one moment, one morning

[grumpypants]

i loved this so much right up until the trite happy ever after ending and the stupid scene that was so obvious, but anyone else? really poignant for me as my dad died when i was a kid.

I bought this on Saturday! Not started it yet but will be interesting to see if I agree, and what anyone else thinks. Probably shouldn't've read this post as I now know it has a trite happy ending, but I'm sure that won't affect my enjoyment

I'll probably start on it this weekend as nearly finished the book I'm reading now

I just read it last week! Thought it worked especially well in the way it handled the widow's bereavement and all she had to do in the immediate aftermath, not least answering her children's questions.
What was the stupid scene you meant grumpypants?

Oh no, sorry bluejeans i don't think anyone else wd think that, or that it was happy - i am just v hard to please! It is amazingly well written

london writing in code so as not to spoil for bluejeans, i thought that it was pretty inevitable what wd happen when people came back after the funeral, and a bit too easy?

Oh yes, grumpy!

I too thought it was well written. The stuff the widow had to do back and forth to the funeral director's and explaining everything to the children - and not quite getting it right - was very well done. I also think the ending was a bit too 'all loose ends tied up.'

i think sometimes writers don't like leaving loose ends, and sometimes a story is wrapped up neatly, even tho, obviously it's a false happy ending because possibly things would change in the unwritten future? i would rather have had the timeline and not the neatness - maybe the author couldn't bear to leave them hanging? i loved iy up until the ending, when sofia came into it, and then it felt very rushed - quick bit of jealousy, all ok, etc etc.

Agree with you about loose ends...But two strands where I felt the author did it get it right in pulling them together was the way she developed the hesitant friendship between the two women who'd been on the train. It had to be done in order of course to keep the plot moving and therefore was at risk of feeling totally contrived, but I thought the author did it in a very credible way.

yes, definitely. i was a bit worried it wqould feel wrong. i just think maybe anna and karen's relationships were too parallel - one losing a 'good man' etc etc? Maybe steve could have been less dreadful at the end?

I've finished it now!

I liked it, and thought it was well written and realistic, but...somehow it just wasn't quite deep enough, for example - the two girls' (Karen and Anna) relationship seemed a bit superficial and easy - anyone know what I mean?

Grumpy I agree about the ending I would've prefereed it without that last chapter, it was all a bit too perfect - but this is so common at the end of books I guess I'm just used to authors doing that and try not to put me off the rest of the book! Annoying though!