One of my favorite books dealing with WWII is the book Sarah’s Key by Tatiana DeRosnay. When I saw this book, The Other Story, by the same author, I was thrilled.
The thrill didn’t last long. The book is terrible…well, at least nothing I wanted to read. The story is about a one-hit-wonder author who let fame go his head. The book is filled with inappropriate sexual scenes. I’ll be honest, I tried and tried and tried to finish the book until I finally admitted the book was awful. I was sure I was imagining it. After all, I loved the other book by the author, Sarah’s Key. How could the same author write such wildly contrasting books? What a disappointment. A HUGE disappointment.
Here is what Amazon had to say:
“Vacationing at a luxurious Tuscan island resort, Nicolas Duhamel is hopeful that the ghosts of his past have finally been put to rest.… He’s now a best-selling author, but when he was 24 years old, he stumbled upon a troubling secret about his family – a secret that was carefully concealed. In shock, Nicholas embarked on a journey to uncover the truth that took him from the Basque coast to St. Petersburg – but the answers wouldn’t come easily.
In the process of digging into his past, something else happened. Nicolas began writing a novel that was met with phenomenal success, skyrocketing him to literary fame whether he was ready for it or not – and convincing him that he had put his family’s history firmly behind him. But now, years later, Nicolas must reexamine everything he thought he knew, as he learns that, however deeply buried, the secrets of the past always find a way out.
Layered and beautifully written, Tatiana de Rosnay’s The Other Story is a reflection on identity, the process of being a writer, and the repercussions of generations-old decisions as they echo into the present and shape the future.”
Amazon readers gave the book 3.5 stars. I don’t feel it’s right that I rate this book as didn’t even finish it. It was so bad, I couldn’t. I don’t know that I’ve seen Amazon readers rate a book that I read so low. At least maybe I’m not the only one who thought the book was a waste of time.
You can find the book HERE if you are interested.
If you read the book and made it to the finish, please tell me what you thought. I’m hoping I didn’t completely lose the point of the whole book.
Thank you for the review and your honesty!! I have often wondered why some authors feel it is important to put sexual scenes, especially inappropriate ones. If I’m actually reading and not listening to book, I page through those. They are just not needed in my opinion.
With books like that, just skip to the last chapter….at the very least, you can say you know how it ended.
Life is too short to waste on books you don’t like!
I haven’t read any books by that author, although Sarah’s Key is on my TBR bookshelf. I feel the same way, though, about Kristin Hannah. I absolutely love some of her books and do not care for others. However, none have been a DNF yet. Some people rave over one in particular that I really did not care for. In those cases I sometimes wonder if it’s me and I’m missing something.
Toni, We’ll now I feel better – I am the same way about Kristin Hannah. I want to like them all, but some I just can’t get comfortable with. Oh well. So many books to read!