Review: Good Book, Needs a Better Ending!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 2, 2012
I think this book needs a new blurb. I started reading expecting what the blurb told me: young Tony would be sent off to New Zealand. Instead, nearly half the book has us in London, following Tony's life with his mother, sister, and neighbors. It's not until 41% into the book that Tony lands in New Zealand.Now, this is not to say that the first part of this book is not well written. I enjoyed it, and moving through Part Two of the book, I can see how Part One is absolutely important to the story. However, I spent a good deal of this book wondering when the New Zealand part would start. The blurb needs to give a potential reader a better idea of what to expect.That said, I did enjoy this book tremendously. The characters came to life and tugged at the heartstrings. I had a hard time putting this book down. I was rooting for Tony and Joe... until the last few chapters.Without giving anything away, I found Tony's search less than believable. He wandered into shops and asked if they had seen a sandy-haired man and a woman wearing a scarf? That's it? He had their names. He never asked for them by name? Never went to any official agency? He never looked in a phone book? (Come to think of it, never once was a telephone mentioned in this book. Surely they had phones in NZ in the 50's and 60's.) I found myself getting annoyed with Tony.I thought the very end of the book failed. I knew what was going to happen (the author dropped plenty of clues), and I was looking forward to experiencing it along with Tony. I didn't get to. It felt like a whole chapter was missing. Yes, in a way, what I knew was coming came, but then the words just stopped. And who was the girl? I'm not sure. Too many questions were left unanswered. I kept hitting the page advance button on my Kindle, wanting to read the last chapter that didn't exist.Overall, an enjoyable and memorable book with a frustrating ending.