Ilene_M

I read this book without having any background on the lives of Jane and Cassandra Austen. While the book did a good job of painting a picture of the times in which they lived, I did not find it to be that interesting. It is a well written book and a fast read. I guess that I am just not that interested in the subject matter.

I read many, many books about the Holocaust, both non-fiction and historical fiction. The accounts are always disturbing. Some authors present the information in beautiful and compelling prose. In my opinion, this author did not do a great job. I understand her need to search for the truth about her family, but I do not feel that her writing did a great job in capturing her feelings. Some of the things that she wrote felt out of context. I also felt that she leaned to heavily on the writings of her son, Jonathan Safran Foer. I would not recommend this book.

I thought that this book was well written because of the alternating points of view from chapter to chapter. The spiritual aspect of the tale was intriguing. The book kept my interest from the beginning. However, I was disappointed by the way in which the author chose to tie everything together at the end of the book.