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By: DUNED 012
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2025-06-25 12:14:10 |
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Our group loved this book. We were educated, entertained and enchanted by the characters and the writing style. The 'core family' of characters were an interesting and diverse group whose lives interwove adding depth to the individual stories. One member listened to the audio book and enjoyed listening to Sarah Winman herself narrate the book. |
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By: CHCH 345
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2025-06-13 17:00:50 |
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This book was a bit of a mixed bag – Some people enjoyed it, but many of us struggled to get past the first few pages. Those of us who stuck with it found the first part irritating, but it got better. The writing was a bit flowery and unusual, but with amazing similes. There was great character portrayal and development, and the writing brought back feelings of past experiences, the flooding was especially real and relatable. |
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By: AUCK 360
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2025-06-06 13:14:22 |
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Most of the group liked it, others struggled to get into it. One thought the beginning was Enid Blyton for adults but once into it loved it. Like a warm bath of mindfulness, with wonderful characters and a sense of real community. The last chapters were a little redundant. The characters stayed with us. Maybe a little too much about art but those who had been to Florence loved it. |
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By: NELS 015
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2025-05-28 14:41:03 |
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The group enjoyed the characters and the descriptions of Florence. It was a book about friendships and there was humour in the stories. They found the book got a bit bogged down in the middle, and no one was fond of the parrot. |
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By: TEKUI 002
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2025-05-15 09:59:31 |
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So much in this book - most of us LOVED the characters, their lives, the surroundings. A good discussion, and some of us have had to keep the book a few more days to finish. |
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By: AUCK 071
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2025-03-20 10:25:25 |
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This is a wonderful character driven novel and we all liked Claude! One member would have liked a more definite plot, and another, more art, but overall it was thoroughly enjoyed. |
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By: WELL 017
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2025-03-12 13:22:12 |
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Nobody loved it but it did generate good discussion about the characters and Florence. Several people found it hard to get into, but it did improve as it went on. |
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By: TEPUK 006
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2025-03-12 10:14:30 |
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Beautifully written and once you got going, this was an engrossing book and hard to put down. We loved that the story was, in reality, plotless. Rather, Winman wrote about the lives of people who had formed a family type group. They understood and supported each other. |
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By: PALMN 013
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2025-03-06 10:11:26 |
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Story enjoyed by most in the group, but we felt the first and last chapters were unnecessary. A likeable cast of characters on the whole. Lots of good research done into the artworks, and Florence as a city. |
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By: WAIKA 004
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2025-01-16 12:08:45 |
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Beautifully written. Excellent choice. |
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By: WHITIAN 003
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2024-10-21 12:38:29 |
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We just LOVED this book!! The style of writing took a while to follow, but the beautiful characterisation, the descriptions of the cities, the lives and loves of all the characters - GREAT! (The parrot was an added bonus). True friends can be like that - loyal to the end! |
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By: ROTO 002
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2024-10-21 09:25:18 |
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Compelling reading! Interesting characters set in well drawn cityscapes, London and Florence. Joyful, very little angst although characters had very difficult times. Friendship is a strong theme. |
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By: PALMN 022
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2024-10-10 09:28:19 |
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An enjoyable read that had us chuckling - loved the characters, but perhaps could have done with a bit more editing. Overall an enjoyable read. |
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By: BLENH 011
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2024-09-25 10:35:59 |
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Our group loved this book! |
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By: PICT 005
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2024-08-03 12:52:27 |
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Our views varied, with individual group members' ratings ranging from 3 to 5+. Aspects appreciated and discussed included: the physical location, the importance of community, the vivid depiction of characters, and the witty repartee. |
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By: LOWER 022
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2024-05-14 22:24:42 |
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Most members thoroughly enjoyed this book. Characters were well developed and memorable. We loved the setting. A few members found the lack of punctuation off putting. |
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By: AUCK 422
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2024-05-11 08:50:23 |
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The quirky style of writing made it hard for some readers to get into the book, however the overall consensus was that it was a good read with clever writing, and well developed characters. |
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By: MANGWH 004
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2024-05-08 13:35:02 |
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A beautiful book with wonderful characters in a spectacular setting. |
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By: CHCH 553
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2024-05-03 13:06:47 |
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Mixed review from our group. Some enjoyed the plot but felt it took a long time to get to the climax. The lack of speech marks was a barrier to some. A number of our group did not finish the book. |
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By: CHCH 176
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2024-05-01 12:51:58 |
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The majority of the group thoroughly enjoyed the book. Maybe a tad overlong, but delightful to read. Each character held something special for each member. Felt the homosexuality was somewhat glossed over - no recognition or comment of the difficulties of that time. Wonderful to learn about Florence and the paintings, but sometimes the descriptions were too long. Would definitely recommend. |
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By: WELL 142
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2023-11-02 10:08:49 |
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We agreed the book was 'over-written', too much detail, and too long in reaching the much hinted at meeting up of the art historian and the young soldier who met initially. Interesting detail on the 1966 disastrous flood. |
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By: CHCH 336
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2023-10-19 14:35:36 |
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Very difficult to read without speech marks. Interesting history of Florence. Some interesting and likeable characters. Long, slow read. |
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By: TAIRU 001
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2023-10-12 11:36:45 |
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We all loved it - a feel good book, beautifully written. An empathetic portrayal on acceptance of different foibles as being human. |
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By: MAST 008
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2023-10-05 12:23:04 |
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Universally applauded for its brilliant devices, the tapestry of interwoven characters and themes. Subtle humour, earthiness, brilliant dialogues and description. "One of the best novels we have EVER read and discussed". |
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By: HAVE 005
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2023-09-13 12:46:34 |
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The majority of the group really enjoyed this book and our discussion was lively and interesting. We explored the theme of 'still life' and what it meant in the context of the story. The characters were well drawn and quirky. Great read for most. |
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By: TEKUI 001
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2023-09-13 12:42:33 |
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All loved the characters - some discussion about homosexuality laws. All those who had been to Florence found it brought back a lot of memories. |
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By: WELL 024
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2023-08-16 11:55:15 |
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We liked the title because of the multiple meanings. Everyone liked Ulysses for his eternal optimism, loyalty and kindness - Claude was also a favourite! Classical and art references well researched, and gay relationships unremarkable. |
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By: CHCH 395
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2023-08-16 11:06:28 |
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Loved it! A well-written, easy to read novel. Lovely characters that we really enjoyed getting to know. |
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By: WELL 074
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2023-08-08 12:36:20 |
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Enjoyed the depiction/description of Florence and the well researched art history, but felt she crammed too much in. Perhaps more editing was needed. |
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By: OPOTI 003
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2023-08-03 11:15:52 |
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A wide range of responses - from not enjoying it at all to finding it funny, moving and interesting. Also very diverse responses to her writing style - from enjoying the activity of reading and enjoying her sentences so much it merited re-reading, to finding it 'indigestible'. |
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By: MARTIN 001
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2023-07-19 10:37:33 |
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Most loved this book. Great characters and descriptions of Florence. Some thought it was made up of bits and pieces, but it did come together well. |
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By: WHANG 015
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2023-06-27 14:22:25 |
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Four of the group (me included) absolutely loved this book. I read half of it in two days, and then had to put it aside as I didn't want it to end. Well-written. |
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By: BLENH 010
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2023-06-22 14:53:13 |
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Most members who read the book loved it - the characters, the parrot, descriptions of Florence and the links with real events such as the Florence floods. Great research. Two were unable to 'get into' the book, but generally a great read. We'll be looking for more by Sarah Winman. |
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By: CHCH 085
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2023-06-21 13:42:31 |
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Most really enjoyed 'Still Life'. The large number of characters took a bit of getting used to, as did the lack of punctuation, italics etc. Several had been to Florence either just before the flood or soon after. Several had also done some Art History - interesting! |
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By: NELS 023
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2023-06-01 15:00:16 |
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All except two members adored 'Still Life'. We had a very lively discussion about favourite characters, and incidents, and the place of lesbian writing today. |
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By: HAMIL 029
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2023-05-29 13:20:24 |
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We all enjoyed this book. Loved the Italian background which brought back great memories for several of us. And we liked very much the 'feel good' sensibility of the storyline and the characters. The art material was also interesting. |
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By: CHCH 110
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2023-05-04 11:17:45 |
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3 loved it, 1 didn't 'get into it' because got confused with lack of speech marks. Most found it a slow start but good once into it. We enjoyed the characters. |
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By: WHAKA 003
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2023-05-03 11:54:14 |
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Our Group absolutely loved this book. On of the best. Beautifully crafted. Highly recommended. |
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By: OWAKA 001
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2023-05-01 11:40:33 |
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All but one of our members enjoyed this book. We thought that the author had a lot of characters, but all were developed well as the story developed. Cress was the favourite character of most of us, and we all enjoyed the parrot. Overall an enjoyable read and it developed into a "must get this finished" reading binge. |
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By: KURO 001
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2023-03-15 13:03:38 |
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The first few pages don't really grab but after a few pages you sort out the characters and are hooked. Lack of speech marks was a little annoying, however an enjoyable read. |
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