Thursday, December 04, 2008

THE CHRISTMAS PEARL

Author:  Dorothea Benton Frank
Genre:  Fiction
Published:  2007
Personal Rating:  2.5/5
Yearly Count:  156



Theodora, the 93-year-old matriarch of a Charleston mansion, has all the family members home for Christmas.  They seem to have lost the meaning of family and Christmas making Theodora one disappointed and saddened great-grandma.  Suddenly, her current maid is called away on an emergency and Theodora's maid from her childhood comes back from the dead to straighten the family out.

I was enjoying learning about the traditions this great-grandma experienced as a child, but then the "ghost" appeared and my interest vanished.  (Ha! There was no pun intended there.)  Knowing I could handle ghosts (due to my successful reading of The Graveyard Book), I refocused to finish it out.  There was too much family drama to be turned into happy-happy joy-joy with just the click of the fingers.  It just didn't work for me.  Bah humbug.

13 comments:

  1. LOL, I don't even care for A Christmas Carol all that much (I know, appalling) - re: ghosts, etc. I just don't like to mix them with Christmas. I'll read a good ghost story, though.

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  2. Mary ~ I don't like A Christmas Carol either. I have Blue Christmas downloading as I type this. It's next up on my iPod!

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  3. BLUE CHRISTMAS - Mary Kay Andrews? That was so GOOD!

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  4. I think I'm in the minority on this, but I read one Frank book and it started out fabulous. Toward the middle, I wanted to scream. It went so dramatically downhill. I haven't given her a second chance, but I do believe I have another of her books and those who are fans of Frank told me I'd read the worst of the lot.

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  5. Oofsie. I meant I'm I think I'm in the minority when it comes to disliking her writing. But, that's just based on one book. The crowd is crying out, "Give the girl a chance!" Okay. I'll play nice.

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  6. Nope, Bookfool. I'm with you! I tried one Dorothea Benton Frank book and was not the least bit impressed. Don't remember what it was, but I haven't tried any others. Looks like I'll be skipping this one, too. Thanks for the honest review, Joy! :)

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  7. very much of the time, i add whatever you've reviewed to my to-read list - sometimes even when you didn't like it much, if it seems like it might interest me more. this one doesn't make it to the list ... but merry christmas anyway! :)

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  8. My book club is reading this for December. I have to skip it though as I have to much to read as it is. Looks like I may not be missing much though. PS-I love A Christmas Carol.

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  9. Vickie ~ Yep, that's the one. You mentioned it last year, but I didn't get to it. I'm currently listening to it. :)

    Bookfool ~ I think I read one other Frank book, too. I vaguely remember thinking it was okay, nothing great, but okay.

    Les ~ Tee Hee. I really don't like hokey books.

    Alisonwonderland ~ LOL I'm glad you don't read my thoughts as the only view. Books are highly subjective.

    Dar ~ I don't know, Dar. If you like A Christmas Carol, you could be missing out on something BIG! :)

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  10. Ok, it's a small book so I reserved it at the library. Now I feel the need to read it. lol.

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  11. Sounds like interesting holiday reading.

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  12. Dar ~ So, did you read it yet? What did you think?

    MyUtopia ~ If you like ghosts - I suppose so. :) I admit, there were parts of it that were good.

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  13. I haven't gotten it from the library yet Joy. Our library closed down to put in new rugs (in the winter of all things) and I can't pick up any holds until Dec 21 so it looks like I'll be reading it right at Christmas.

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