Thank you very much @readersfirst for a #gifted copy of Victoria Park!
Let’s say, first of all, that this cover is one of the prettiest ones I have ever seen and that that was maybe the strongest reason why I wanted to read this book.
I liked the first chapter. I found Mona and Wolfie quite endearing and I found myself wanting to know more about this elderly couple, about how they were, how dementia was affecting their lives and those around them.
My surprise came when I realised that every chapter was narrated by a different person. A totally different character that has, somehow a small connection with the rest of the cast, but that overall, made this book a little bit confusing, not very deep and difficult to love or appreciate any character or story.
There are 12 chapter, one for each month of the year. 12 short stories told by 12 different people that have something to do with Victoria Park, in London. Some of them have good memories there, some of them not that good. Some of them see the park on their way to work, some other from their house... And so this park (Which is beautiful, by the way) has an important meaning to them because of what they have lived there.
I love this idea and I think it’s quite original. It reminds me a little bit to “Love Actually’ and this type of movies where we follow different stories and then, at the end, they are all connected in some way.
However, as I said before, the stories were so short that I didn’t have time to know enough about the characters, their lives, their problems, etc and so I couldn’t care too much for them.
Other thing that I also didn’t especially like was how descriptive this book was. It could easily take two pages of just describing a street, or a room in the house, and I thought that if that space had been used to describe characters or dialogues, maybe I would have enjoyed this book a little bit more!
Let’s say, first of all, that this cover is one of the prettiest ones I have ever seen and that that was maybe the strongest reason why I wanted to read this book.
I liked the first chapter. I found Mona and Wolfie quite endearing and I found myself wanting to know more about this elderly couple, about how they were, how dementia was affecting their lives and those around them.
My surprise came when I realised that every chapter was narrated by a different person. A totally different character that has, somehow a small connection with the rest of the cast, but that overall, made this book a little bit confusing, not very deep and difficult to love or appreciate any character or story.
There are 12 chapter, one for each month of the year. 12 short stories told by 12 different people that have something to do with Victoria Park, in London. Some of them have good memories there, some of them not that good. Some of them see the park on their way to work, some other from their house... And so this park (Which is beautiful, by the way) has an important meaning to them because of what they have lived there.
I love this idea and I think it’s quite original. It reminds me a little bit to “Love Actually’ and this type of movies where we follow different stories and then, at the end, they are all connected in some way.
However, as I said before, the stories were so short that I didn’t have time to know enough about the characters, their lives, their problems, etc and so I couldn’t care too much for them.
Other thing that I also didn’t especially like was how descriptive this book was. It could easily take two pages of just describing a street, or a room in the house, and I thought that if that space had been used to describe characters or dialogues, maybe I would have enjoyed this book a little bit more!