Not a good book
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I have never read any Tracy Chevalier before, and after this book I never want to. I thought it was badly written and the story was boring. As for William Blake, to be honest including him was pointless, just trying to cash in on a formula. The Blake character could have been just any neighbour. To be fair it wasn't hard to read, and 18th century London was well portrayed, but if it hadn't been for Book Club, I wouldn't have bothered finishing it.
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Lame
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I was so looking forward to this book I carried it back to Buenos Aires savouring its safe position in my suitcase (books in English are hard to come by unless Ludlum, Follet et al).
I was so disappointed. I kept waiting for some semblance of a story to get started but nothing happens. Lame is the only word to apply and having studied William Blake, I really expected more than the passing mentions she accords him. His position in the story is far from central and the historical background is not absorbing.
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Tracy tries too hard?
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This novel should be renamed Tracy Chevalier: What I've Learned About Eighteenth Century London and the Dorset Piddles.
In each of her previous novels, Chevalier evokes the relevant period so effortlessly that you feel as if you're there too. In contrast, Burning Bright is stuffed some way past bursting point with what I felt was heavy-handed and self-conscious period detail. In particular, the scene where Maggie and Jem follow the Blakes across London appears to have been written so that she can show off how much she's found out in her research.
This isn't a terrible book, by any means, but falls well below Chevalier's own high standards - it's not particularly well written, the plot is slight and the characters feel cliched. I can only think that the subject didn't really inspire her.
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Neither burning nor bright
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Girl With A Pearl Earring gave an insight into Vermeer's life, working methods and the period in which he lived. Burning Bright, on the other hand, imparts very little about Blake, other than to recite excerpts from some of his works. The main story line revolves around Jem and Maggie, who wander around the streets of London a lot. Does one really get a feel for 'a city jittery over the increasingly bloody French Revolution' ? Grimy streets - yes, political atmosphere - no (except for one mob outside Blake's front door one night). As for Jem & Maggie's tale, one finishes the book thinking what was the point of this book.
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Don't take this book on holiday
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Don't make the mistake I did and take this book on holiday. Depressing, shallow and seemingly written by a ten-year old, this will make your holiday memorable for all the wrong reasons. I perservered to the end hoping it would get better, as I couldn't believe it was written by the same author as Girl With A Pearl Earring and The Virgin Blue. Unfortunately it was a complete waste of time and I came away with nothing but the embarrassment of having read some kind of children's book. Two dimensional characters that I learned nothing about, nor did I care. It's as if Tracy Chevalier has got bored of writing but Harper Collins wanted to squeeze one more historical novel out of her. I would have been ashamed to put my name to this book.
For an antidote try reading Notes From An Exhibition by Patrick Gale.
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