What I read in February

Well, reading was kinda slow this month, as you can tell. I only finished one book in February. I don’t know, I just didn’t find much time to focus on books and then the one I was reading started to drag. Here’s my review.

This must be the place by Maggie O’Farrell (★★★☆☆)

I really wanted to like this book more, damnit. But the fact that I had a hard time pushing through it, tells me that there were problems with it. Some chapters were so, so good. O’Farrell is a talented writer. But she was jumping between different narrators and time periods and even writing styles, and  some chapters felt disconnected and some superfluous to the story, really. The book seemed to meander and I got lost repeatedly. It totally broke my “reading streak” and I hate when that happens.

When I have to start flipping back and forth to keep track of people and events, and then the author drops characters into the story that end up being tangents that are never resolved, but abandoned, I lose interest pretty quick.

The main story is about Daniel and Claudette, but we also meander into Daniel’s past and Claudette’s past and I get it, people’s lives are complex and often don’t fit into a neat box, and both of them had a bunch of baggage, but some parts were narrated in so much details that it felt unnecessary,  while some parts lacked depth where I expected more. I don’t know, for me the book didn’t strike a balance there.

Have you read this one? How did you feel about it?

What did you read in February? Anything you’d like to recommend? Leave a comment, and then add me on Goodreads to keep in touch.

  1. I actually really really liked this book. I think I gave it 5 stars! I know what you mean about having a hard time keeping the story lines straight since she jumps around quite a bit. But I read it in a really short time frame so I think that helped!

    In February I read 7 books. My favorites were Just Mercy and The Sun Does Shine. I know you read and loved the 2nd one. Both are about our broken criminal justice system. We need major reform but I don’t have high hopes for that happening. It was sad to see how many states still use capital punishment. I am glad that Minnesota doesn’t. It’s strange to me that the bible belt states tend to have capital punishment – seems like such a contradiction to be super Christian (or pretend to be) and then be in favor of executing people…

  2. I’ve heard about this book and was curious about it. It sounds like it may have been frustrating at times and books like that also get me out of the reading mood. I might not end up wanting to read this one after all!

  3. I wasn’t wild about This Must Be The Place, but I thought the book was interesting in the way the story was told.

  4. I felt like February was a slow reading month for me too but I did log 6 books on goodreads. I just picked up a book towards the end with the same problems you mentioned here. It totally broke my reading streak… I am not sure what I think of it though.
    Hoping to March will be a good month

  5. Oh no, I hate when you really want to love a book but it’s just not really working…at least in all respects. It’s good the author can write, because maybe you’ll like something else by them!

    -Lauren

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