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if one picks up this book thinking it would be a great summer retreat, one cannot possibly be more mistaken. The Sunrise is an unthinkably realistic and dramatic recollection of the tragic events that were happening on Cyprus. awfully cruel, brutal, savage. it is unimaginable how ruthless the Turkish soldiers behaved. from the touristic paradise that Cyprus' coast once was, it turned to hell for its habitants - rape, death, burglary, crime were the order of the day. it is interesting to see how
I finished my book club read - a novel set on Cyprus between the 1960s and 70s when there was a beautiful seaside town that ended up shut down and walled off during a Greek-Turkish conflict. The story focuses on a handful of people whose livelihoods depend on a robust tourist flow and how they are impacted by increasing violence as well as their family members joining opposite sides. I'm looking forward to our discussion.
People who know me, know that I adore Greece. I love visiting, I love the food, the people, the history, the culture. It is this love that brought me to Victoria Hislop's novels and The Island, sent on the leper island of Spinalonga just off the coast of Crete is one of my favourite stories. I also enjoyed The Thread, set in Thessaloniki and her collection of short stories The Last Dance and Other Stories. She also also written about the Spanish Civil War in her novel The Return, but I wasn't so...
As a Cypriot born in 1969, lived through the coop and the Turkish invasion, I feel that Victoria managed to approach the reality of that times! We look back to all these mistakes and hope that no one will have to live the same horror again! It's time to unite the island and also all around the world to have peace! Force your governments people to achieve peace and stop all wars!
I really enjoyed this novel. It's the most enjoyable novel I've read in a good while. I'm not sure why, but it seemed to get under my skin. Partly I think, because I had no idea about how dreadful the separation of Cyprus was to the inhabitants. It should never have been allowed to happen. But also this appealed so much to be because I was there in either 1978 or 79. I went there as part of a school cruise trip. We docked at Limassol in the South and toured various ancient cites. I loved it ther...
This book disappointed me. The first 50 pages are background and bland statements about the characters that are told but rarely shown, as a result I didn't feel like I got to know the characters and felt more like I was reading a history text book. Fortunately, I was advised to persevere and eventually Hislop settled into an actual narrative. Yet, the story was shallow and the 'romance' element so stereotypical and obvious that I scoffed more than once. Shocking things do happen, but it seems li...
This was an interesting read, historically, as I wasn't aware of what had happened, so I think I have learned quite a lot from it. However, apart from the history, as a story this was mediocre at best. The ending all seemed very contrived, and the characters were not fleshed out particularly well, so that the notes at the back were actually more interesting than the closing pages of the story. This is my first book by this author, and it would appear I didn't pick the best to read first, based o...
This was the first book I've read by Victoria Hislop, and I loved it. It's not my usual genre (I'm far more into psychological thrillers) but Victoria drew me into the world of The Sunrise hotel with her evocative descriptions of place and her believable characters. I could imagine it all so well. It's left me wanting to know more about Famagusta. I didn't want it to end. I really recommend it, even if it's not your usual type of story.
I really don t know how I feel about this one. Generally I found it naive and pointless. Too many loose ends. Characters with no depth . A love story without love, a family story without compassion for family members , bits and pieces of history ,all in a mess. I couldn't care for anyone in the story and that was ok because neither did the writer. A big disappointment , although it was an easy reading .
This was my first Victoria HislopAn English novelist known for her preference in writing stories set in the Mediterranean especially in Greece. (The Island, Cartes Postales from Greece)Out of her 7 novels 5 are set in Greece, one in Spain, and one in Cyprus. The one I read.The story takes place in Famagusta/Ammochostos and as the Greek name implies, a city buried in sand.A city that in the early seventies had high-rise hotels at twelve and fourteen storeys each.Famagusta thenIn my city, Larnaca,...
Hislop challenged herself with such a historical event, however she failed to bring dimension and depth to both characters and narrative.Clearly a strong case for telling as opposed to showing. The characters were superficially described providing no warmth or attachment towards them. The lack of depth is evident within the characters, deprived of dimension, their plight was anticlimactic despite the fact darkness visits one of the characters the most. With the missing component of character dev...
I'm a fan of Victoria Hislop but this book felt so weak. Sorry!!!I wouldn't say don't read it but I wouldn't expect to fall in love like you may have done with The IslandI didn't love or feel like I knew the characters. I didn't feel their desperation. Disappointed
I don't like writing bad reviews because no natter how bad the book I hate criticising an authors work - but this book was so awful I must say something. I very much enjoyed 'The Island' and indeed bought several copies as gifts. Ive bought ' The Return' but haven't read it being advised that it wasn't as good as 'The Island'. This book was a bookclub choice and the only reason that i made it to the end was the fact that I hadn't read last months book.What an awful book. No real connection with