Community Reviews
It was great the last 25% of the book. She just took too long to get to the point. Too much filler and not enough real content.
This was my second time re-reading it, but the first time I finish it in English.
I had forgotten almost everything about it except the plot twist, which I consider to be Kate Morton's best. And since that was all I could remember, reading it while knowing about the identity switch made me see everything in such a different light. I could catch the double meaning of almost everything Dorothy (originally Vivien) said, especially to her children.
I had forgotten the ending, though. The happy ending. Jimmy making it out alive, the house going to his family, him and Vivien being happy and knowing they both made it. Ugh. I love it.
This book is a bit too long, though. Maybe Dolly's parts about her past and her dreams and her confabulations were a bit extensive. In the end, it's like they didn't even matter. Although they did help to make who Dolly was and to plant the seeds of who Dorothy was going to be, they made both women coincide.
I also love that Vivien ended up making for herself the future that Jimmy had told her about. She got the farmhouse and the many kids, just like he told her.
I also liked how the transition from Vivien to Dorothy was done. Throughout the book, the original Dorothy Smitham was always referred to as Dolly till the moment she died. Later, when Vivien got off the train and decided she was going to be someone else, she gave the name Dorothy, and from that point on, she was referred to as Dorothy. Not Dolly, but Dorothy. Even the chapters in the book are named in that way to separate both women and hide the truth at the same time. It's right in your face but you just can't see it.
I also liked how the pictures were handled. In the first picture we encounter, Dolly and Vivien are arm in arm, but since it doesn't say who is who, Dorothy's identity is protected. It only comes to light when we see Vivien's picture by herself and two different people know her by two different names (and lives).
All in all, a very good book. I was scared re-reading it would be dull since I knew what happened. But only knowing the plot twist didn't ruin it, it just made the whole plot shine in a very different light. Maybe I will have to read again it in another 10 years.
I had forgotten almost everything about it except the plot twist, which I consider to be Kate Morton's best. And since that was all I could remember, reading it while knowing about the identity switch made me see everything in such a different light. I could catch the double meaning of almost everything Dorothy (originally Vivien) said, especially to her children.
I had forgotten the ending, though. The happy ending. Jimmy making it out alive, the house going to his family, him and Vivien being happy and knowing they both made it. Ugh. I love it.
This book is a bit too long, though. Maybe Dolly's parts about her past and her dreams and her confabulations were a bit extensive. In the end, it's like they didn't even matter. Although they did help to make who Dolly was and to plant the seeds of who Dorothy was going to be, they made both women coincide.
I also love that Vivien ended up making for herself the future that Jimmy had told her about. She got the farmhouse and the many kids, just like he told her.
I also liked how the transition from Vivien to Dorothy was done. Throughout the book, the original Dorothy Smitham was always referred to as Dolly till the moment she died. Later, when Vivien got off the train and decided she was going to be someone else, she gave the name Dorothy, and from that point on, she was referred to as Dorothy. Not Dolly, but Dorothy. Even the chapters in the book are named in that way to separate both women and hide the truth at the same time. It's right in your face but you just can't see it.
I also liked how the pictures were handled. In the first picture we encounter, Dolly and Vivien are arm in arm, but since it doesn't say who is who, Dorothy's identity is protected. It only comes to light when we see Vivien's picture by herself and two different people know her by two different names (and lives).
All in all, a very good book. I was scared re-reading it would be dull since I knew what happened. But only knowing the plot twist didn't ruin it, it just made the whole plot shine in a very different light. Maybe I will have to read again it in another 10 years.
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