The crimson petal and the white

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Crimson petal an the white tells the story of a 19 year od prostitute named Sugar in Victorian London.I was interested and intrigued by its story plus I had already watch the adaptation of the nove; starring Romola Garai and I decided to add it to my reading list, but I am afraid it did not live up to my expectations.
I seriously do not mind a big book -and that one is really big- as long as it's interesting, but the moment I start to skip reading lines I know it no good.I do not know excactly what is wrong with this book, I mean the story is interesting and so are the characters and the are also well developed and very real. I mean they are like real humans you love them, you hate them, you feel sorry for them and and then you love them again. The writer obviously had done its research as far as Victorian London is concerned. He reminded me a little of Dickens in the way he made me picture the London streets in my head and I thought that talking to the reader directly was an excellent way of narrative, but somewhere in the middle he stopped addressing me-the reader- as you and then there was the story of Henry that although was interesting it was said in way too much detail and somewhere Sugar lost her nerve and spirit not only as part of the story but as a book character and that was where I lost interest in the book.I finally managed to finish it today.Thank Faber Sugar found her nerve in th end, but I do not think I would recommend this one or that I would like to read the sequel, although I would like to find out what happened to the characters.

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Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende

Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I do love an Isabel Allende book and this story is interesting and fascinating but somehow it doesn't live up to her previous book. Isabel has a soft spot for well developped female characters and it's something that makes me like her even more but I think that this time she over did it. The only fully developed character it the leading one, dona Ines Suarez and its not fully unexpected since this is supposed to be a memoir but I would like to have some more developped characters even if they were female. This book feels like Ines is the one real thing and everyone else it doesn't matter, they are simply shadows that pass through her life/story. At least Ines was a hell of a woman.
Ohh, and the Felipe storyline is absolutely predictable up to acertain point. I mean I knew from the moment I first read i that he had something to do with a certain incident in Santiago.

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