#Review: THE RED RIBBON by Rachel Ledge
2 Stars for lack of enjoyment due to frustration
This book won a Grand Prize in the Clue
Awards so I was excited to see what it had to offer. The plot sounded engaging
– set in 1773, a young woman (Julia) from a privileged background struggles to return
to a normal existence after the murder of her best friend. To complicate
matters, Julia’s fiancé has been found guilty of the murder and awaits
execution while Julia still harbours feelings for him despite the fact she has
married his best friend. Another problem she faces is a headstrong younger
sister who is intent on ignoring the advice of her elders.
The opening was very confusing. Initially
it was difficult to establish which character was which when it came to the two
sisters. Nor were matters helped by the constant shift between modern and
archaic language. Even before I was 9% into the reading several proof reading
and editing issues had already reared their heads: shifts in tense, misspellings,
words used in the wrong context, missing articles, poor punctuation. I was
beginning to despair. Then there were clumsy unedited sentences such as: “Only
the body collectors, sent by surgeons who wanted the bodies for dissections,
waited like vultures for the bodies to be cut down.”
I’m afraid that for me things did not
improve. The constant need to describe 18th century costume made me
feel I was reading a dressmaker's historical account of the period rather than a period drama. There are
certainly sections which warrant the description of dress to explain a
character’s fall in status but this only occurred once.
At one point I could not bear this
list of problems any longer. I shut my Kindle on it for 3 days. I did however persevere. There
was no reward for my stalwart behaviour. The book concluded much as I expected
and I was very glad it was over.
This book was very much a case of NOT what
it says on the tin. I read for pleasure. In this case I was completely robbed of it. I sincerely hope this writer’s future offerings are better edited with
more attention to detail.
Is there anything in particular which spoils the enjoyment of a book for you?
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