It seems as though the epistolary novel is staging a bit of a comeback right nowm and probably it's about time. I have read a few new books over the last year or so that have chosen this format, with a varying degree of success. Letters from Skye is entirely written through letters sent during the two World Wars. They look at the great romance that grew between pen friends writing between Skye and the USA in the run up and early part of WWI and then on the effect this has on the generations living through WWII. I have to say that when I read a book like this I want to be reaching for the tissues. I'm a bit of a sucker for books covering separation during times of war and it doesn't take all that much to make me cry while I read them, despite this Letters from Skye didn't quite hit the mark. The story itself is rather nicely done, and the twist in story did remind me of Bridges of Madison County. There was just something off about the tone of the letters that prevented it from hitting the mark. The letters seem too florid from the very start and just failed to convince me. I almost feel that Brockmole was trying too hard to leap directly into the melodrama and potential pathos of the story, in doing so she missed the mark totally for me. As a middle of the road drama this worked for me, as a grand sweeping romance (which is what it feels as though it is trying to be) it let me down.
No comments:
Post a Comment