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A review by readingwitherin
Ladies of the Lake by Cathy Gohlke
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
My Rating 3.5 stars
(Listened to a finished audiobook copy)
Ladies of the Lake follows several different characters from the time they are in school, till they have become old women. Our main characters are Adelaide and Do1900s earlyrothy, who are very different people but become the best of friends for a period of time. The Ladies of the Lake was formed when four friends met at a boarding school, and supported and were there for one another in a way no one else was during the most important formative years. Adelaide and Dorothy continued to work at the boarding school after graduating and they met two young men who up until WWI started seemed like it was going to end perfectly. But with the start of WWI, rules changing, and people's opinions towards the men they love heritage things get tense at times, and tragedy strikes one of our main characters causing them to not see one another for a long time.
Overall I did enjoy this book, but I did struggle with it at times due to some of the choices the characters were making. Adelaide while I understand why she did what she did in order to protect someone she loved, also made it so other people who loved her thought that she was dead causing them a lot of heartache as well. As for Dorothy I really struggled with her character and went back and forth between liking her or not liking her and at times just plain being exasperated with her because of the choices she was making. The setting behind the time a little before WWI started and going through the start of the great depression was interesting and I enjoyed seeing a different time period in historical fiction for a change.
I think if you like saga's and seeing characters go through different stages of life then this book is for you.
The audio narrator was good. However, at times I did struggle to tell if Adelaide or Dorothy was talking because of how every few chapters we switched pov's.
(Listened to a finished audiobook copy)
Ladies of the Lake follows several different characters from the time they are in school, till they have become old women. Our main characters are Adelaide and Do1900s earlyrothy, who are very different people but become the best of friends for a period of time. The Ladies of the Lake was formed when four friends met at a boarding school, and supported and were there for one another in a way no one else was during the most important formative years. Adelaide and Dorothy continued to work at the boarding school after graduating and they met two young men who up until WWI started seemed like it was going to end perfectly. But with the start of WWI, rules changing, and people's opinions towards the men they love heritage things get tense at times, and tragedy strikes one of our main characters causing them to not see one another for a long time.
Overall I did enjoy this book, but I did struggle with it at times due to some of the choices the characters were making. Adelaide while I understand why she did what she did in order to protect someone she loved, also made it so other people who loved her thought that she was dead causing them a lot of heartache as well. As for Dorothy I really struggled with her character and went back and forth between liking her or not liking her and at times just plain being exasperated with her because of the choices she was making. The setting behind the time a little before WWI started and going through the start of the great depression was interesting and I enjoyed seeing a different time period in historical fiction for a change.
I think if you like saga's and seeing characters go through different stages of life then this book is for you.
The audio narrator was good. However, at times I did struggle to tell if Adelaide or Dorothy was talking because of how every few chapters we switched pov's.