Review of All the Seasons Never Lived

[Satwik Mohanty]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "All the Seasons Never Lived" by Judy Hovis.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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All the Seasons Never Lived is a historical fiction written by Judy Hovis. The book is based on the real-life story of Judy's great-grandmother, Clarice Pontifi. We are introduced to her and the chain of events that transform and mold her life. It's the story of one brave woman's quest to right the wrongs that have been done to her family.

The book is divided into eight parts. The story begins with Jackie narrating her life. She recounts her highs and lows as she prepares for a speech. She gets involved in an accident on her way to the speech, which leaves her in a coma. During this period, she experiences the life of her great-grandmother. The story alternates between two eras. At present, Jackie is slowly recovering from her coma. The other took place in 1890s France when Clarice Pontifi was still a little girl and a detailed account of what happened during that period.

I think the best part of this book was its narration and pacing. The beginning of the story was not that great, but Judy makes up for it by her writing. As mentioned before, the story jumps between two time periods, and the author has done a wonderful job at managing them. The atmosphere, their interactions, and their vocabulary are all precisely timed. The overall story was fantastic. I loved to see the struggles of Clarice and how she overcame them. Her character development is wonderful. Another positive aspect would be its editing. It was professional. I could only find a few minor mistakes in this book.

There were quite a few things that I did not like about this book. One of them would be its start. The book does not start on a high note. It's not easy to finish a book if it's not engaging from the beginning. Another aspect would be its characters. As I said before, the beginning was a bit clumsy. It was due to the vast amount of characters. There were a lot of them. I had to read some chapters again to properly understand the interaction between those characters. As it turns out, most of them were not even that significant. The story got more interesting as it progressed but, I can't say the same about its conclusion. It was not bad, but in my opinion, it could have been much better.

For these reasons, I would rate it 3 out of 4 stars. All in all, All the Seasons Never Lived is a good read for people who enjoy good writing regardless of the genre. It contains a few romantic scenes and minor profanity. I can recommend it to anyone interested in historical fiction. Its slow start may not be appealing to some audiences, but the story as a whole is a lot better.

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All the Seasons Never Lived
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[Soraya Bayah]

I might as well be up for a heartfelt read, and this book might be what I need. Thank you for the extremely insightful and helpful review; I thoroughly enjoyed it. (I like your pfp)

[Mbenma Esther 080]

I love reading fiction on history. The is for the review

[Amenrodion]

Great title, great plot, great review. I wonder about all the seasons we will never live as humans

[Walter R]

Have never really been a great fan of historical fiction. Great review though.

[Vivian Stones]

Books that are well narrated always keeps the reader glued till the end. Jackie does seem like an amazing character. I enjoyed reading your review. Thank you!

[GYRO]

It is indeed difficult to follow a book if it has a slow start. I'll still give this one a try. Thanks for the sound review.

[Aisha Yakub]

Great to know the author healthily combined two eras into a single piece; not every writer can pull that off. Thank you for the review

[Blessing Odii]

Quite an interesting review. The book sounds very captivating.

[Ndagire Hassifah]

I like reading historical fiction and this book sounds quite interesting. Thanks for the wonderful review.