tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32919353.post1911359034663846843..comments2023-06-03T08:43:27.731-04:00Comments on <center>Shelf Monkey</center>: Review - Portobello by Ruth RendellCoreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18287835957314437176noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32919353.post-87686128877052046722011-10-02T08:12:22.055-04:002011-10-02T08:12:22.055-04:00Well, agree to disagree then.Well, agree to disagree then.Coreyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18287835957314437176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32919353.post-29388316245347875562011-10-01T21:18:09.239-04:002011-10-01T21:18:09.239-04:00I similarly haven't read any other Ruth Rendel...I similarly haven't read any other Ruth Rendell, and I was entirely unimpressed this book. Eugene's obsession with his sweets was ridiculous, and the amount of time devoted to describing how wonderful they were made me feel I was wasting my life. The other characters are relatively believable, but nothing happens so it doesn't really matter. The descriptions of the area around Portobello Road, including naming every single street that each character traverses, sounded like a foreigner trying to impress us with knowledge of the area, adding nothing to the story. A flat, slow, unbelievable, poorly worded and ultimately depressing example of how not to write a book.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32919353.post-69505232123948442082011-08-07T04:37:51.752-04:002011-08-07T04:37:51.752-04:00Your review is great, I've read this piece a w...Your review is great, I've read this piece a while back and I remember feeling a little puzzled in terms of what to think about it.Ondrej from James Patterson Book Listhttp://mostpopularbooks.org/book-information/james-patterson-book-list/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32919353.post-78556219008946116022011-02-11T18:06:19.715-05:002011-02-11T18:06:19.715-05:00I had similar thoughts about Rendell but then I re...I had similar thoughts about Rendell but then I read The Chimney Sweep's Boy last year and found it very impressive. I was pretty optimistic about this one and wondered how the envelope of cash would trigger the narrative but although competent I was put off by the snobbishness of the writer. Although she seems to dislike pretty much all the characters (who's your favourite?) she paints the working class is such drab colours that it's hard to care what happens to any of them.beefandcheesehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00424399552071515844noreply@blogger.com