Pieternella: Daughter of Eva by Dalene Matthee

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Not even the slightest bit of desire to finish reading this book. Ever. It’s long winded, stuffy and completely boring. The translation is terrible. The only reason I didn’t give it a 1 star rating was because it is very obvious that the research was done brilliantly. But I think there is a fine line between researching something to enhance a story, and throwing so much research into a story that people who read for pleasure put the book down because they feel like they’re being given a preachy history lesson. Sorry if that comes off as a little anti-South African of me. It’s not that at all. I just like it when I actually enjoy what I’m reading.

That said I am aware that this review is completely unfair since I haven’t completed the book. If I ever do end up finishing it I might revise my review – but at the moment I am trying to adopt a policy of “only read it if you want to”. I do imagine that the Afrikaans version is surely better.

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