A very typical Danielle Steel book. Takes place in Paris, Italy and India. She always makes me feel like she's a tour guide,as she knows these places so well! The story of three main couples, how they all know each other from going to The White Dinner,and annual event in Paris. And I meant to look this up to see if it's a real thing! The story of how to make a marriage work,and how to break one up. All the characters were so interesting, I couldn't pick a favorite.Twists and turns, delves into the fashion world,and relationships. Everything Ms. Steel is known for writing!
I read Magic with a few reading buddies in my online book club, The Reading Cove.
I grew up reading Danielle Steel as a teen but outgrew her and haven't read one in years, so now in my thirties, for nostalgia's sake, I thought it would be fun to see what her books are like now.
Magic was a bit different in style, the ensemble cast and international settings echoed a Jackie Collins novel--but without the raunch and spice. The narratives were super clichéd, with a theme of repeating the characters' circumstances and feelings over and over and over (not exaggerating, the repetition accounts for at least 50% of the book!), and placing the dots thisclose together as if the story were being told to a child.
I found most of the circumstances overwrought and predictable, so grew bored and could easily just skim along to the next time something that actually moved things along happened. There were no surprises, no flavor to the writing.
I can see how reading about adults as a twelve/thirteen-year-old was fascinating and interesting to me since I was only just beginning to read adult books and had yet to experience actually being an adult. But while I got older, Danielle Steel's writing stayed the same. Even when I re-read a few of her earlier books in my twenties I realized that while they were books for and about adults, they were more suited to an adolescent reading comprehension.
So for me the best thing about Magic was the traveling from country to country, the description of the settings. But is that + a nice dose of childhood nostalgia enough to pick up another DS book? Unfortunately not. I need a bit more complexity to truly be engaged at this point. 2.75 stars.
I grew up reading Danielle Steel as a teen but outgrew her and haven't read one in years, so now in my thirties, for nostalgia's sake, I thought it would be fun to see what her books are like now.
Magic was a bit different in style, the ensemble cast and international settings echoed a Jackie Collins novel--but without the raunch and spice. The narratives were super clichéd, with a theme of repeating the characters' circumstances and feelings over and over and over (not exaggerating, the repetition accounts for at least 50% of the book!), and placing the dots thisclose together as if the story were being told to a child.
I found most of the circumstances overwrought and predictable, so grew bored and could easily just skim along to the next time something that actually moved things along happened. There were no surprises, no flavor to the writing.
I can see how reading about adults as a twelve/thirteen-year-old was fascinating and interesting to me since I was only just beginning to read adult books and had yet to experience actually being an adult. But while I got older, Danielle Steel's writing stayed the same. Even when I re-read a few of her earlier books in my twenties I realized that while they were books for and about adults, they were more suited to an adolescent reading comprehension.
So for me the best thing about Magic was the traveling from country to country, the description of the settings. But is that + a nice dose of childhood nostalgia enough to pick up another DS book? Unfortunately not. I need a bit more complexity to truly be engaged at this point. 2.75 stars.
