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Some friends and I have started a monthly book club, and while discussing things with them, I came up with the brilliant idea of incorporating the book club into my blog. One of my friends, Gemma, is also a blogger, so we’ll be doing a joint post each month in which we share our separate thoughts on the book and talk about how the book went down with the book club as a whole.
The Long and Faraway Gone was actually our first book club pick. It went down really well, because all of us love a good mystery. The Long and Faraway Gone focusses on two characters who both experiences trauma in the past, and who are now drawn back into investigating the incidents that affected them so much.
My Thoughts
I really enjoyed the overall plot of this novel, although I thought that the execution was a bit poor at times. The introduction to the characters was really good, and I was intrigued by the mysteries at first, but at some point in the middle it starts to dwindle. I got incredibly bored by Julianna’s part of the story, and Wyatt’s wasn’t much better.
The book wrapped up Wyatt’s mystery and storyline quite well, though. His was definitely the most captivating of the two plots. Julianna’s conclusion was, to be perfectly honest, stupid. The author completely brushed over Julianna’s reaction to the big reveal, and we didn’t get to see much emotion at all. It was kind of like “Well, I guess that’s it, cool, bye bye.” It was really disappointing.
The Long and Faraway Gone is a book I’d recommend if you’re into literary fiction or mysteries that aren’t intense thrillers. It’s a well-written book and it has a lot of fans. It just wasn’t that big of a hit for me.
Gemma’s Thoughts
I enjoyed this to begin with. It seemed to drag on in the middle and then one of the endings felt rushed. I liked how the two mysteries alternated throughout the book but I wished they had intertwined more. It almost felt like I was reading two separate books.
You can read more of Gemma’s thoughts here.
How cool, love that you’re incorporating your book club onto your blog and that someone else you read with is also a blogger! I normally find that there is one storyline I like better when there are multiple narratives going on, it probably didn’t help the one seemed to be a weaker storyline anyway. It does sound cool, though, everyone enjoys a good mystery, I think it’s guessing what happened which appeals.