Engaging story and a peculiar protagonist's voice
In the first two chapters of this novel, the costume seamestress May minutely covers the events that preceded a major incident changing her travel route. Events unroll inside May's encyclopedic mind via her unusual, interesting voice: I really liked that she notices other characters' clothes first, rather than their faces or attitudes, subtely drawing her character trait. Other traits are introduced more explicitly (her introversion, her disability) although their consequences are not always consistent (such as, no difficulty in hearing others at a round table, and seemingly switching off her irritation after dinner).
I find that the writing style also subtely contributes to draw May's charater (keen eye, slight obsession for detail, strong visual memory), but a balance should be sought because most sentences are very long/wordy.
The description of the incident is dramatic and effective. I like that May says that the sound 'hits' her - a very compelling description for a person with partial deafness. However, I found anti-climatic that chapter 2 starts with a rather long reminiscence - honestly, I skipped it and jumped to the action because I wanted to know what happened next.
Two last small comments: I found the scene of the slave boy at the dinner a little tokenistic (no consequence for the plot, and Mrs. Howard could have been equally characterised if she spoke of an anti-slavery essay). And, from a native Italian speaker: to call her Italian dad, Giulia would have said 'papà', not 'papa' - papa is the Pope!
Overall, I liked it and I would continue reading it because the main character and the story seem interesting - although inconsistencies and paragraph-long sentences impact the readability.
I find that the writing style also subtely contributes to draw May's charater (keen eye, slight obsession for detail, strong visual memory), but a balance should be sought because most sentences are very long/wordy.
The description of the incident is dramatic and effective. I like that May says that the sound 'hits' her - a very compelling description for a person with partial deafness. However, I found anti-climatic that chapter 2 starts with a rather long reminiscence - honestly, I skipped it and jumped to the action because I wanted to know what happened next.
Two last small comments: I found the scene of the slave boy at the dinner a little tokenistic (no consequence for the plot, and Mrs. Howard could have been equally characterised if she spoke of an anti-slavery essay). And, from a native Italian speaker: to call her Italian dad, Giulia would have said 'papà', not 'papa' - papa is the Pope!
Overall, I liked it and I would continue reading it because the main character and the story seem interesting - although inconsistencies and paragraph-long sentences impact the readability.