by Sheridan Hay, Vanessa Benjamin
In this coming of age story of a young Tasmanian girl, wallflower Rosemary, only Walter Geist, both a tragic character and albino, is truly interesting. And perhaps Oscar, at first. With his handsome looks that seemingly - nonsense of course - contradict his a-sexuality. The other characters populat...
Not bad but certainly disappointing. Having read Byats's "Possession" and Carlos Ruiz Zafón's "The shadow of the wind" (ok, and admitting that I dumbly assumed their influence on Hay's story), I expected much more.Without the prejudices, "The secret of lost things" could be a good companion for a so...
This was a somewhat interesting read. I liked the setting of the bookstore and the idea of a lost novel, but the characters lacked development and were somewhat unbelievable. I was expecting more from this book.
I really like a lot of the odd characters in this book, but the story seemed "much ado about nothing", and the whole pursuit if the missing manuscript is a very dull story. The one segment that held some intimacy between characters was just plain yucky and ruined the entire book for me.
I thought I would really like this book but I'm sorry to say was disappointed. A young girl named Rosemary comes to New York City following the death of her mother and secures a job in a bookstore called the Arcade that deals in rare and valuable books. There were several employees of the bookstore...
I intended through almost the entire book to give it four stars just based on the characters; however, the ending made me want to give it only one or two...I settled for a compromise. I WANTED to love this book, and I did-through about the first half. I loved Rosemary, she moved to New York and star...
This book was an enjoyable read - about a used bookstore, and the protagonist's name is Rosemary! One of the many books I've found at the Salvation, and I read it because it was there, kwim? This author has promise - lovely use of prose, but the book doesn't really go anywhere, and the characters ...
This book started off good and ended up making me terribly depressed. The way that everyone in the shop interacts with everyone else is just wrong. I mean, I realize that there are cruel people but you'd expect at least one decent person in the cast of characters and the main character turns a bli...
I laughed in recognition of the eccentric bookstore staff and patrons. Hay's characters are vivid and unique, each heading in his or her own direction. I was torn between the urge to finish the book in one sitting and the desire to prolong and savor it. Haunting loneliness and the excitement of new ...
I really wanted to like this book much more than I did. The premise sounded so promising - a coming of age story, a lost manuscript, a large used bookstore, a Melville tie-in. I love literary stories, and there is some beautiful language here, but it wasn't enough to make it 3 stars for me. In fact,...
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