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Echo from Mount Royal
Dave Riese, author
Adult; General Fiction (including literary and historical); (Market)
Montreal, 1951.
A girl from a working class, Catholic-Jewish family falls in love. Her courtship with a handsome, Jewish orthodox man fulfills her romantic dreams and his wealth introduces her to a world of upper-class privilege. When class, religion, sexual inexperience and family secrets test their love, she struggles to control events.
And then, a shocking revelation changes her life forever.
Plot/Idea: 3 out of 10
Originality: 2 out of 10
Prose: 5 out of 10
Character/Execution: 2 out of 10
Overall: 3.00 out of 10
Assessment:
Riese’s historical romance set in the 1950s falls curiously flat, despite an intriguing premise and historical accuracy. While the author's focus on Becca gives the reader extremely intimate knowledge of her thoughts and feelings, the other characters, such as Sol, her love interest, are underdeveloped and incomplete. And although the novel address issues of religion and class as they relate to love, these themes are underutilized and not fully explored.
Date Submitted: June 02, 2016
