The Giver of Stars- A Novel by Jojo Moyes
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Web ID: 16778089Wonderful read!
Good history lesson; could hardly put it down!! Excellent character development!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
must read!
I bought this one and thought I wouldn't like it so I delayed reading. It was my work book club and I'm so glad for that because I loved and devoured it! I finished in 2 days!!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Adored this Novel!
I feel a little ashamed that it's taking me this long to pick up another book from Jojo. The Me Before You trilogy is among my all time favorites and I know she is an unbelievable talented writer. Going to historical depression-era Kentucky seems wildly different, but Jojo's knack for storytelling knocked this out of the park for me. I loved it! Eleanor Roosevelt’s traveling library reaches the Kentucky mountains and five women band together to bring books to their neighbors, far and wide. They face prejudice, danger from man and animal, and ultimately find joy and comradery. While I have a physical copy, I chose to listen to the audiobook. Julia Whelan's performance is phenomenal. Jojo + Julia = perfection and I cannot recommend this book enough.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
I'm not one to write reviews ...
but this book was so good. I was taken back to a time when strong women weren't always accepted. I'm not a "girl power" person as I feel that lne of thinking sometimes ignores other important realities. This book however showed the real struggles and triumphs of a group of women who did what would now seem impossible, riding a horse or mule into the deep woods and mountains to provide books to the people who live on those mountains. The reception wasn't always friendly but they persevered. I felt their strength and growth and the horrible circumstances some of them found themselves in due to them simply being a strong self assured individual. This would make a terrific movie.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Slow Read
Feeling suffocated in her life in England, Alice Wright jumps at the chance to marry the handsome Bennet Van Cleve and escape home with him to Kentucky. After arriving, she realizes that life in his small town isn't any more freeing and sharing a home with her controlling father-in-law makes things even worse. So when Mrs. Brady puts out a request at the town meeting for women to help serve as traveling librarians in Eleanor Roosevelt's new effort to spread literacy, Alice volunteered immediately. Alice soon learns that the choices she has made have brought her to a crossroads with consequences beyond her control. Though the conditions are dangerous and at times life-threatening, Alice knows her efforts are life-changing for those she serves and fights to remain with the Packhorse Library with all she has. Though many people rave about "The Giver of Stars" I found it to be a slow, drag of a read. It took such a long time for the story to hook me and even then I could have walked away without any real regret or desire to know the outcome. With so many historical fiction books to choose from, this wouldn't be my first recommendation but for the right reader "The Giver of Stars" might be a great fit.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Wonderful, great read
I absolutely loved this I love anything historical and I enjoyed the facts and the way that it was explained and the complications and the nuances of the time. It was great and I gobbled it up in 2 days amazing loved it
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Wonderful book
This was a great story about wonderful women
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Story about the Depression-Era Packhorse Library
Since I am "late to the party" on this book, I've been struggling w/ HOW to review it. My review will more than likely add nothing to the discussion of the book's merits at this point. So...I guess I review it for myself to remember the plot. Alice escapes her suffocating life in Depression-era England by marrying a handsome American, and moving w/ him to his home in Kentucky, where his father owns a coal-mining operation, w/ all the evil that a coal operation entails for its workers. Alice is bored senseless in her father-in-law's house, and married life is nothing like she imagined. Therefore, when the opportunity arises to join the Packhorse Library set up by Mrs. Roosevelt and the WPA to deliver books to isolated hill-dwellers to increase literacy, she jumps at the chance. The lead librarian is a very independent, social-mores-bucking single woman named Margery. Margery's father was an ornery, hard-drinking hillbilly w/ a terrible reputation, which of course, descends upon Margery, as family is everything in the hills w/ their decades-long family feuds. Obviously, Alice is in for more than she bargained for, in both marriage and the library. I deeply enjoyed the stories of the hill folk that the librarians met and served, and some of the stories were just heartbreaking. Throw in the plight of the miners stuck working for Alice's father-in-law, and there is plenty of impetus for conflict in the book. However, I still did not expect the focus of the story to switch from the librarians and the hill families into a murder trial. This shift in focus was jarring, but only decreased my enjoyment of the story by a little. There is still plenty of action. I remember that there was a controversy about plagiarism in this story, comparing this book to "The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek." I was concerned about the plots being too similar, and the parts about the librarians and the families they serve ARE similar, but "Book Woman" has the added plot line of the main character being a Kentucky "Blue;" I had little knowledge of this condition before that book. This book substitutes a murder trial and a happier ending for the "Blue" plot line and less-happy ending in "Book Woman." So I feel the books are dissimilar enough that I don't see one copying the other. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com