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The Brave Nicholas Evans 9781847441041 Books

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The Brave Nicholas Evans 9781847441041 Books

I have read all of this author's books and found them to be wonderful, riveting, and delightful reads, as in I couldn't put them down. This book, however, didn't do it for me at all. The story seemed to go in fits and starts, and the character development was nowhere near to the depth of his other books. It took me several weeks to get through it. Reflecting back on it, the story could have been told in a much more compelling manner, as there was good subject material and potential to be a great read. As written, the flipping back and forth in time, and the rather predictable ending, left much to be desired. I also intensely disliked the part where Tom's dog killed someone's cat, as a means to introduce Tom to one of the other characters in the book. Couldn't there have been a better way?? And the way both Tom and his newfound friend dismissed the cat's death because it solved a "problem" made it tough for me to sympathize or feel any connection with Tom after that. This nugget on top of the bigger one, Tom's part in his mother's death, and then the biggest one, his son and the atrocity he committed, and got away with, really turned me off. In fact, looking back on it I wish I hadn't finished the book at all. I guess the happy ending was supposed to be that Tom and his son reconciled, but they bonded over a shared history of murder without ever having had to account for their mistakes. This just didn't work for me.


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The Brave Nicholas Evans 9781847441041 Books Reviews

I really looked forward to reading this book because I've enjoyed this author's other works. However, I was very disappointed with this book. It seemed to start out interestingly enough, but as the story went on I really lost interest. By the time everything was resolved, I didn't really care much about what happened. And that's a good thing because not much did. The plot and characters just weren't that interesting to me. Sorry I can't write a better review because I really love The Horse Whisperer and Evan's other books. Let's hope the next one will be better.
This book was very well written. An excellent classroom example of the use of flashback ending with another example of situational irony. A bit long but a satisfying read.
This author is one of my favorites and i have enjoyed every story he has writren. This one does not disappoint. I only wish he was still writing!!
I have read every Nicholas Evans novel from Horse Whisperer to The Divide, prior to reading The Brave. Evans is a master story-teller in each of his novels, and his character development is as good as any successful novelist. I love that he is a Brit that writes American novels. I won't disclose the plot, but I actually did not like the ending of The Brave. It is still a good read. My favorite of his books are The Divide, Smoke Jumper, and then Horse Whisperer. I wish they would make The Divide and Smoke Jumper into movies like they did HW, an excellent movie. Where is Redford when you need him?
"Twist" ending was obvious by halfway through the book. In order for a twist to work, the reader has to say "I was completely taken by surprise" and "that totally fits" - both at the same time. Hard for any writer to deliver a twist and this one didn't. BTW, a woman convicted of murder (first scene, no spoiler) would never be sent to death row for anything less than a grossly criminal one for which she denied guilt. My pet peeve is a plot that rests on an unrealistic premise. Don't want to elaborate for fear of spoiling; the story had some high points and you may enjoy it.
After re-reading the Horse Whisperer, which I think is an excellent novel on many levels, I decided to read another of Evans' books. I was particularly impressed with how Evans peopled the Horse Whisperer with flesh-and-blood characters, many of which with fully developed character arcs of their own. It also had many subplots that nicely built the theme of the book without making it complicated or difficult to follow. While I enjoyed the Brave, it failed to engage me like the Horse Whisperer did. This is partly because of the glamorous Hollywood setting which gives it a slight tint of soap opera, but mostly because the characters come across as less developed than in the Whisperer. One reason might be Evans' creative idea of having the story evolve simultaneously in different times. Interesting as this method may be, it results in there being no clear feeling of the story going in a particular direction. I suppose you could say that we are experiencing the "before" and "after" of the story in parallel. On the one hand I think this is a good book in many ways. Others may not feel the same way about the setting as I, so I am partly reluctant to give it as little as three stars. But on the other hand I personally feel that this was a less engaging book than many that I have given four stars.
I am normally a fan of Nicholas Evans but this offering has many problems. From chapter to chapter the author jumps back in time and then fast forward to the present. The story begins with the execution death of Tommy's mother, when he is only 13. It is many chapters later and several jumps in time that we find out who his mother actually is. So many shallow characters are introduced in an ambiguous time setting that I got lost many times trying to figure out 1) what is the time frame in context and 2) how does this character fit into the story. I was not always successful in figuring out the answers without going back and re-reading previous pages.

This is a good story told badly. It is unfortunate.
I have read all of this author's books and found them to be wonderful, riveting, and delightful reads, as in I couldn't put them down. This book, however, didn't do it for me at all. The story seemed to go in fits and starts, and the character development was nowhere near to the depth of his other books. It took me several weeks to get through it. Reflecting back on it, the story could have been told in a much more compelling manner, as there was good subject material and potential to be a great read. As written, the flipping back and forth in time, and the rather predictable ending, left much to be desired. I also intensely disliked the part where Tom's dog killed someone's cat, as a means to introduce Tom to one of the other characters in the book. Couldn't there have been a better way?? And the way both Tom and his newfound friend dismissed the cat's death because it solved a "problem" made it tough for me to sympathize or feel any connection with Tom after that. This nugget on top of the bigger one, Tom's part in his mother's death, and then the biggest one, his son and the atrocity he committed, and got away with, really turned me off. In fact, looking back on it I wish I hadn't finished the book at all. I guess the happy ending was supposed to be that Tom and his son reconciled, but they bonded over a shared history of murder without ever having had to account for their mistakes. This just didn't work for me.