I just finished up the audio book The Things We Cherished by Pam Jenoff. I’ve read two other books by this author, The Lost Girls of Paris and the Orphan’s Tale. I loved the Orphan’s Tale and highly recommend it. The other book, was okay.
So it’s with the knowledge that I loved one of her books and not the other that I started listening to this book. I so hoped that this one would be a good one.
As the book started out, I was hopeful. But that happened when I read the book of her’s that I didn’t like. I kept wondering if I would end up not liking this but it kept sucking me in more and more. I ended up thinking it was okay. Again, as with the book I didn’t like, the ending was a little meh. Who kills off the person before an conclusion can be made and the story wrapped up?
Here’s what Amazon had to say:
“An ambitious novel that spans decades and continents, The Things We Cherished tells the story of Charlotte Gold and Jack Harrington, two fiercely independent attorneys who find themselves slowly falling for one another while working to defend the brother of a Holocaust hero against allegations of World War II-era war crimes.
The defendant, wealthy financier Roger Dykmans, mysteriously refuses to help in his own defense, revealing only that proof of his innocence lies within an intricate timepiece last seen in Nazi Germany. As the narrative moves from Philadelphia to Germany, Poland, and Italy, we are given glimpses of the lives that the anniversary clock has touched over the past century and learn about the love affair that turned a brother into a traitor.
Rich in historical detail, Pam Jenoff’s astonishing new work is a testament to true love under the worst of circumstances.”
Amazon readers give the book 4 stars. That was a little harsh…I’d say 4.2. I think it’s really hard when an author does an amazing job on a book like the Orphan’s Tale and then goes on to write an average book. I think critics are even harder on the authors.
If you are interested in this book you can find it HERE on Amazon. Has anyone read this? What did you think?
If you are interested in giving Audible a try, you can find it HERE.
I haven’t read Cherished but I have read the other two, and my reactions were similar to yours — Orphan’s Tale was intriguing. But Lost Girls was terrible. (Granted, I read an uncorrected advance copy that had numerous copy errors (=she learned about the end of WWII when it was ON TV in the NYC cafeteria where she was having lunch. TV in a Horn & Hardart in 1945? I don’t think so) — but there ware really whopping inconsistencies in the story anyway. (I ranted in the review I wrote for Goodreads.) ….. The other irritant is that the author bio in the two books said that she “teaches law school.” One teaches a specific subject IN or AT a law school. ………. Fortunately there are hundreds of other terrific new books to look forward to (and even more older books to catch up on).