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Julie
Island Life!
Beautifully written generation story with thorough character development. I enjoyed the detailed description of island life and family traditions. The story reminded me we all act the way we do for a reason and it's better to face our past than bury it! Also, the Milton Family were not the best communicators. It drove me crazy that the granddaughters didn't know the significance of the little yellow car :( I loved Evie's quote "she was in the line up grown-ups behind the child." Good story, read the book and enjoy!
Anl
Good read
Enjoyable read. The typical family saga with a modern twist to include commentary on race, religion, and overall prejudgement. But not overbearing - pretty realistic (having lived through some of that time). Well done characters, and back and forth in time without losing plot line.
A few plot threads were a little weak and not well linked. Not to detail or it will spoil plot.
Vicki
Not a fan of these characters
I would say this was a 3.5 star read for me, rounded up. I was dying to read this after seeing a glowing review from the owner of the Northshire Bookstore, but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. The plot line was interesting and kept me surprised and reading, but overall I disliked some of the characters. They were self-centered and acted in ways I didn’t find credible. So overall, I’m not sorry I read it, but didn’t find it to be anything amazing.
Joy N. (Scottsdale, AZ)
The Guest Book
I really liked this book. The story was engaging and the characters were fully developed. She captured the culture of our country during WWII and the racism towards Jews and Black people at that time in a compelling way.I would recommend this book to our younger generation so they would have a window into what the world was like then.
Dorothy_Levi
An Interesting but Imperfect Novel
I was debating whether to give this novel a rating of 3 or 4. I really wanted to give it 3.5 but that wasn't possible. There were good things about this novel--lovely writing and description, important subject matter, but this novel could have been much better! What I liked most was the depiction of the time period--especially the pre WWII period. I found this family saga way too long. It needed to be edited more. The middle part especially dragged. I agree with other readers that a family genealogy chart at the beginning would have been helpful and dates at the beginnings of the chapters were needed. There were stereotypes in the ways Jews and Blacks were depicted and I think the author's characterizations were an easier way out for the Milton family's views and actions. Too bad. My feeling at the end was that this novel could have been really special if there was another draft before publication. It was overlong, but yet sometimes lacked sufficient characterization and depth.
Kate G. (Bronx, NY)
The Sins of the Father or Grandfather
This will be one of the hot books of the summer of 2019! It is perfect vacation reading: A multi-generational story which mostly takes place during the summer on private island at a decrepit beach house off the coast of Maine. The Ogden Miltons were a moneyed family as the patriarch had started his brokerage house in the 1920s, catering to like minded people and making them money. Decisions made mostly by Ogden's wife Kitty reverberate not only through to their children, but to their grandchildren. Kitty was all about keeping up appearances, believing there was a right way to do everything and there were the right people to be kept in your social system. Her beliefs and decisions reverberate down to her grandchildren and as secrets are revealed, her granddaughter Evie realizes that peace may be found not only in a particular place, but rather in a particular situation.
Claire M. (Sarasota, FL)
Secrets and Lies
I started The Guest Book with some expectation, and in the end, it is a good book, a good read. As it jumps around in time it might prove helpful for the publisher to include a page with a family tree. People who name their children after themselves make it confusing as the book goes back and forth in time, especially if one does not read this in one sitting.
Perhaps the ability of those who come from and continue privilege in our society who never confront, even within their own family, their secrets, their indifference to the excluded allows them to live in a world of their own with peace.
Ogden and Kitty Milton are the beginning line of this family saga and I find Ogden to be the most interesting character, but his is not developed, perhaps because he appears to be more enlightened. Kitty is ruthless in her maintenance of how life should be lived, and will not tolerate anything that might interfere. And that brings heartbreak to two of her children.
Blake has left us with much to infer as secrets are never directly revealed. Or the results of those secrets may be revealed but never the life between the deed and its result.
Sherilyn_R
The Guest Book
The Guest Book is the story of three generations of Milton women, the island they own, and the summer house that comes to define who they are.
The novel tells the story of Racism, Manners, and Power systemically embedded in the United States from the mid-1930's through the dawn of of the 21st century.
It is a beautifully written novel, and I enjoyed the plot and the characters but often wished the author had taken a less esoteric approach. I after found it difficult to understand some of the views expressed by the characters and wanted the story to move at a faster pace.
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