I stayed up until two in the morning finishing this book, also known as way too late on a work-night. But the plot was just that gripping. I was pulled along so quickly that I simply couldn't bear to put it down. The mystery in this historic fiction is gripping enough to keep one going. And baffling enough to keep one guessing and second-guessing all throughout.
BUT
But...
The book's flaws are all in the end. There was either too much or not enough depending on how one looks at it. First, we have the major plot concerning the two sisters, it was resolved in four pages. Umm... I just went through 200 pages showing the devotion Georgie felt towards her sister and struggling to come to terms with the part she played in the whole affair. You need to give me more than four pages, especially since there was so much more that needed saying. A side-relationship as our main character finds companionship in Billy is never really resolved at all. Maybe I'm just too forgiving, but I felt like the way that one wrapped up was horrible. Georgie went from begrudged friendship, to genuine care, then to absolute nothing.
A graph of the author's development of relationship between Georgie and Billy.
I will now give you the most superfluous advice ever: three alternatives places to stop reading... but no one will follow because who puts down a mystery unfinished?
Option 1: Page 218. Do you like cliffhangers a la The Giver? This is the ending for you. We know what has happened to several of our main characters and we can use the clues given to build our own conclusions.
Option 2: Page 234. There is an incredible amount of filler now as we are nearing the end. But four of these pages tie up the biggest plot in the story, albeit in a fairly unsatisfying way.
Option 3: Page 241. Less filler than the previous 16 pages, but still just barely necessary. While most of the resolutions didn't feel fleshed out in a proper way, the one that should have remained vague was given a tidy, very complete ending.
This book actually goes to page 245. Not that far beyond my last suggestion. But those last four pages seem almost completely out of context that I don't think they are worth the bother. The last couple of paragraphs, while a possible conclusion our heroine could reach, feel out of line with the necessary means of survival on the frontier. The biggest problem is that the ending falters. It should have either stopped and let us draw conclusions, or fleshed out what was happening in a way that felt realistic. I spent four pages reading about the smell of pigeon nesting grounds, I ought to get much more than that as a conclusion for the heroine.
Moving along. I thought pigeons would play a bigger role here... but really they didn't. They were, as in life, basically an infestation passing through rather quickly. I did however find some interesting things about passenger pigeons from my good friend Mr. Google. Foremost, they were apparently the size of a crow. Crazy, I always pictured them as being basically a prettier version of the rock dove that I see all over the place.
Pictured: Not the same size.
Also, scientists have thought about a breeding/ cloning program to revive the species. Naturalists have pointed out the problems, including: there are no known subspecies, so no living DNA is preserved; the species never bred in captivity; and apparently they weren't just social, they were ridiculously social, when flocks dropped in size to a mere thousand or so members they stopped breeding within the flock.
Overall decent read. It could have been a great read if it weren't for that awful conclusion. I was really driven by the mystery and enjoyed the young questions of life and love. Georgie was a great character, reminiscent of one of my favorite American celebrities, Annie Oakley. All the characters were believably fleshed out into real people, even ones with adjective names such as Bowler Hat and Pin Eyes. I think know I could have really loved this book if it hadn't been for the resolution of the primary plot, instead I ended up just liking it. Go ahead and give it a read, just remember that you'll need to bring some reader baggage with you to help get through the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment