Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, 18 May 2003
By A Customer
I found this book disappointing. The storyline is dull and Natalie is so self-pitying - there's lots of "poor me, I had an unhappy childhood" stuff going on, which turns out to be rubbish anyway. Poor Cassie is having such a rough time and Natalie can only think about herself. It reads like an A level essay - lots of contrived metaphors and over-use of simile. Also it's written in the present tense which I can't bear (but that's one of the hazards of buying a book online and not in the shop!)Sarah Harvey deals quite well with romance in the novel. She manages to tackle the tricky subject of love from three aspects. Cassie's first teenage crush, Natalie's struggle with guilt, grief and lust, and of course Laura's carefree mid-life fling. The characterisation is good - I think Harvey has managed to successfully capture the spirit of each of the three generations of women in the novel. It's a shame the self pity of the protagonist dominates so much of the narrative.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful!!!, 25 Dec 2002
I really loved this book. It's very different to what I expected, having read Misbehaving and Split Ends, I was expecting another fast paced funny chick lit kind of read, but I'm still really glad that I bought it. Yes, it made me laugh, but to my surprise it also made me cry. Although parts of it were really sad, it was still a 'feel good' book, exploring emotions and the things that make and break family ties, the good as well as the bad. The characters in it were very real, and the description very vivid, you could picture the places and the people really easily. It's quite a long book, but it only took me two evenings to read it as I couldn't bear to put it down. I'd definitely recommend it.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Three go mad in Cornwall, 30 Sep 2003
Postcards from Wits End comes into the category of romantic novel, but at the upper end of this genre, almost women's contemporary fiction. It is a most enjoyable read, focusing upon a brief period in the lives of three women: Natalie, a journalist who is a widow, her step-daughter Cassie (with whom she has a difficult relationship) and her mother, one-time actress Laura. The time is Christmas, and the setting is Whitsunday Cottage on the western tip of Cornwall. The story is about relationships and how Natalie comes to terms with her loss. There are some eccentric characters (when are there not in such a book?) and beautiful descriptions of the cottage, the surrounding countryside and events such as Cassie's birthday, Christmas, and the heart-rending sadness of the Postcards which Natalie sends ...
One loose end however remains untied: Natlie finds a shoe box belonging to her mother marked "Important, Do Not Throw Away". Natalie is almost tempted to look inside, but doesn't. It appears to be an indicator to something in Laura's past, but is never mentioned again. Perhaps it is merely a red herring, the sea being so close! A lovely read and, thank goodness, definitely not chick-lit of which we've had a superabunance.
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