Lark Rise (Isis Series

Tarma

I only got four essays into this book before deciding not to continue. When I read the description I admit I went in hoping for something similar to Laurie Lee's "Cider With Rosie". Unfortunately this book disappoints. I don't know quite how, but the people described never quite seem to come to life. They stay dry and distant on the paper - well, perhaps I do know why, because my second complaint is that the author seems to feel it necessary to mention at least once in every essay how much happier/better/nicer everyone was "back then". She glazes over any unhappiness or meanness or any other negative and goes rushing back to "did I mention how great it was?" Which, fine, sentimentality has its place, but again, using Lee as an example, there was a book with happy and unhappy people, cruel and kind people, and good and bad events, and it was bursting with life. This book in comparison is sterile and impersonal, and has said or done nothing to attach me as a reader to the people within.