Book Title: Ghostwritten
Author: Isabel Wolff
Date Started: February 17th 2014
Date Completed: March 1s 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Historical, Romance
Rating: Five stars
Review:
Ghostwritten was intriguing throughout and presented a perfect mix of a modern contemporary and a historical memoir. Being much more enjoyable than I expected, I enjoyed every minute of this novel and was genuinely touched at various points in the story.
Jenni is a ghostwriter - she writes down other people's ideas and stories. Mostly self-help guides and the odd celebrity biography. But at a friend's wedding she's offered something different. The chance to record the untold story of a victim of Japan's invasion of Java in the Second World War is almost too hard to resist. The only problem is it involves going back to a place Jenni vowed never to return to again, for fear of unearthing a secret she's kept silent about her whole life.
The writing was really easy to slip into and quite quick to read. This meant that I could really focus on the actual story and all the emotions (and there are a lot of emotions). It also made it realistic when it came to the characters and how they thought. Although I usually like very complex characters that have strange thoughts and a poetic inner-monologue, I was still able to connect with these characters and therefore understand how they dealt with what was going on around them.
I suppose the down-side of this was that there wasn’t really anything particularly unique about the writing style, but with such a memorable and in-depth story, I don’t think that really mattered.
The story had some really good tension with Jenni’s secret, and also some of the choices Klara had to face during her time in the camps. However, I felt like some of this tension was released far too quickly. Jenni’s big secret is referred to so many times throughout the beginning of the book that, when it came out, it all flooded out and then seemed to have very little side-effects. I’m not entirely sure how realistic that is - but it lost a lot of fictional tension and consequences.
I’ve always been interested in history, but I didn’t know very much about Japan’s occupation of Java until I read this book. It actually encouraged me to go and look up some more information, as it really fascinated me. Right at the end of the book, it also talks about the attitudes the survivors from Java were treated with once they got to safety, and it made me question what we actually consider a serious event or horrible experience.
There was a really nice balance between the contemporary and historical genres, as well as the mix of very serious issues, and then some smaller ones. I, personally, was more interested in the events in Java, however Jenni’s own ‘smaller’ problems did fit in nicely with the story.
I really liked the end of the book. It was very touching and drew all the necessary strings together.
All of the major characters in Ghostwritten are very likable. This, again, made it very easy to slip into. The only issue I partly have was that the two main characters were very similar when I thought more about them. I suppose, by showing them in two very different situations, this didn’t affect the story too much, but I would have liked to see a bit more differentiation between the women to make them individual.
Jenni, the first narrator, is introduced quickly and shown as a very nice person. We learn a little bit about her early on in the story, and that secret is kept until around two-thirds through the book. I’ve already mentioned that being released a little too quickly. But she is a lovely character.
I found Klara’s story a lot more interesting, as it seemed a lot more important than Jenni’s. She, also, seems like a very lovely and thoughtful person.
The pace started off quickly, with an interesting prologue. Unfortunately, for me it lost its momentum half-way through, so I started to slack a little on the reading. It did, however, pick up again near the end.
Even so, it is quite a slow book that needs its reader to take its time and think about the story as they go along. It’s a comparison between two worlds that are actually more similar than they at first seem, and I think a reader really needs to be thoughtful when they work out what these aspects are.
I would recommend Ghostwritten to fans of historical fiction. It's extremely interesting from a amateur historian's point of view, and I think fascinating for anyone else. It's also a very lovely and touching contemporary and a nice simple read.
Thank you to HarperFiction for providing me with this Proof Copy to review!
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18708073-ghostwritten
Ghostwritten was intriguing throughout and presented a perfect mix of a modern contemporary and a historical memoir. Being much more enjoyable than I expected, I enjoyed every minute of this novel and was genuinely touched at various points in the story.
Jenni is a ghostwriter - she writes down other people's ideas and stories. Mostly self-help guides and the odd celebrity biography. But at a friend's wedding she's offered something different. The chance to record the untold story of a victim of Japan's invasion of Java in the Second World War is almost too hard to resist. The only problem is it involves going back to a place Jenni vowed never to return to again, for fear of unearthing a secret she's kept silent about her whole life.
The writing was really easy to slip into and quite quick to read. This meant that I could really focus on the actual story and all the emotions (and there are a lot of emotions). It also made it realistic when it came to the characters and how they thought. Although I usually like very complex characters that have strange thoughts and a poetic inner-monologue, I was still able to connect with these characters and therefore understand how they dealt with what was going on around them.
I suppose the down-side of this was that there wasn’t really anything particularly unique about the writing style, but with such a memorable and in-depth story, I don’t think that really mattered.
The story had some really good tension with Jenni’s secret, and also some of the choices Klara had to face during her time in the camps. However, I felt like some of this tension was released far too quickly. Jenni’s big secret is referred to so many times throughout the beginning of the book that, when it came out, it all flooded out and then seemed to have very little side-effects. I’m not entirely sure how realistic that is - but it lost a lot of fictional tension and consequences.
I’ve always been interested in history, but I didn’t know very much about Japan’s occupation of Java until I read this book. It actually encouraged me to go and look up some more information, as it really fascinated me. Right at the end of the book, it also talks about the attitudes the survivors from Java were treated with once they got to safety, and it made me question what we actually consider a serious event or horrible experience.
There was a really nice balance between the contemporary and historical genres, as well as the mix of very serious issues, and then some smaller ones. I, personally, was more interested in the events in Java, however Jenni’s own ‘smaller’ problems did fit in nicely with the story.
I really liked the end of the book. It was very touching and drew all the necessary strings together.
All of the major characters in Ghostwritten are very likable. This, again, made it very easy to slip into. The only issue I partly have was that the two main characters were very similar when I thought more about them. I suppose, by showing them in two very different situations, this didn’t affect the story too much, but I would have liked to see a bit more differentiation between the women to make them individual.
Jenni, the first narrator, is introduced quickly and shown as a very nice person. We learn a little bit about her early on in the story, and that secret is kept until around two-thirds through the book. I’ve already mentioned that being released a little too quickly. But she is a lovely character.
I found Klara’s story a lot more interesting, as it seemed a lot more important than Jenni’s. She, also, seems like a very lovely and thoughtful person.
The pace started off quickly, with an interesting prologue. Unfortunately, for me it lost its momentum half-way through, so I started to slack a little on the reading. It did, however, pick up again near the end.
Even so, it is quite a slow book that needs its reader to take its time and think about the story as they go along. It’s a comparison between two worlds that are actually more similar than they at first seem, and I think a reader really needs to be thoughtful when they work out what these aspects are.
I would recommend Ghostwritten to fans of historical fiction. It's extremely interesting from a amateur historian's point of view, and I think fascinating for anyone else. It's also a very lovely and touching contemporary and a nice simple read.
Thank you to HarperFiction for providing me with this Proof Copy to review!
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18708073-ghostwritten
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