A Gathering Light - Jennifer Donnelly

Advantages: Strong themes, involving characters
Disadvantages: Mispresented by the cover, weak ending

...of this book doesn't give a very good impression of it. It makes it seem quite different to what it is. It strays into the territory of books by authors like Maeve Binchy, which are generally aimed at women d'un certain age, and aren't what I was looking for. It also is aimed at young adult readers, which isn't made obvious. It also gives away an important plot point that isn't actually revealed until about three-quarters of the way into the book. ...
...very real, and I felt a lot of emotions invested in the novel, feeling for the plight of many of the characters, stuck in small-town America around 1900, and the desperation and helplessness experienced by many is well-described. Which makes the ending, in which everything suddenly gets solved in about 20 pages, feel a bit of a cheat. I put the book down, not feeling happy for the characters, but feeling disappointment for myself. I read all of that, ... Read review