return to home  
Join   |  Gift   |  Member Login   |  Library Login
BookBrowse Mobile
Follow Us: 
    Reader reviews of The Quiet Girl

Read what people think about The Quiet Girl by Peter Hoeg, and write your own review.

The Quiet Girl

The Quiet Girl
by Peter Hoeg
Published in USA Oct 2007,
416 pages.

Publication information


Critics' Opinion: 
Readers' Rating: 
About BookBrowse Rankings
Share: 
Buy This Book
Page 1 of 4 There are currently 19 reviews
for The Quiet Girl
Select your view:
Order Reviews by:
Click Here To Write Your Own Review
Rated 2 of 5 of 5 by Patricia
Literary Disappointment
I was so excited to have the opportunity to read a new Peter Hoeg novel because I LOVED Smilla's Sense of Snow. It is one of my all time favorite works of fiction. I do NOT abandon books, but after 100 pages of Quiet Girl, I abandoned it! What a disappointment! The character development is so poor, and the plot twists and turns so randomly that I found it is incomprehensible. I gave up, and I'm so glad I didn't spend $$$$$ for it. I would be happy to send it forward to another reviewer if you would like. I eagerly await other reviews to see if I am completely off base and missing something.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Francine
the quiet girl
Seldom have I had to struggle to read a book. While parts of the story were somewhat interesting and the characters unique, it just did not come together for me. It seemed disconnected and sometimes I felt like I was in the "twilight zone." However, maybe that was the intention of the author. I would NEVER NOT recommend a book to anybody because we all have different tastes.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Roni
The Sounds of Silence
Ten years ago, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, another book by Peter Hoeg was one of my favorite books. I am very disappointed with The Quiet Girl. Kasper, the main character, is a retired world-renowned circus clown. Kasper is a “super hero.” He has the mystical ability to hear the musical resonance of people and objects. Kasper can hear silence. He is searching for a missing young girl who shares the same mystical ability.

The Quiet Girl is a mixture of mystery and fantasy. I appreciated the philosophical undertones. The book is disjointed often changing between past and present. Had this been a library book I would not have finished it. Smilla’s Sense of Snow was made into a movie. I believe that The Quiet Girl was written with that in mind.

Rated 4 of 5 of 5 by Samantha
Quiet Girl Intriguing, Interesting read
"The Quiet Girl" by Peter Hoeg was a very interesting read. Hoeg draws you in immediately with his quirky, unusual character Kaspar Krone. Great prose and an intriguing story line kept me hooked to the very last page. Some of the jumps between present and memories of past, were a little confusing at first, but once I got used to the rhythm, everything flowed together. I highly recommend this book.

Rated 2 of 5 of 5 by Jinny
The Quiet Girl
Although I don't usually read fantasy novels, I do enjoy characters who are quirky, eccentric, or even gifted with mystical powers, such as Jeremiah Land, who walks on air and performs miracles in "Peace Like a River".

Page by page, I slogged through The Quiet Girl, hoping to find some meaning or endearment in the protagonist, Kasper Krone, who perceives people, places and situations as sounds and music.

It didn't happen. I didn't like (or dislike) Kasper, or anyone else in this novel.
I found myself just wishing he would hurry up and get on with his adventures, so I could read a book I really enjoyed. If, in fact, this had been any other library or purchased book, I probably wouldn't have finished it. Kasper became so annoying by page 250, that I felt like I was reading a book required by my English teacher.
The story was confusing and disjointed, and the characters lacked dimension.


There are occasional phrases with a touch of wisdom or droll humor. Once, when hungry, Kasper has the thought: "Even Buddha and Jesus had fasted for only thirty or forty days. And afterword said it was no fun".

Unfortunately, this engaging content was too rare. Although I did not enjoy this book, it was a treat to be part of the First Impressions program, and I would do it again.

Rated 4 of 5 of 5 by Zoe
James Bond at the Cirque du Soleil
This book is an intriguing, extremely fast-paced literate psychological mystery. The protagonist is a fascinating character, a circus clown with an extremely acute sense of hearing as well as an unusual talent for sensing each person's musical key which gives him insight into their character and current state of mind. Although the book is confusing at the outset, it very quickly grabs you with short chapters and lots of action. I felt I was viewing a Cirque du Soleil production where there is a multitude of things happening that are all very interesting but need to be observed for a while before a connection and continuity can be established between the events.
  1 2 3 4   next »

Become a Member
Click Here
Editor's Choice
  •  May 20 
  •  May 18 
  •  May 16 
Fever
Mary Beth Keane

Fever Jacket

A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
The Woman Upstairs
Claire Messud

The Woman Upstairs Jacket

The riveting confession of a woman awakened, transformed, and betrayed by passion and desire for a world beyond her own.
How to Create the Perfect Wife
Wendy Moore

How to Create the Perfect Wife Jacket

Stranger than fiction, blending tragedy and farce, How to Create the Perfect Wife is an engrossing tale of the radicalism, and deep contradictions, at the heart of the Enlightenment.
Click Here
   Most Recent Blog Entries
Movies Based on Books: Summer 2013 (May - August)
Jewish Young Adult Books That Are Not About The Holocaust
Books to Give This Mother's Day
rss  RSS   rss  subscribe
Recent Reader Reviews
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Fowler
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight... read more
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on... read more
The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna van Praag
Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read... read more
RSS RSS feed More...  
Most Viewed This Week
1. The Help
Kathryn Stockett
2. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot
3. A Child Called It
Dave Pelzer
4. Half the Sky
Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn
5. The Glass Castle
Jeannette Walls
More...
Book Club Recommendations
The Gods of Gotham
by Lyndsay Faye
Paperback (Mar/13)
Forgotten Country
by Catherine Chung
Paperback (Mar/13)
Philida
by André Brink
Paperback (Feb/13)
Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn
Hardback (Jun/12)
More...
First Impressions
Members read and review books often months before they're published. See what they think in First Impressions!
The Laws of Gravity
by Liz Rosenberg
4.5 Stars            (May/13)
The Sisterhood
by Helen Bryan
Four Stars            (Apr/13)
A Dual Inheritance
by Joanna Hershon
Four Stars            (May/13)
More...
  Latest BookBrowse News
British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales. (May 20 2013)
Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate... Full Story
rss RSS feed More...
 
BookBrowse Poll
Q: Which of these Summer movies based on books would you like to see? (Info on each movie here)
The Great Gatsby
Epic
Man of Steel
World War Z
The Lone Ranger
The Wolverine
R.I.P.D.
Percy Jackson
Paranoia
The Mortal Instruments
Select Any That Apply
Search: Title or Author
Free Newsletters
Bring Up the Bodies

Online Book Club
More about
Five Days
Join the discussion!


Win This Book!
The Pigeon Pie Mystery


Enter To Win Now!

wordplay
Solve this clue:
"I I M B T Give T T R"

and be entered
to win....
frame top
New Author
Interviews
Menna van Praag
Erica Brown
Helga Weiss
Kate Morton
frame bottom
HOME Book Submissions | Advertising | Library Subscriptions | Reviewing for BookBrowse | Contact Us