Shrines of Gaiety: The Sunday Times Bestseller, May 2023

More a commentary on life than a mystery, the book meanders and flows and sweeps you along. I strongly recommend this book.

There were so many subplots which could have blossomed into a nice interlinked story but it did not materialise. There are times when she has followed simplistic solutions and there are times when you are left In a lurch. Space devoted to Ramsay…..oh …what a waste….. still I will read all her books …. An author with great insights in human nature…

The person I bought it for loved it

I started reading Ms. Atkinson's books about three years ago and was initially transfixed by her book "Transcription".. then the Jackson Brodie series...but this one.. well I never wanted it to end . The story is captivating, warm, humerous with a dash of whimsy nd excitement.. much like the cocktails she claims never to have sampled. The language is delicate and electrifying at the same time. The characters endearing and lovable and dastardly and everyone gets appropriate justice in the end. The story telling reminded me of"A gentleman in Moscow" which until now was top of my favourite books.. I think it still is but this one is running it awfully close... Thank you Ms Atkinson for a delicious escape...

As usually with Kate Atkinson's books, a joy to read. Vibrant, full of humour and intelligence.

I usually like Kate Atkinson's novels, this one I liked the least. The story idea is good and the setting interesting. The book takes awhile to get going, but ok, I do not mind that. The reader is treated to very detailed backstories and is not sure how they will connect - this is a good aspect of the novel, it made me want to find out. The middle section is faster paced and the characters started to grow on me. Someone said that the number of coincidences is too high, some can be explained by the fact that we learn about certain characters because they become part of the action later on, but the story is a bit far stretched at times. The resolution of the story is very disappointing, it is not well constructed and sloppily done. The storyline's resolution is superficial, we never learn many background facts or have to guess. The expectations and curiosity raised earlier were left unsatisfied. One of the main characters is randomly killed off, quite the deus ex machina solution, two others are left at a pivotal moment. We learn in short fashion about what the future holds for the other characters (often premature death) but it is quite unsatisfactory. All in all the book is strangely unbalanced, providing an excruciating level of detail at times and only a cursory glance at the end.

I enjoyed this book so much that I am going to read it again soon