A fairly disappointing read.
582338
Having read other books by this author, I felt fairly safe reading this story. Unfortunately I was mistaken. Through the entire story I felt as if I was waiting for something to happen. I almost stopped reading it many times. I felt that it moved too slowly and the woman was kinda clueless. The way she describes herself pretty much sums up my reaction to her. Dull, average and blah. I could not relate with her at all. I felt that the interaction between her and Alistair was good, but I got confused when Tony was added to the mix. Later I felt like he was added to get a "three some" going. Like he was a character added to garner a certain type of audience and this vastly disappointed me. It added nothing but confusion to the plot and was unnecessary. I felt that the basic storyline was ok, but nothing really happened. I kept expecting SOMETHING to happen and this was the only reason I kept reading. I guess I found it just boring.
1608999
For all the hype it has received, I found this to be a somewhat disappointing book.  The dual topics of two 19th socio-political movements - abolition of slavery and the beginning of the struggle for women's rights - are two of the most important subjects of American history.  Their emerging intersection in the first part of the 19th century is one of great tales of our nation's social development.  They always deserve great respect and depth of exploration.  So it's easy to see why Kidd chose her subject(s) and tried to tell a tale that needs to be told.  Unfortunately I don't think this book really adds much to our understanding of either movement.

There are at least 4 major flaws with the book: (1) the plot is too often predictable, (2) the characters tend toward one-dimensional cutouts, and (3) the story lines are too romanticized. But perhaps the fourth and worst offense is that, in taking the form of a historical novel, the book focuses on two characters, one of whom left a thin history which had to be filled in substantially by the author, and the other of whom is almost entirely fictional except for her name and one scene early in the book.

I don't doubt that the author wanted to write a serious novel about the early years of American movements to emancipate women and slaves.  But the two main characters she chose to tell the story left Kidd without enough real history to carry the story.  As a result she not only had to almost entirely invent one of them, but to give the story sufficient life she had to romanticize events in their lives.  Moreover, other characters who play key roles in the book and who carry the names of real persons also left too little real history behind them, so they emerge in the book as simply one-dimensional people who were all good, or all bad, or all one thing or another, so as to serve as tools who move the story along.  And where simple narrative fails, Kidd relies on a style that comes close to sensationalizing people, events, or larger socio-political environments.

In short, I found this to be a very unsatisfying book.  Some of the narrative in the middle had meat on it, but both the beginning and ending sections were wholly unsatisfying.  A third of the way through the book I found that I was asking myself why I was reading it.  Then, after a stronger middle section that left me hopeful, I read through to the end and I asked myself why I had read it.

For the reader with a strong interest in the issues Kidd addresses, I'd suggest passing on this book and instead to seek out other, deeper histories or historical novels with a stronger foundation of reality.
18572
The story itself is not the problem here, rather it is how the story is decorated that fails. It seems to me that the author has read too much of the pantheon of disaffected preppy authors: Irving, Cheever, and Auchincloss (as have I). Unfortunately she seems to miss the subtlety of these stories in this, I assume, her ode to them. As one reviewer correctly pointed out, the characters in the story live on the Vineyard, but they are certainly not island folk. In fact much of the settings (Exeter, Brown, Groton, Martha's Vineyard, etc..) seem more like an exercise in name dropping rather than important elements in plot development. This story could have been set anywhere and told the same story. If your hoping for a better understanding of the noblesse malaise then this is not the book for you.
850501
This book was an easy read. The story was predictable. The characters lacked dimension. The big reveal of the book was a giqnt let down.
The narrator mechanic was boring. There was not enough difference between the two narrators. I often got confused as to who was speaking.
This book is just ok, not great, but not terrible either. Mediocre at best
4038486
A pretty short book that I remember as being not that great of a read.  Maybe it was just me...
1634892
2 stars because it's not the worst book I've read.
2988924
While moderately enjoyable, overall this book was a disappointment.  It began with some mystery and intrigue that promised a great plot with twists and turns along the way, but came up empty in the end.

The premise of the book was actually very interesting and would have held my attention to the end had it been carried through for the duration of the book.  Unfortunately, the plot becomes secondary to a long break in the middle spent investing in a budding romance - and a very unlikely one at that.

Personally, I found much of The List very awkward to read.  As so many Christian authors tend to do, Whitlow used most of the book to deliver a sermon to his reading audience that likely will not apply well to most of his readers.  While some authors (most notably CS Lewis) can pull off such a challenge of integrating spiritual truths into a fictional story in a way that doesn't comprise the truth but is neither overtly offensive to the nonbeliever, most cannot do it well and Whitlow was no exception in my opinion.  It is as if he took a collection of anecdotal material and attempted to package it together in a book.

Furthermore, much of the dialogue and most of the relationships lacked the ring of sincerity.  While Whitlow uses plenty of detail to attempt to give insight into the characters, the reader is still left wondering who the character really is on a deeper level.

***Small Spoiler***  I found it an unlikely occurrence that the main character would be surrounded and raised under the influence of so many Christians and yet have so little knowledge about how to seek God.  Even more so, that nearly every person he came in contact with, villains aside, was a deeply devoted Christian.  That is just not a reality in today's world.  And more frustrating yet, the main character suddenly has a much larger basin of knowledge after his conversion after only hours of study. ***End of Spoiler***

I found the characters to be superficial and predictable.  Most unsettling for me, was the manner which portrayed how God works in the lives of believers.  True, it may be that God chooses to work through visions, dreams and prophecies at times, but not with every Christian all the time.  And with circumstances such as a woman being certain of what God was doing because her dead husband appeared in dreams came off more like mysticism than the workings of God.  The spiritual warfare took on almost a spirit of magic in my perception.  Certainly, Scripture was used to support everything, but seemed out of context in many places.

Despite his long attempt at character development, I found the characters difficult to relate to.  I felt they did not act as a normal person would under the circumstances (even in small instances), and it left the plot both unimaginative and unrealistic.  However, despite my frustrations with the weaknesses of the writing, I intend to give Whitlow a second chance and try another of his books.  Hopefully he will leave the direct preaching out and let the story speak for itself.
2375319
I was looking foreward to reading this book, but frankly was disappointed.  It all seemed a bit manufactured, as if somebody was repeating a story they had once heard their friend tell after he heard it from his grandmother.  Perhaps the author is too far removed from the events.  The book wasn't terrible, it was just one of the few books where it never once occured to me to lend it out to a friend.
2560297
PRINCESS ELIZABETH'S SPY is a decent enough read. However, overall, I was disappointed. There aren't many surprises in this novel; I was hoping for a bit more twists and turns but instead found it predictable. I was not a fan of the way the narrative jumps around; I'd have preferred not to know who was working with the Nazis before Maggie did. The "mystery" was weak, and there were elements that made me wonder how suitable Maggie was for a spying life because she missed a lot of things. All this I could have lived with, though, had there been depth to this novel. The characters and the relationships were flat. I didn't care about any of them, and I didn't think they cared about each other either, regardless of what they might say. You always hear "Tell, don't show," but I don't think I've seen such a perfect example of WHY you should tell and not show until I read this book. I don't even have much of a handle on Maggie; I had no idea how she felt - except when the narrator informed us that she was "surprised", etc - and she's the main character. Additionally, the historical aspect is not woven into the narrative seamlessly but is more dumped, and it just hardly ever felt like the forties, although I did enjoy the quotes from newspapers/radio/etc that MacNeal included.

I read this book quickly, so it was a pleasant read and honestly, I think it'd make a considerably more enjoyable film. Also, I have not read the first book in this series. It's clear that I missed out on some of the backstory, but I had no problem catching up. Unfortunately, I have no interest in backtracking or continuing on with the series.
4590415
Not much to this book, but somewhat of a fun read.
1372657
After high hopes for this book, having heard an author's interview on NPR & read several reviews, both of us were somewhat disappointed.  Although the writing was adequate, it did not help the reader feel empathy for the main characters.  Matthews' style is competent, but nowhere near the page-turning thrill of a David Baldacci book, or an elegant LeCarre mystery.  The extreme violence in general & the close-to-misogynistic torture of the women in particular were almost unreadable at times.  The ending was unsatisfactory & although it lends itself to a sequel, neither of us would be in a hurry to read more about these lost & disillusioned undercover agents, who seem to have lost not only their identities, but also their souls. -- Diana & Rob
2278092
This is an average read that starts out reasonably well, but never really picks up any steam or suspense.  The narrative device of Will the journalist writing a book about an incident over a decade in the making tends to make it lumber and be rife with the benefit of hindsight, thus ruining the suspense. In addition, the focus on the love triangle between the two agents and Isabelle gets pretty tedious after a while.  The whole Muslim extremists and defector from China angle is too watered down, and the issue of the Hong Kong Handover could have been interesting but was watered down by endless disputes over whether or not Margaret Thatcher, Chris Patten and the Tories were good people. I think history has already answered that one.  The worst thing about the book is the ending, where he tries to wrap things up. Again, because of the narrative device of Will the journalist writing the book, we get things from his perspective, and a whole lot of reported speech instead of dialogue, which breaks the cardinal rule of storytelling: "Show, don't tell."
The way he captures life in Hong Kong is well done, but for me, not exactly the best book in the suspense/thriller/espionage genre that I've ever read.
3626447
This book was mildly entertaining, but a definite disappointment.  The premise, about a interstellar passenger ship's journey through its ports of call, requires a series of scenes on the various planets.  However the writer fails to join these scenes into a coherent plot, resulting in a book that feels more like a series of short stories.  Also, the main character is quite the ladies' man, and his exploits with various women in different ports of call are rendered in sometimes graphic detail.  overall, i was glad this book was free, but I'm never getting that time back.
2419630
I expected a lot more from this book and have to say I was disappointed.  There was nothing "bad" about the book-it was a quick, easy and nice read...but not memorable.  The plotlines were predictable and the characters did not have much depth (particularly the father, Hank).  I found the writing mediocre most of the time.
There were a few great moments, more at the end of the book than the beginning.  I knew how it was going to end, but didn't really care.
There are much better books out there!
1140266
A disappointment. I bought the audio version and turned it off mid way through the first disc. Probably an interesting story when first published as a magazine article but not worthy of being made into a book. Too much padding. Including the author's attempts at showing his empathy based upon the author's travels and experiences. There really was no need (or, at least, I had no interest in) giving a biography of the protagonist and there wasn't enough info about his stay in the wilderness to fill the book. Perhaps it would be an easier, and more enjoyable, read than listen so one would be able to skip over uninteresting parts.
1019086
I thought it would be more thorough, but I found the characters to be generic and the plot to be anti-climactic. Moreover, the protagonist of the story showed signs of brilliance, but ultimately let down the reader.
2487583
The Lost Symbol was an okay read. The symbolism was enough to hold my interest and the weaving of Washington D.C.'s historical landmarks and artwork into this work of fiction was almost impressive. However, I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the book. Other than our hero, Robert Langdon(who we all know very well by now), the characters lack depth. The plots of Brown's novels are becoming quite formulaic. While this formula was also apparent in The Da Vinci Code, that book still held enough mysteries to surprise me in the end. The Lost Symbol failed to do this. It was all incredibly predictable. Not to mention the fact that I felt like I was still reading the books introduction when I was down to the last 100 pages of the book.
Knowing this book dealt heavily with the Masons intrigued me. I was interested to see what lore and cospiracy theories would be entwined into the story line but it all seemed to fall short of my expectations in the end. The Masons are the center of many conspiracy theories surrounding Washington's architecture and artwork. I felt that, even though many were included, many were also overlooked. Without that intricate story line that I was expecting, Dan Brown's flawed writing abilities were more apparent.
I wouldn't say that this book isn't worth reading. I just think I built it up too much in my mind. Just don't go into it with super-high expectations.