Kate's Reviews > The Lost Vintage

The best thing about this book was the beautiful cover. I was really excited to read it - and even bought it the week it came out - because I read quite a bit of WWII era historical fiction and had never heard about the abuse women suffered after the "liberation". Unfortunately this book did not live up to my expectations.

I felt the writing was amateurish. For example, the author tried to pull in past events to give context to present events (generally a good story-telling technique, but not in this case), like when Kate cuts her thumb and recounts the CPR class she had previously taken. Not only was I confused as to why Kate would even consider calling an ambulance for a cut thumb ("would I even know how to dial 9-1-1 in France?"), but the CPR class back story was so forced as to be distracting.

There were also parts where the author told me how to feel about an event, which is a real pet peeve of mine. If you want me to feel a certain way, then design your writing in such a way that I do. Don't tell me how I should feel. For example, when Jean-Luc is giving some sort of speech about loyalty (I can't remember the exact context) and the author ended it with something to the effect that "who could have anything to say after such a speech". For starters, the "speech" was not impassioned. In fact I wouldn't even have known it was meant to be had she not told me that I should be speechless.

In addition, I would have preferred the author just tell the story of Hélène as opposed to jumping between present and past and forcing a "mystery" that the modern day characters had to solve. I felt the family's reaction to the news that a distant relative was a collaborator in the war was so far out of proportion to how an average individual would react as to be comical. I found myself wondering why the author made many of the decisions she made. It made no sense to me as I tried to relate. Forced is the best word to describe this book. The love story was forced, the "mystery" was forced, the family reactions were forced, the dialogue was forced.

The material regarding the post-war abuse was interesting in and of itself, and didn't need to be, what I felt was, cheapened with gimmicks. I found myself wanting to read only the journal entries and could have done without the rest of the story, but even those entries felt rushed and did not create a bond for me with the characters. I am honestly confused by all the 4- and 5-star reviews.