Juan Barranco Barranco itibaren Нараянгандж, Бангладеш itibaren Нараянгандж, Бангладеш

** spoiler alert ** I'm not quite sure why I didn't enjoy this more - I started reading it convinced I would love it. But for some reason I struggled. It may be beautifully written (and I realise I don't usually notice this for myself, being more wrapped up in whether a book is absorbing or not) but I kept having to make myself go back to it. On the other hand I was interested in the tragic story of Roseanne. After I finished it I tried to decide what it was that made me underwhelmed - there were a number of clunky plot devices - I wasn't sure why Seane/John took the baby only to give it up to Roseanne's poisonous in-laws, why did he take the baby but leave her close to death? And the ending - well! But it wasn't only that, I found the two different "voices" far too similar - one was meant to be a barely educated 100 year old Irish woman who had spent the last 60 years in an institution, the other a 65 year old well-educated man brought up in England - yet there "speech" seemed barely distinguishable. But I think maybe the answer is that for me "beautifully written" does not replace an absorbing story - this was close to that but just missed out.

I enjoyed this, especially the first half, because I was obsessed with the oz books as a child. Not sure how universally good it is, though.