Amazon.co.uk:Customer reviews: Still Life: The instant Sunday Times bestseller and BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick

Top positive review

Sublime

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 August 2021

I'm still reading this beautiful book, eking it out as I don't want the story to end. Like all of Sarah's books this is a story that I know will live on in me. I can't write a clever critical review as it feels too close to my own story, I would just say, read it.

UPDATE: 08.09.21 Well I finished the book and it stands alongside Sarah's other three books. I adored the writing, happily embraced the magic of both talking trees and parrot and just kept wishing that this was how the world was then and how the world should be now. I've read some rather spiteful one star reviews with thinly veiled queer-bashing and they underline even more why Sarah's writing and Sarah's world view is so important.
Some people seem to think that fiction should be indiscernible from non-fiction though I can't think why they would! I love that Sarah's novels operate in a magical/realist landscape and that chance meeting and coincidence can turn the story round: I find it interesting that we accept coincidences in life but not fiction and I find it fascinating that chance plays such a huge role in our lives but some people insist that there is no place for it in the novel - go back to reading non-fiction I say and leave us dreamers alone.

56 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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gerardpeter

Spaghetti alla Melodrama

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 August 2021

Sarah Winman assembles a diverse cast of characters to deliver a “feel good” saga set in Italy and London. Happy endings I am fine with, but this was too much.

The young army corporal and the ageing art historian we first meet in 1944, in Florence, brought together by chance. This “odd couple” was promising, and the early pages are the best part of the book. Through these two ripple wider circles of family and friends. All salt-of-the-earth types and neither rounded nor credible characters. They felt rather like a “gang” – fans of Friends would probably love it. Chance and rather unlikely good fortune propels the story.

The interesting question is will Ulysses and Evelyn meet up again – hints of Friends again. This propels the reader through until 1980.The setting is divided between an East End pub and an Italian pensione. Like other similar novels the author checklists the big events with broad accuracy. However, the characters seemed remarkably tolerant, open-minded and liberal. Just too good to be true. Too nice really. This makes it difficult to plot social changes as I assume the author would like to do and as the reader would expect.

Dialogue is also anachronistic. Modern expressions are freely given to speakers in the 1940s and 1950s when they were absolutely not current. I am not sure how bothered the author was to get this right, as she also gives us a talking tree and a free-thinking parrot.

In my humble opinion, a novel must convince and challenge – and this does neither.

130 people found this helpful

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From United Kingdom

Kindle Customer

Oh my goodness...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 July 2021

Verified Purchase

What a ridiculous,pretentious load of rubbish. I was determined to finish this book out of a sense of duty to...I'm not sure who or what. The journey/travelogue from WWII was in order to demonstrate..what exactly? The author's familiarity with Florence, Italian food, the weather...? No idea. The series of coincidences is preposterous nd the characters were absurd pastiches with absolutely nothing credible about any of them. The preponderance of gay themes was gratuitous and presumably reflects the authorz

110 people found this helpful

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Sandra L

A frustrating read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2022

Verified Purchase

I had such high hopes for this - Florence, art history what could go wrong? To be honest nearly everything for me. I didn’t like the lack of quotation marks in the dialogue and frequently found the conversations very obtuse, having to re-read to see what exactly was being said. Didn’t like or believe in any of the characters or the overly saccharine view of the relationships. Hated the continued use of 'kid' in reference to the precocious child character and then there’s the parrot and trees. I kept expecting the whole thing to come together and really grab me, but unfortunately at almost half way through I just can’t face any more.

24 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Top 10, worst reads ever.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 February 2022

Verified Purchase

As Woody Allen once said “If I had my time over again I would do everything the same except read this book.”
Also please note the quotation marks. Would this review have been any better if I’d missed them out?

11 people found this helpful

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bunter

Did I miss something

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 March 2022

Verified Purchase

Oh dear this is clearly a marmite book, I've read the great reviews and wondered if I were reading a different book.
This was a strange book to read, a style that was disjointed and jumped around giving no clear characters, at times it was just a jumble of words. Language was far too modern for the era and I couldn't connect with the story (was there I one)
I kept reading hoping it would get better, it didnt. Not for me

6 people found this helpful

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D. Craig

Such hard work

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 April 2022

Verified Purchase

I bought this book because it had such glowing reviews. All I can say is that enjoyment of a book is highly subjective. I HATED this book! I found the writing style intensely annoying – choppy and disjointed, with single-phrase or word 'sentences' on single lines. It just didn't flow. Was the author deliberately trying to make it difficult for readers or just showing off? The dialogue was confusing and sometimes hard to follow, made worse by the lack of quotation marks. I gave up on the book less than halfway through which I very rarely do. What a waste of money!

4 people found this helpful

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Sarah g

Sadly not for me

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2022

Verified Purchase

I bought this book after hearing two people discussing it at a lunch party. One said she loved it and the other said she found it hard to get into but carried on. I got the impression that one should love it!

However, I am obviously not clever enough etc etc as I thought it was a pretentious load of .... and gave up. Just not for me.

One person found this helpful

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patti

Really boring and slow to get into book. Kept loosing the thread and finally have up.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 March 2022

Verified Purchase

Kept flitting about, couldn't get into it and didn't like the frequent swearing, which seemed to have little to do with the flakey characters.

4 people found this helpful

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MRS DA

Did not finish

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 June 2022

Verified Purchase

In 5 decades of reading fiction I have not finished less than 10 books. I nearly always persevere to the end even if I am not particularly enjoying it or am struggling with the style of writing. There was no element of this book that I liked. I didn't take to any of the characters, in fact, they mostly annoyed me and the storyline didn't hold my interest. Others seem to love it but it was definitely not the book for me.

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James W

A slow story.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 May 2022

Verified Purchase

Didn't enjoy this one. Shame really because I had high hopes from the reviews. Too much dialogue at the expense of context. Found myself unable to connect with the characters. Gave up about half way through. Some may enjoy it, but I'd rather read Storyteller of Casablanca or Small Pleasures, both of which I found articulated a "richer picture" of the characters and their lives.

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Interested

Boring ….

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 April 2022

Verified Purchase

An exceptionally boring story… I tried really hard to finish it but gave up half way…totally unreal cliche characters that no one can relate to and a plot that sends you to sleep. What a let down from Winman. She needs to read these real reviews from real people instead of the paid ones. I believe she’s capable of so much more…

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