I found the first half of the book a little slow. It was hard to get to know the characters as I found their development quite slow. I understand that the story is told from the point of view of a 11 year old and some things she just can't understand, still some parts were really frustraiting. For example, Shenny realized that Woody's drawings have changed over the past year to have a darker tone and depicted mainly the events around her mother, still it would take Shenny over half of the book to realize that her sister is trying to tell her something and not just show her drawings to recieve praise. It's those little parts, where I just wanted to shake Shenny and tell her to stop being so oblivious that frustraited me. As well as Woody's muteness. I am sure the author did a lot of research, but still it did not seem entirely believable. It made me question her developmental state before her mother's dissapearance. This book did make me frustraited at times, and at one point at time I just wanted to shut it and throw it out, yet I went through with it and at the end I found it did get better. If you liked To Kill a Mockingbird you will probably enjoy this novel. I thought the story was very good. It was, at times, intense and heart wrenching. It would be difficult not to love the main character and story teller. My only difficulty with the book was trying to keep up with the cast of characters. I didn't want to put this book on the same level as To Kill a Mockingbird gave it 4.5 stars. Recommene to all.
What do You think about Düş Bahçelerinin Uzağında (2010)?
Really enjoyed this narrator---a bit of a mystery, too!
—demi441
