The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Setterfield
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Book Reviews of The Thirteenth Tale
Book Review: Storytelling At It's Best!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read so many wonderful books by first time novelists this year, and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield will certainly join the ranks of Audrey Niffenegger and Elizabeth Kostova. This is another one of those unread treasures that has been sitting on my shelf and it makes me wonder what other visionary treats lie there in waiting.
The Thirteenth Tale is a prime example of storytelling at it's top form. Margaret Lea is a young woman who works at her father's bookshop which specializes in rare and antiquarian books. She's been surrounded by books throughout her life and has grown comfortable with the classics such as Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, The Woman in White, etc. and has shied away from more contemporary literature. That is, until she is summonsed by Vida Winter, a top selling novelist with a mysterious past who has requested that Margaret record the story of her life. Margaret is a bit leary of the commission, but accepts and finds that she must face her own ghosts while recording the ghosts of Ms. Winter's past - a past that reveals that the truth is often stranger than fiction.
There are so many things that I loved about this book. The characters are wonderful. Vida Winter is someone that I wish truly existed just so that I could sit in her library in front of her fireplace and listen to her tell me her stories. But of course, the wonderful Diane Setterfield, who wrote Vida Winter's character does exist ;) The storytelling aspect of this novel was just perfect. There wasn't a single moment in the novel when I was bored. There's constantly a hook to grab you and the story is always appealing.
I haven't read Daniel Wallace's book, Big Fish, but much of this novel reminded of a gothic version of the film. It's a tale of a past that's truly bizarre, yet grounded in fact. This novel could easily be translated to the big screen and make a beautiful film by the way. Setterfield paints a very vivid picture in her descriptions of the landscapes, her characters appearances, the libraries, etc.
I'm so glad that I've finally joined the other half of the world that's read this book! I've been saying this a lot lately, but here's another author that I really look forward to following throughout her career. Setterfield certainly has a promising future ahead of her if she continues to turn out novels that deliver as well as this one did.
Book Review: "There is something about words."
Summary: 4 Stars
The heroine of Diane Setterfield's "The Thirteenth Tale" is a lonely and bookish woman named Margaret Lea, who is commissioned to write the biography of a world-famous author, Vida Winter. Until now, Winter has never revealed the details of her background to anyone, and Margaret cannot imagine why this celebrity would entrust such an important task to her. As the novel unfolds, the reader learns that Margaret and Vida have much in common. Both women adore literature and, in addition, they are harboring painful family secrets.
"The Thirteenth Tale" is an example of a superior writing style triumphing over a gnarled and melodramatic plot. The prose is gorgeously expressive, with so many brilliant and lively descriptive passages that it is difficult to single out just one. Nonetheless, here is an example of Setterfield at her best: "There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin...." The writing is never less than spellbinding, and Setterfield's lush and leisurely prose is a throwback to the classic novels of centuries past.
There is also much to admire in the large cast of Dickensian characters. Vida Winter is a grande dame who knows her own worth, speaks plainly, and brooks no nonsense from anyone. Hester Barrow is an ambitious and arrogant governess who tries to take two out-of-control children in hand and fails miserably. The intellectually inclined Margaret has always used reading to escape from reality. Working with Vida impels Margaret to finally deal with the sorrow that has crippled her for years.
In spite of its strentghs, "The Thirteenth Tale" is not an unmitigated success. It is too convoluted and densely packed, with its shadowy births and deaths, a mutilating fire deliberately set, a sadistic man whose twisted deeds lead to tragedy, and at long last, a measure of solace for the book's protagonist. This four-hundred-page work could have used a bit of careful trimming. The last quarter is bogged down with one too many startling revelations that are more dizzying than enthralling. Still, it is entertaining to spend time with Diane Setterfield, a talented author who has great respect for the power of myth and the beauty of language.
Book Review: This should have 8 stars or more
Summary: 5 Stars
I anticipated this book with the impatience of a child awaiting a birthday and the opening of a precious and long awaited-treasure. It came to me via a package from Australia with the paperback edition; the U.S. release is a few months off yet. The story drew me in from the first page and I could barely put it down but sleep finally demanded it. I wanted to read it quickly to reveal its mysteries and at the same time draw it out to make the experience last as long as possible. I finished it a day ago and still feel it vibrating through me.
The main character, Margaret Lea, immediately delighted me with her descriptions of life in her father's rare book shop where she tends old and precious books. She is asked one day, by letter, to write about the true life of the century's most important writer, Vida Winter. She is intrigued and mystified as she has never read any books by contemporary writers and doesn't consider herself a writer, safe for a small publication of an essay. She makes her way to misty Yorkshire where she begins to delve into Vida Winter's story and that of a mysterious and tragic family.
For me this book is primarily about the stories that each person has. There may be a public story, a told story and a true story, but every person has stories. And by telling us Vida and Margaret's stories and placing books so centrally within the plot, it celebrates books and the characters within them. There is a section when Margaret tells us that she takes care of the books in her fathers' shop and reads a few pages every day and as long as someone reads about the characters in them, they stay alive.
Setterfield's language is rich and evokes wonderful images. I saw misty Yorkshire moors in the November twilight that make you want to draw your scarf closer but I also felt eerily unsettled and uneasy at the descriptions of Isabelle and Charlie's interactions.
My major complaint is with the nitwit who wrote the back cover summary and I must seriously question if the person ever read the book. I am glad that I did not read it first, as I would not have purchased this book nor recommended it to my friend based on the poorly written plot teaser.
Book Review: For those who love a tale well told.
Summary: 5 Stars
I may be presumptious here. I have only, so far read half way of THE THIRTEENTH TALE by Diane Setterfield. Yet I had to write this review. It is one of the best books I have read for a long, long, long time. One of the books I will come back to, and re-read over again. It is for those readers who like nothing better than to immerse themselves in a story, to find themselves taken by the words of the author into another world. It is a story about an aged author, Vida Winters, her younger biographist, Margaret Lea. Both have one thing in common, their love and associtation with books. And maybe, with a secret they both share.
Vida Winter is the author of over sixty novels. Her first book, a collection of short stories, is entitled, THE THIRTEENTH TALE. Yet, in this first edition, there was only twelve stories ever published. So what happened then, to the thirteenth? Down the years, Vida has been asked this constantly. To each she has given a different answer. She has invented a story. Because she is a born story teller. Has never revealed the truth of THE THIRTEENTH TALE. Until she learns of a young biograhpist named, Margaret Lea, who is summoned to the shadowy house of Vida Winters, on her request to at last reveal the truth.
The style of writing is always fluent. In no way does it try and copy that of some of the so called, classical novelists. Yet, in a way, it creates an atmoshpere that can be compared with such novels, as Jane Eyre, The Turn of the Screw. The old mansion to which Margaret is summoned, is itself dark and shadowy. Draped in it's own secret. And perhaps it's own ghost? Yet when Vida begins to tell her own life story, to Margaret, her words and images of those characters she has once known and is again, bringing once more to life, transports the reader away from the flickering lamps of that old house. And into the lives of those self same characters. It is like a house of stories. Each contained under the roof of that old house. Yet each room holding a different tale, all of it's own. But, are any of them, really THE THIRTEENTH TALE? Or is Margaret herself that ,unknowingly, is linked with this tale?
Book Review: Perfect Storytelling ....
Summary: 5 Stars
It has been awhile since a book captured my attention as vividly as this one did. It also has been awhile since I've read something and couldn't figure out the ending completely. Also, this book was written so vividly and lyrically about a bookworm's deep and enduring love for the written word. Those first few chapters are quotable for serious book lovers if you know what I mean ~~ if not, you'll have to pick up the book to read it for yourself to know what I mean.
This is not a hurriedly written novel. There is no sense of hurry in these pages. Not once did I feel like I need to read ahead just to get to the suspense ~~ no. This book is meant to be savored and enjoyed. There is a beauty among this author's written word that you don't find often these days. Not only is there beauty among the written word, you will find that she creates a different world from your every day reality ~~ a beautiful if haunting world. A world filled with secrets and fairy tales. A world filled with pain, love, redemption and seeking the truth. It is not a novel filled with moral lessons for the reader to gleam ~~ I didn't get that feeling at all ~~ it is a novel meant to be entertaining and written like the older classics, but with a twist.
Margaret Lea is a young woman with a secret of her own, has been asked to write Vida Winter's biography. Margaret Lea is a woman with a deep passion for the written word and she would have never read Vida Winter's novels as she didn't care for the modern novels. Vida Winter is a reknowned writer in all of England and perhaps all of the world as her novels have been successful in just about everywhere. Margaret takes on the job after an intriguing letter appeared in her mailbox. That is just the beginning.
If you like Victoria Holt or Phyllis Whitney gothic romance novels, you will love this book. If you like gothic or romantic novels or Jane Austen, or the Bronte Sisters' novels, you will definitely enjoy this book. It is so different from other books being written today ~~ and I am definitely looking forward to reading more of this author's books.
9-24-07