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Sometimes you meet someone and you just don’t hit it off right away. You both are nice people, you both have great qualities, but you just stand there awkwardly until you are able to remove yourself from the situation. So it goes with books, as well.
When you first meet a book, full of high hopes and dreams of hours of blissful togetherness, you don’t expect the infatuation to end quickly, but it happens. It is nobody’s fault. It just wasn’t the right time for you to meet. This is what happened when I tried to read At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison.
I turned each and every page, but some pages got little more than a glance, I’m afraid. There were a few parts, here and there, that grabbed my attention. These passages lead me to believe it was just not our time to meet.
Have you ever started a book and just couldn’t “get into it.” It can be so easy to slip between the words and lose yourself among the characters, but other times, it is a struggle. It happens to everyone.
It doesn’t mean the book is bad.
Timing plays a part. Several times I have given up on a book that didn’t pull me in from the first pages (though usually it is about half way through before I finally put it away), only to find that book pull me back days, weeks, or even years later.
When I pick the book up again, I can’t put it down!
Why does this happen? Surely a book must be good or bad. You like it or you don’t.
Not true.
Like any relationship, timing is everything. I fully expect to fall in love with At Hawthorn Time at some point, but it just didn’t click when I tried to read it this time. (It is also why I rarely announce ahead of time the books I will discuss!)
I flipped through all the pages of this book for two reasons: I already told you I would discuss this book in the December Newsletter and my book club was reading it. Otherwise, I would have put it down long before I made it to the end, which is worthy of reading.
Discussion Questions
- Are you a fan of reading a story from different perspectives, points of view, or storylines?
- Do the breaks in narrative work well for this book?
- Some never read the prologues. Do you?
- If you read them, are you pro prologue? Why or why not?
- How does the setting play a part in this book? Would it have worked equally well set somewhere else?
The end was absolutely phenomenal. When you read it, let me know what you think by sending me an email, commenting below (with a SPOILIERS warning), or using my Contact Me! page.
At Hawthorn Time and I will meet again someday. I’m sure of it. But for now, we will part as friendly acquaintances.