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Home > Books > Fiction > Modern Fiction Books > T Modern Fiction Books > The Secret River - Kate Grenville

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for The Secret River - Kate Grenville

Rating Summary based on 7 reviews

  • 5 Stars
    		3
  • 4 Stars
    		3
  • 3 Stars
    		1
  • 2 Stars
    		0
  • 1 Star
    		0

Detailed rating

  • Characters
  • How does it compare to other works by the same author?
  • How does it compare to similar books?
  • Readability
  • Story
  		• 4.0
  		• 2.9
  		• 3.9
  		• 3.9
  		• 3.9

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  • 37 of 37 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of brokenangelkisses

    Level 6 brokenangelkisses

    Member since 24/11/2003

    Reviews written: 175

    5 Stars How a good man made bad choices in Victorian London and Australia 28/05/2011
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages convncing depiction of places, characters and cultures clashing

    Disadvantages Disadvantages some may prefer a more concise tale. This is a bit of a saga.

    Ok, I’ll confess straight away: I loved this novel. If I could give it ten out of five stars, I would. The title made me wary (especially after having recently read ‘The Savage Garden’, similarly titled but which I found to be exceedingly dull) and the mountains of critical praise that dominated the back and inside covers made me dubious – could any book really be this good? Fortunately, the answer was hell yes. Background Kate Grenville is an Australian writer whose last novel was published five years before this one and won her the Orange Prize. I can only say that the time spent on this one ... more
  • 55 of 55 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of sunmeilan

    Level 9 sunmeilan

    Member since 05/05/2005

    Reviews written: 1138

    4 Stars From convict to landowner 31/01/2007
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Interesting, compelling story

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Killing of natives, violence

    I tend to steer clear of the sort of books that are in bestseller lists, simply because I am so often disappointed when they aren't as good as I was expecting. Even those books selected for last year's Man Booker Prize wouldn't usually have been on my to read list. However, with a book token in hand, I decided to give this book a try. Having been nominated for and expected to win the Man Booker Prize last year, Kate Grenville was finally pipped at the post by Kiran Desai. William Thornhill is from a large family living in London, all struggling to make a living so that they can eat their next ... more
  • 34 of 34 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of brittle1906

    Level 7 brittle1906

    Member since 05/03/2005

    Reviews written: 492

    4 Stars A Convict's Tale. 'The Secret River'. 17/01/2010
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages An insight into the life of a transported felon.

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Speech in italics put me off

    Review of The Secret River by Kate Grenville I am reviewing the paperback version of the book. Publisher Canongate Books Ltd, 352 pages, ISBN 978-1841958286, cover price £7.99. On the strength of a friend's recommendation I borrowed this novel from our local library, he had rated the novel very highly, so I thought I would give it a go. I had not come across the author Kate Grenville before so her writing was new and fresh to me. The Plot The book begins in London, the year is 1806. William Thornhill is happily married to his childhood sweetheart Sal, they have one child and another expected ... more
  • 35 of 35 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Spottydog11

    Spottydog11

    5 Stars The Secret River 18/11/2009
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Great descriptions of the times, Australia

    Disadvantages Disadvantages None

    The Secret River London 1806 - William Thornhill, happily wedded to his childhood sweetheart Sal, is a waterman on the River Thames. Life is tough but bearable until William makes a mistake, a bad mistake for which he and his family are made to pay dearly. His sentence: to be transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is the book of the month at our book club and is probably not a book I would have chosen for myself but is an extremely interesting portrail into life for people in that age and of the two countries. This story is basically ... more
  • 37 of 37 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of chcouper

    chcouper

    3 Stars The Secret River - Don't be Fooled by the Awards! 07/04/2007
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages Easy to read

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Moral ambiguity and over-worked writing style

    I chose this book because it had been nominated for the Man booker Prize and the author, Kate Grenville, had previously won the Orange Prize. I don't know enough about the world of literature to understand if these awards are prestigious in the bigger scheme of things, but was presuming that it meant the book couldn't be all that bad. The critique of the novel on the back page declares is as a book "everyone should read" and describes it as "compelling", "magnificent" and "brilliantly atmospheric" amongst other things. My disappointment in the book started on the opening page. The book opens ... more
  • 12 of 12 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of TheBestGirl

    TheBestGirl

    5 Stars The Life of William Thornhill 05/03/2008
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages nice book

    Disadvantages Disadvantages nothing

    About the writer Kate Grenville was born 1950 in Sydney, Australia. She studied Creative Writing in Sydney and in Colorado (USA) and lived in Europe for some years. When she came back to Australia, she wrote her first book, a collection of stories with the title "Bearded Ladies". She has won some prizes, especially for her book "The Secret River" which has been an international best-seller. She has won for example the Commonwealth Prize for Literature. Kate Grenville is a very successful writer and in the moment she lives in Sydney with her family. Kate Grenville wrote this book because she ... more
  • 5 of 5 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of ABShopper

    ABShopper

    4 Stars Absorbing tale of early Australian settlers and aborigines 11/11/2009
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Highly readable, plausible historical novel.

    Disadvantages Disadvantages A little slow-paced in parts.

    This is the first book I have read by Kate Grenville. I chose it mainly because of the subject matter. Having visited Australia a number of times, I am familiar with the book's settings of Sydney and the Hawkesbury River. I have also read a few factual histories of the early colony and thought it would be good to explore a fictional account. Having said that, it should be acknowledged that the author's own research into her own family history provided a lot of the material for the book. In short, the book is an account of the life of one William Thornhill who is born into poverty in the East ... more
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