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Was driving from Tampa, Fl to Biloxi, MS and the trips co-pilot decided to buy this audio book from wally's world as something to listen to while on the road. I found myself waiting for the end of the discs for two reasons, one to finish what was started and two, in hopes the story would get better. I wished he would not have done it. The book was semi interesting at the beginning and then like a pot of warm water left on a stove it cooled and was room temperature at best. It never got better. I am just thankful I didn't fall asleep listening to it while I drove across I-10, which is a boring butt drive by itself.
This is the first Steele book I have ever read, and it's likely to be the last. As to her writing style, it is uninspired to the point of feeling dead. I am surprised that the author with so little talent has achieved such wide popularity. She is abysmal at plotting and characterization. You could program a computer to write a chick lit book and I bet the result would be better than this. The themes touched on here might be interesting in the hands of a more skilled writer.
In one hospital scene, Steel meant to write that Stevie was sitting by the bed, but wrote Carole instead. I agree with those who mentioned the insane use of commas. The jacket synopsis sounded somewhat interesting and I had a few days off from work. I couldn't quite get past that visual.I actually finished the book and I'll tell you how I did it.
Reading the synopsis gives you the entire gist of the novel without having to read another page. In a moment of supreme weakness, I checked this book out of the library. Carole was sitting beside her comatose self in the hospital. At one point, I vowed never to read another DS book, but now I read them because it's so much fun to write these reviews. What's amusing is that in another Steel book I reviewed, I noted the total lack of commas.
Was she suddenly ghosting herself. Sheesh. Here's my advice. From about page 150, all I read was the dialogue, skipping all the repetitive descriptive passages. Rather than have an educated editor put them in the correct places, someone just threw in commas so they'd be there.
Great job.I also found some glaring errors in the text. I just wanted to see if the lovely, serene, and wonderful Carole would regain her memory and find the love that she so richly deserved. do I need a life or what.
Most of us like our literary plots to be new.The Tired Tricks Used in this Novel:Number one: Perfect woman/movie star - not a wart or hair out of place, Oscar winnner, looks ten years younger than fifty and, if that's not enough, she's nice and loving as well as interested in causes that protect the weak and innocent. (Didn't someone tell her that French lovers are so sixties).Number five: Give the perfect movie star/angel amnesia so that she has to relive and relearn her life(dragging us yawning and drifting all the way through it. It's just a shame she makes the reader pay for it. This is my first Danielle Steel novel and I felt as if I could write a better novel just by pulling out all the tired cliches and throwing them into a book. Daniel's made her fortune. Poor guy rushes to her side, takes care of her and she runs off with the Parisian 'too perfect' old lover.Number four: Throw in an ex-French lover who's also too perfect-rich, famous, sophisticated-to be the 'real' love of her life.
She's so perfect, he's loved her forever and always will.
This woman is boring.Number two: Has to rekindle her interest in life by retracing her steps in Paris (ho, hum, Paris.
I'd have been really upset if I had bought it.
It seems that Steel is into recycling and that's okay.
The suffering isn't hers, it's ours).Combine them and you have 'Honor Thyself.' If this is all Daniel Steel can give us, I'm glad someone gave me the book.
) so that we can be spoon fed the descriptions of the Ritz, numerous Parisian landmarks and various designer lines and shops.
Hopefully, the French names will blind the reader from the lack of original plot.Number three: Even her ex-husband loves her still.
Save your money, more importantly, save your time, buy a new author and give them a start.
This book has the distinct feeling of a writer trying to meet her publisher's deadline.
It saddens me to say, but the phenomenal author formerly known as Danielle Steel no longer exists. Read your reviews and it will become crystal clear that the majority of your fans DON'T appreciate quantity over quality and are liable to desert you in droves if it continues. I was right in that assumption, but not by much.
The plot was interesting enough, but I must agree with other reviews in the fact that her writing has become atrociously elementary, repetitive and laughably unresearched. My advice to Steel is fire your editor and take a refresher course in writing 101. She has hit rock bottom, although imo it would take just ONE quality, impressive novel to restore her former glory, with the condition that she CONTINUE to put out quality over quantity.
My advice to DS fans is check your local library before parting sight unseen with your hard earned dollars. It shocks me that reputable publishing companies will put material like this out based on a "brand name", while truly magnificent material from thousands of would be/should be authors gets tossed to the trash heap before they even get a fair review. Before reading this book I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it couldn't be any worse than 'Bungalow 2'.
What do you expect when you churn out novels at an assembly line pace. It appears as if you're sacrificing your God given talent as a writer for the almighty buck, and I, for one, don't appreciate being ripped off.
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