for taking me out of my comfort zone.
An interesting read with unique and complex characters. The desricptions of surroundings and the setting in generel are beautifully done. Even though I found the book a bit too lengthy and the writing, especially in the beginning, confusing at times, its a memorable one that leaves a lot to think about.
I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity.
This book was good in parts with interesting writing and unique characters. The descriptions, I particularly liked especially those of nature.
However, I found it difficult to get into at the start and the world building is not sufficient for me. The language used is confusing at times.