⋙ [PDF] Bellman Black A Novel Diane Setterfield 9781476711959 Books

Bellman Black A Novel Diane Setterfield 9781476711959 Books

Download As PDF : Bellman Black A Novel Diane Setterfield 9781476711959 Books

Bellman Black A Novel Diane Setterfield 9781476711959 Books

Note: This book review, as well as many more, can also be found on my blog, The Baking Bookworm (www.thebakingbookworm.blogspot.ca).

Disclaimer: I sincerely wish to thank Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary e-book copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Review: While I have, of course, have heard of author Diane Setterfield I must come clean and sheepish admit that I haven't yet picked up her highly acclaimed "Thirteenth Tale". Shocking, I know. But due to the praise I had heard about her first book I eagerly requested this book, Bellman and Black, from NetGalley to review it.

I must preface this review by stating that I'm not a connoisseur of ghost stories. In fact, I was a little leery of requesting this book to review because, let's face it, I'm a wuss. But while the book is very atmospheric and has a strong gothic feel to it, it wasn't nearly as eerie or scary as I was expecting from a touted 'ghost story'. Either I'm not as wussy as I thought or this wasn't as chilling as I was hoping. Unfortunately I believe the latter to be true.

When I began this book I was fully expecting to be immersed in this book for two full days leaving my family to wash their own clothes and eat canned soup and grilled cheese because Mom had her head in a book instead of doing laundry or whipping up something delish for supper. Unfortunately, this book started off slow and never really took off for me. While my family was happy to eat like kings in clean clothes those nights I was left a little disappointed that Ms Setterfield didn't draw me into her story as much as I was expecting.

In my mind there is no debate about the fact that this book is well written. It has beautifully descriptive writing about the era, mills and Bellman's mourning emporium. Unfortunately, the storyline never gets the momentum it sorely needed, causing the plot to feel thin the entire way through. I kept waiting for something big and macabre to happen in this 'ghost' story but it never did.

I think the story got too bogged down in the details describing the business side of Bellman's life in the mill and the shop. Sure, I found some of the information interesting on how to run a mill and what people wore during their mourning period but I kept hoping that something big would suddenly happen to move the story along. There's only so much one can read about mourning attire before it gets to be too much.

I also felt a little jilted about a few things. I felt unsatisfied with the character development, the pace and the resolution of the story. Maybe it's just me but I never really 'got' who Black really was or what the agreement was between the two men which left me feeling very unfulfilled as a reader. He wasn't even all that menacing. And while we get a clear idea about Bellman the secondary characters felt neglected and not used to their potential (like Lizzie or Dora).

Overall, this book is well written but not nearly as macabre or chilling as I was expecting. While the author sets the scenes with vivid descriptions and the premise is interesting I never felt like the book grabbed my interest or got deeper than the book description provided on the cover. Since I feel that this book didn't stand out for me (and will soon be forgotten) I couldn't in good conscience give it a higher rating.

My Rating: 2/5 stars


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Bellman Black A Novel Diane Setterfield 9781476711959 Books Reviews

It is rather late in the game to be reviewing this book, which has certainly been approached from almost every conceivable angle. The most prevalent point of view seems to be that Bellman and Black was long and eagerly awaited but, alas, is not The Thirteenth Tale Redux. I too was one of multitudes who loved the gothic, convoluted tale of Vera Winter and her would-be biographer, yet I'm more than willing to read another type of novel from this gifted writer, and not blame her for failing to produce a clone of her first success. That's just me, of course.

I fell into Bellman and Black from the first paragraphs of the arcane and slightly unsettling prologue, and read on and on as the story morphed and changed and ended. I enjoyed it for all its oddities, or perhaps because of its oddities. Yet I can certainly understand why some reviewers disliked its slow pace, strange protagonist, and plethora of details about the mill and its operation, and then the morbid funerary shop with its yards and reams of the black accoutrements of death and mourning raised to a literary art form.

The story didn't offer neatly resolved conclusions, either, leaving a sense of mystery after the final page. In other words, this was a novel for reflection, for trying to understand, and to savor. It is not something to race through and then say "Next." One of the true indicators of a good book is its capacity to remain with you after you've finished it, sneaking into your thoughts from time to time. This book definitely does that for me. I was captivated from the beginning with the elegant prose which changed as the story progressed--more pedantic, heavy, almost plodding, for the period spent with the mill, and more flowery, Victorian, and lugubrious as the story progressed into the building and operating of Bellman and Black itself.

I'd suggest pretending that The Thirteenth Tale didn't exist, and read--or reread--this novel as a stand-alone effort by a talented writer. It might surprise you. After all, after having read Gone with the Wind and adored it, would a reader then condemn all subsequent Civil War novels as unworthy?
I'm surprised at how many negative reviews there are of this book. I read The Thirteenth Tale and loved it, but this book is excellent as well. It is the story of a driven man who is a talented businessman. His life is taken up by the pursuit of "busy-ness," and he is a micromanager. This isn't a person who stops to smell the roses; he is unable to appreciate fully his many blessings, and even after a harsh life lesson continues down his obsessive path. I think there is a good analogy there for all of us, and read this with great interest. I am eagerly awaiting the author's next novel.
Note This book review, as well as many more, can also be found on my blog, The Baking Bookworm (www.thebakingbookworm.blogspot.ca).

Disclaimer I sincerely wish to thank Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary e-book copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Review While I have, of course, have heard of author Diane Setterfield I must come clean and sheepish admit that I haven't yet picked up her highly acclaimed "Thirteenth Tale". Shocking, I know. But due to the praise I had heard about her first book I eagerly requested this book, Bellman and Black, from NetGalley to review it.

I must preface this review by stating that I'm not a connoisseur of ghost stories. In fact, I was a little leery of requesting this book to review because, let's face it, I'm a wuss. But while the book is very atmospheric and has a strong gothic feel to it, it wasn't nearly as eerie or scary as I was expecting from a touted 'ghost story'. Either I'm not as wussy as I thought or this wasn't as chilling as I was hoping. Unfortunately I believe the latter to be true.

When I began this book I was fully expecting to be immersed in this book for two full days leaving my family to wash their own clothes and eat canned soup and grilled cheese because Mom had her head in a book instead of doing laundry or whipping up something delish for supper. Unfortunately, this book started off slow and never really took off for me. While my family was happy to eat like kings in clean clothes those nights I was left a little disappointed that Ms Setterfield didn't draw me into her story as much as I was expecting.

In my mind there is no debate about the fact that this book is well written. It has beautifully descriptive writing about the era, mills and Bellman's mourning emporium. Unfortunately, the storyline never gets the momentum it sorely needed, causing the plot to feel thin the entire way through. I kept waiting for something big and macabre to happen in this 'ghost' story but it never did.

I think the story got too bogged down in the details describing the business side of Bellman's life in the mill and the shop. Sure, I found some of the information interesting on how to run a mill and what people wore during their mourning period but I kept hoping that something big would suddenly happen to move the story along. There's only so much one can read about mourning attire before it gets to be too much.

I also felt a little jilted about a few things. I felt unsatisfied with the character development, the pace and the resolution of the story. Maybe it's just me but I never really 'got' who Black really was or what the agreement was between the two men which left me feeling very unfulfilled as a reader. He wasn't even all that menacing. And while we get a clear idea about Bellman the secondary characters felt neglected and not used to their potential (like Lizzie or Dora).

Overall, this book is well written but not nearly as macabre or chilling as I was expecting. While the author sets the scenes with vivid descriptions and the premise is interesting I never felt like the book grabbed my interest or got deeper than the book description provided on the cover. Since I feel that this book didn't stand out for me (and will soon be forgotten) I couldn't in good conscience give it a higher rating.

My Rating 2/5 stars