Coming Home

Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher

(Summary taken from inside the book jacket) "This is a novel to be savored, a curl-up-under-the-covers kind of old-fashioned reading experience hardly anyone knows how to write anymore. In telling the story of Judith Dunbar and her loved ones, Rosamunde Pilcher writes with warmth, wisdom, and clear-eyed insight about every family. This is a totally involving story of coming of age, coming to terms with both love and sadness, and, in every sense of the words, Coming Home."

This is a really long book. There are 728 pages in the version I read. I did enjoy it, though. I haven't read a "classic-type" book like this in a long time, so it took me about 150 pages before I got into it and could read it a little faster. The language is beautiful. I loved the descriptions and pictures that Ms. Pilcher paints with her words. I could almost smell the sea and feel the cool breezes.The character development is well done as well. I love Judith and feel for her. It felt like she could be my cousin or neighbor. I love Nancherrow and the people that live there. I also really like Aunt Lavinia and Judith's aunts and uncle. The story is about Judith's life growing up and how her family and those around her are affected by the war, and how they each end up "coming home." It has a cozy feeling to it, and it does make you feel like you are home. It's familiar.

I didn't like the transitions at all, however. You'll be right in the middle of a story with one character, then there is a little symbol on the page and all of a sudden you are reading about someone completely different. It threw me off every time. It takes a second to figure out who you are reading about and what he or she is doing. I also thought it ended quite abruptly. For having 728 pages I thought it needed about 30 more to finish it. There is some language in this book, including the "f" word a few times. There is also quite a bit of promiscuity. For some reason I had in my head that people living at the time of WWII wore chastity belts or something. Hahahaha. Nope.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I don't know if it is considered a classic, but it has a "classic-type" feel, which I enjoyed because I haven't read one in so long. I would recommend it with the previous warnings.

Rating: PG-13+ (Language, "physical intimacy," and some war atrocities.)

Recommendation: 18 and up