Subscribe to Read | $0.00
Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!
Quick and Easy Sign Up!
It takes less then 1 minute to sign up, then you can enjoy Unlimited eBooks.
Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!
Quick and Easy Sign Up!
It takes less then 1 minute to sign up, then you can enjoy Unlimited eBooks.
Read Anywhere and on Any Device!
Rate this book!
Write a review?
I DIDN'T like this, not at all!!! Look, I gave it a very good fair chance...... I can think of two positive things to say about this book. 1. Flamenco is superbly described with an emtion that totally pulls the reader in.2. The reader is given a clear resumé of the time leading up Spanish Civil War 1936-1939, the Civil War itself and a teeny, teeny bit about its aftermath. BUT, it reads like a school book for children. Simplistic. The story is simply a showcase for the events of the war. After r...
There are many things to like about The Return, but also some things that were too predictable and required a willing suspension of belief. The good parts: the descriptions of flamenco were wonderful. I know so little about this dance and I learned a lot. I could tell that she definitely did her research about the Spanish Civil War, which is also an era of history I know too little about. All of my knowledge about this era comes from "The Shadow of the Wind" and the movie "Pan's Labyrinth." Howe...
A beautiful and sometimes tragic story of unrequited love and the power of the human spirit.
Although some of the writing is poor in my opinion, and there are far too many plot similarities to The Island, her first book - this story within a story detailing the joys and pains of a Republican family before, during and after the Spanish Civil War is engrossing at times, and very much worth a read. 5 out of 12.
I really enjoyed Victoria Hislops The Island so as soon as I saw this had been released I put my name down at the library to borrow a copy. The book started well as we follow Sonia, an unhappily married woman, to Granada where she and a friend have booked a holiday and some dance lessons. We follow her as she becomes more immersed in the salsa and flamenco dances and as she meets an elderly cafe owner who begins to tell her about the family who owned the cafe at the time of the civil war.At this...
I struggle to come up with an opinion about Victoria Hislop's The Return. It took me weeks to finish it, which isn't a good omen because she knows to write with a certain pace. The storyline is intriguing, because it deals with a partly forgotten war in the rest of Europe, the Spanish cival war. That by itself should offer enough drama, but the main part of the book, telling the story of the Ramirez family from Granada, feels different. As a reader I felt that I witnessed everything through a wi...
This is an ambitious book covering much of the history of the gruesome Spanish civil war. It opens in the present with a more light-hearted subject: dancing. Thirty-five-year-old Londoner Sonia and her wild-child schoolmate Maggie have taken up salsa. They head to Granada to attend a course, much to the disapproval of Sonia's husband James, who reckons she should concentrate her energies on hosting dinner parties and providing a son and heir. While Maggie throws herself into the holiday pleasure...
The Return feels as if it’s almost told in two parts. In the present day you meet Sonia. She’s a middle-aged woman who is having relationship issues and is facing some tough decisions when it comes to her marriage. She is visiting Spain with a friend and they decide to take some dancing classes to celebrate her friend’s birthday.While on her trip she meets an elderly waiter at a cafe who tells her the story of the Ramirez family and the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. Pablo and Concha Ramirez ru...
Despite the fact that the dictator Franco killed thousands of republicans and had tried to swept them out from his way, they were able to emerge again and won the election after his death.History always teaches us that whatsoever the evil and oppression endeavouring to last, it undoubtedly wouldn't gain the victory of eternity, the seeds of depressed and Martyrs would stop it.I think the history of Spain is very rich of events that could be a reference to humanity.God bless all the republicans a...
It made me want to learn much more about the Spanish Civil War. It shocked me to find out that this was happening in the 20th centuary and yet I did not learn anything about it at school. I never realised the extent that the spanish people were put through. As for the book I felt it was excellent, the story (although predictable) the historical information, the descriptions and the best reason I loved the book it made me want to dance.
There are lots of things to like about this book, and yet I can only give it three stars because it just didn't quite grip me. "The Return" is not one of those books that you "just can't put down" --- I actually had to make myself pick it up and keep reading most of the time.And yet --- this is not a bad book. The style of writing is good, and the characters are interesting. A few years ago I spent 2 weeks in Granada, so I could really see the streets and Plazas of the city - as well as the magn...
So this is really two books; a modern framework as a vehicle for telling a story about the Spanish civil war. The historical fiction part is really quite good; I would rate the middle section of the book a 4 star. The characters are real and the history is nice. I knew next to nothing about the Spanish civil war and besides getting a good history lesson, I liked the story. The modern framework, however is a 2 star. The characters are shells and the story is silly. Who cares about Sonia and James...
