Do these bother anyone as much as me?
For background, I’m English, age 41, and I love WW2 historical fiction.
I’ve just been on holiday so of course I’ve been reading a lot more that I normally would. I’ve downloaded a lot of books to my kindle, and was really looking forward to them.
<I will caveat this rant with it’s possible I have the American-edited versions of these but it doesn’t excuse a lot of these issues>
One book I put down when the little girls in 1940s England start talking about raccoons in the countryside.
The second book I ploughed through and finished even though:
– a little girl in 1940s England doesn’t go to school in fall, especially when her mother has cut her bangs
– when the little girl is grown, in 1951, she absolutely would not be serving prosecco as an impromptu celebration?!
– neither would she be getting a coffee in Victoria Station _and then waiting under the clock_
– I doubt she’d say “gotten” either but I’ll let that one slide
– in the 1960s there wouldn’t be a school position of “assistant director” – there still isn’t – and even if there was, if a woman in her late 20s held it, it would be one for the record books
I don’t know why I’m sharing this really. I finished the book because the story was just enough to keep me interested, but even though it spanned 1940-1980 across London, Boston, and Maine, so many historical events don’t even get mentioned and it’s clear the author had literally been to Victoria and probably that’s it. Oh, I tell a lie, when they make a day trip to New York, I assume the author’s been there because we got some actual description.
Anyway, all that irritation pushed me over the edge so I couldn’t deal with the raccoons and left it.
Am I the only one this bothers? The book gets rave reviews on GR but for me it was at best 2 star.
by CaveJohnson82