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| Review by Coll 3 Stars |
So I am a little late with this post, but it is summer so I
am allowed to be a lazy. This review is on my August selection from the Book of
the Month Club, Circling the Sun by
Paula McLain. This historical fiction book chronicles the life of a woman named
Beryl, who was born in England and moved to Kenya with her mother and father at
a young age. Her mother leaves to go
back to England when she decides she cannot handle the new lifestyle and abandons
Beryl to be raised by her father and the native Kipsigis tribe, who share the
estate. The story follows Beryl as she grows, and struggles to retain her wild
nature and unconventional lifestyle in the face of heartbreak, adversity, and being
pressured to be a “proper” woman.
Circling the Sun pulled
me in right from the very beginning and I really enjoyed it. The writing is done
in such a vivid way that you can really picture Kenya in your head as you are
reading, as well as all the people. McLain has this knack for giving such expressive
accounts of the weather that you could almost imagine you were there, through
the harsh droughts, and downpours of rain in the wet months. The character development
was also wonderful. Beryl is such a strong woman with a wonderfully capricious
nature, who you cannot help but love and root for the entire time. Whenever she
was wronged in the book I found myself wanting to hurt whichever character it
was that had ill-treated her. Even the supporting characters are portrayed well
and you feel an emotional attachment to almost everyone in the book.
I often found myself struggling to deal with, and understand,
all the rich people who had settled in Kenya and seemed so oblivious to much of
the culture, nature, and hardships going on around them. They seemed to be in
their own little world and I really felt enraged with them at some points.
However, this is also something that you notice Beryl herself struggles with
throughout the book. She does not always feel like she belongs in the same
circle as the affluent people, and is quite often out of her element. So maybe
the book was written in such a way to make the reader feel similarly to the
main character, giving more of a connection. I just wish there was more about
the native inhabitants of Kenya, because I feel it really would have added to a
more authentic story.
One thing I ran into an issue with was the jumping over of periods
of time, and leaving certain plotlines open and/or forgotten. I do not want to
give away any spoilers so I will stick with vague examples. A character would
be introduced into the story in a way that made it seem like they’d have a
major role, or be the part of some emotional or important plot element. Then
after a chapter they would be all but forgotten and remain in the story as only
a vague background piece. Instances like that did not make much sense to me and
it happened more than once. I found myself wondering “well whatever happened
with that?” and I wish the book would have developed those points better or left
them out completely. In regards to jumping over periods of time, a chapter
would end and then the next one would start up days, weeks, or months later. It
just made the story feel a little broken up to me.
When I give a book three stars I don’t see it as a bad
rating, it is a quite good rating actually and means I enjoyed my reading
experience a lot, but that there were a few issues that bothered me. I may have
some grievances with Circling the Sun,
but I must say that never once did I want to stop reading it or wish I had
chosen another book. It was completely immersive, interesting, exciting, and very
well written. I also found myself thinking about it whenever I put it down and was
always excited to start reading it again. A small part of me wishes there had been
more about Beryl’s ambition to fly planes and her success in that, but this
book was focused more on her growing as a person and her horse training. Overall
I think this is a great book to read if you are a fan of historical fiction (and
even if you are not) and it will keep you engaged until the very end.
“People interest me so
much. They’re such wonderful puzzles. Think of it. Half the time we’ve no idea
what we’re doing, but we live anyway.”
Interested in Circling the Sun? Check it out on Goodreads.
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