13/150

Unfortunately due to exams, I have got horribly far behind with my reading and reviewing. It was way back near Easter that I read this book but have not had time to review until now. I have a few uni books to add in that I won't review fully as they're quite specific, and frankly I don't want to think about my exams any more that I have to!

The Vanishing Acts of Esme Lennox – Maggie O’Farrell

The Vanishing Acts Of Esme Lennox was an absolutely great book which grabbed me from start to finish and has helped truly cement Maggie O’Farrell as one of my all-time favourite authors. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is I love so much about her books but I really truly do. I know part of it is how real the books are, absolutely everything is believable. I often struggle to suspend my belief for certain stories which just go too far beyond reality, but with Maggie O’Farrell’s books this problem doesn’t even present itself. The characters are so real you feel like you can almost touch them, and whilst the story lines are dramatic and attention-grabbing, they are not ridiculous or far-fetched.

I’d really recommend this book to anyone. It was originally a book for my mum’s book group and I just happened to grab it and start reading to pass some time and ended up getting completely carried away and reading it in one go. I can really understand why it was chosen as a book group read, it’s a classic novel which I know will be popular for years to come. Whilst being half set in the present, the book will never age or be out of place due to the clever narrative and not being too specific to the time it is set. The portrayal of the past is much more important in the book and is set in a very specific time period where society was very different and things which were commonplace then, seem shocking now. The book links the present and past brilliantly and finally reaches a climatic end with an actually fairly shocking finale. I was quite surprised by it, and am still slightly confused by it. I’d love to hear what other people thought of the ending, as I’ve read many people saying it was unnecessary, but I am still undecided. Either way, it was a great read, and the book really ended with a spectacular bang. I’d give it 4 and a half stars because I’m still not quite sure what to make of the ending, but then again, I like the fact that it’s given me something to think about. Could it have ended any other way? Maybe I’ll nudge it up to a 4 and ¾ out of 5……? Hmm….

Char x