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71 évaluations au total, 8 avec avis

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M. Mahauthaman

Even as an O'Farell fan, I cannot recommend this

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 13 décembre 2017

Achat vérifié

It seems to be quite commonplace in the negative reviews for ‘The Distance Between Us’ for the reviewers to actually be quite fond of Maggie O’Farrell’s other works but let down somewhat by this particular book.

I definitely fall into this category as well; ‘This Must Be the Place’ and ‘The Hand That First Held Mine’ are among my favourite books I’ve read in recent years, and I’ve very much enjoyed her others as well (I think ‘My Lover’s Lover’ and her autobiography are the only ones I haven’t read), but in contrast to those, ‘The Distance Between Us’ falls painfully short for me. O’Farrell is normally very adept at putting us directly into the shoes of her flawed but endearing and believable characters as we get snippets of their lives and gradually piece a narrative together (generally out of chronological order), and while her style of narration is still very much evident in this book, I think the story overall is hindered by two major points.

***Mild spoilers ahead***

The first is that the key focus of the story is a blossoming love between its two characters, but this love and the affections involved never had time to develop and seem to spring out of nowhere. The first half of the book covers the lives of our protagonists Stella and Jake, from opposite ends of the globe and how they find themselves in the same place. This section of the book echoes O’Farrell’s approach in her other books much more and is enjoyable to read; we find out about all the influencing forces in the extraordinary-but-believable lives of Stella and Jake very organically through reading the thoughts of their families (extending as far back as Jake’s estranged grandmother, even) and learning about their ancestry and the accompanying effects this has on them living in places they are not native to. This slow, character-building work is arguably the best part of O’Farrell’s writing, and probably the most enjoyable aspect of this book. However, the culmination of the plot, when the two finally meet, undoes all this swiftly as the two characters (who we spend half the book learning are guarded, slightly awkward and independent individuals) immediately fall hopelessly in love with each other and then begin acting in ways that seem to deeply contrast everything that has come before. It feels like a separate novel completely, and while we do still see flashbacks that expand the backstories for the characters, it feels somewhat pointless as these revelations have no real bearing on the current events at all, as the characters become defined purely by their love for each other. While it is briefly acknowledged by the characters, we get no real context or build-up for this ‘love at first sight’, and if you cannot enjoy a story where the romance isn’t developed beforehand, you may well find the book un-salvageable after this halfway point, as I did.

The other major issue with the book as the character of Jake, whom I found to be staggeringly unlikable. His backstory is interesting, and you can easily empathise with the difficult situation he finds himself in during the first half of the story, but his likability erodes quite rapidly after he decides to flee from his problems and meets Stella. I’ve already expressed my dislike for the way the characters fall for each other so quickly, but the character of Jake seems to take this to extremes with repeated descriptions of how obsessed he becomes with Stella, and it only gets worse. Far more troublingly, he becomes quite aggressive and controlling as well, and this is where I really took issue with the book: it is never quite clear whether this aspect of the character is intentional or whether this is meant to convey the passion of the romance, but I found it quite bizarre to read. Jake is certainly never called out by any other character for how his behavior and repeatedly justifies himself (when Stella is trying to avoid him, he physically restrains her, drags her into a laundry room against her will and locks the door while exclaiming how difficult she is, later explaining it is his ‘only option’), so the reader is left to assume this behavior is fine and Jake is meant to remain a protagonist. This, with the way he seems to repeatedly order her to do things when her attention is away from him (and Stella’s reluctant obedience), and his constant drilling of personal questions all give off a very nasty vibe that makes the spontaneous love story even harder to fathom.

While I didn’t enjoy the book myself, I can’t give it a lower rating because it may resonate much more with readers who don’t have preconceptions of Maggie O’Farrell, and indeed I may have just missed a key theme of the story that others pick up on right away because I do find it hard to believe that such an unremarkable and straightforward love story could have been produced by an otherwise talented author.

15 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

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Woodford Mum

Just didn't get it

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 25 février 2022

Achat vérifié

I have read several of Maggie O'Farrell's books and enjoyed them reasonably well but I found this one to be a huge disappointment. Chosen as a read by a member of my book club, so I think it will give us lots to discuss as I expect we'll all feel quite differently. Generally I felt this was a pretty unlikely and yet tame romance novel dressed up as semi-literature. The dragging out of the main characters whys and wherefores - Stella and Jake - was irritating and in many places quite boring. I just struggled to care. Stella and Nina her sister's relationship was annoying too. Basically I was annoyed.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

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Amazon Customer

Disappointed

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 27 février 2021

Achat vérifié

Book was described as good condition with the new front cover. The book that arrived was tarnished and had marks all over it. The cover was also not the new one.

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Mrs K Goff

not her best work

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 6 novembre 2014

Achat vérifié

I found this story frustrating - maybe I am a bit bored of the Maggie o Farrell theme of sisters and loss but it just seemed a bit ridiculous and not very believable.

Une personne a trouvé cela utile

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Gill

Will they won't they?

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 27 mars 2017

Achat vérifié

Who cares if they do or don't. Lacklustre characters, predictable plot. If I wasn't in a book club I wouldn't have finished it.

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paramita mukherjee

I hate to say this but this book is a hot mess

Commenté en Inde le 5 août 2018

Achat vérifié

I really kept this book aside and thought what is going on for a good 2 mins. The plot is super confusing. I know, I have read stories which has two different plots from the starting and ends up interweaving at the end . But so much confusion for a simple love story is not worthed for me.

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Leslie Gerkens

This is a Romance Novel

Commenté aux États-Unis le 13 juin 2021

Achat vérifié

I really like the author--I've read a few of her books and enjoyed them but I didn't realize that this book, unlike the others I've read by this author, is a straight up romance novel. I don't enjoy romance novels because they tend to be formulaic and I prefer to read about things other than romantic relationships. So, just know that that is what this is and you can decide if you're down for it.

Une personne a trouvé cela utile

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Sascot

Difficult and disjointed read

Commenté aux États-Unis le 22 septembre 2017

Achat vérifié

Greatly disappointed by this book, the format of which drove me up the wall. Short, quasi 'chapters', whose time lines jump all over the place. As a result, just when you get into the action, it stops and you are catapulted back to the person's childhood or a past memory. I persevered in the expectation of finding excitement to the story only to be even more let down at the end. The structure of the book is as if the author only had 15 minutes a day to write what I found to be a story without purpose.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

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5 étoiles		38%
4 étoiles		31%
3 étoiles		21%
2 étoiles		6%
1 étoile		4%

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