Depressing and too many characters
583899
I have read 2 other books by the author and in general think she's a good writer.  But I just couldn't get into this book.  There were way too many characters to keep track of.  By this book I had suspected the author had lost a child and did indeed confirm this fact.  The books I've read seem to revolve around tragedy and children.  While women who have experienced this might be able to relate, I think her books in general are depressing.  I wish she'd write about something happy for a change.  This book started out talking about the mothers in China who are being forced to give up their baby girls--starts out sad, and continues sad.  I was listening to this on audio book and the reader was pretty awful too. I'm going to try the other couple books I haven't read and hope that she might have written something a little more upbeat.  This audio book is going back to the library.
2080504
Ms. Rowling has a gift for story telling but as i ventured further into this book , frankly i couldn't finish it. it seemed to go on "forever" and the plot has many, many characters which in a series would be OK, but for a stand alone, it is wearisome to this reader to have so many characters and little except the death of a counselman to bind them. the characters- the children and some of the adults, are very sad indeed and that has nothing to do with the death that occurred.  i hope that one day i can go back and finish it but for me i can't do it right now. I hardly ever NOT finish a book, bad  or otherwise.
660577
Very slow read.  too many characters.  Many names are only mentioned once but it tires the reader with information that is not appreciated  Overall story is sad and I was not entertained by reading this book,  I was confused at many times because the author jumped around going from place to place and person to person.  Overall, I found the book a boor and almost stopped reading it several times
3880053
I wanted to like this book, but it just kept getting more and more depressing with every page.  At the end, I was just flipping through the pages trying to get through it.  I eventually got tired of the characters and didn't even finish the book.
1343396
This is beautifully written but I had to put it down because it is so depressing. I'll return to it after some lighter reading, e.g. Grisham/Connelly.
1735181
There are too many characters to follow.  They are not all developed.  It could have more editing and maybe it would not have been such a long story.  Too many involved descriptions.  Locations of characters, Where are they now in the scheme of the plot?
4320929
The entire book is gruesome and depressing. I must admit though, I'm reading the second book cuz I really want something good to happen with these characters. Half way through book two and it's still a sad read every night.
2713383
Omg. I liked the first two but this is getting out of hand ready for the series to end. This is too much and way too many characters. Honestly you should've stopped after book 2#.
3557757
Too many characters doing so many things indepently of each other caused me to give up before fininshing.
1355706
I found the book  to be very depressing but well written.  The back and forth chapters between the main characters was very confusing.
4549819
Too many characters to keep track of made the story (for me) drag. To be honest, I quit reading it.
3943802
It was a sad, depressing story.  Too much explanation in between.  A bit wordy on some of the thoughts and such of people in the story.
3522286
I am not sure this book was one for me to read or recommend.  A very dark and depressing story with the main characters not the type of people I would enjoy knowing.  But I read it all through, guess it will help me to recognize this type of person in the future and know to avoid putting them in my friend circle.  but do not take my word for it, read it your self.
2518433
This is a really depressing book. After 'Call the midwife' and 'Shadows of the workhouse', this was a real let down. It is filled with endless terrible tragedies and leaves one feeling hopeless.  There is a story about a mother with 6 children - every one of them dies of TB. Then there are the explicit details about an abortion procedure that was unsuccessful as well as a woman living on a ship 'servicing' the men from age 14.

The only part I enjoyed was the last chapter which described what the author and nuns did after leaving Nonnatus house.

Not recommended if you are sensitive or like uplifting books. I struggled to finish it.
4711704
I felt the story dragged. There was too many characters in the story and so many names to try to remember, for a simple story line and simple book.
1285159
I usually read about one book a week, and books of many different genres. This is by far one of the worst books I have read in a long time.
 Although there was one plot, there were far too many characters, and their own personal stories were not well developed. It was a very dark book, from the beginning to the end.  Throughout the whole book, the reader questions what exactly is going on, and I really don't feel like you got a good sense of closure by the end of the book.
4468545
It is a sad, depressing story.  I didn't read all the way through it as I got tired of the depressing part after a few chapters.