I listened to this riveting story on audiobook, and despaired when the book ended. The sequence of events proved a little confusing, and the ending seem too rushed. The character of Stella/Etna shows the glimmer of an independent woman emerging from World War I. Stella buys her own cottage, supports herself and her children by drawing medical scenes, hires a lawyer to win custody of her son, and even drives an ambulance during the war. Her determination seems a little too much for this time in our history, but many writers are portraying strong and innovative women. The book also relates the horrors witnessed by the soldiers, doctors, and nurses; and the problems these horrors presented at later times. The new field of psychology trickles into the story. Though I usually devour everything she writes, Stella didn't capture my imagination. Reading it you feel kept at a distance from the central characters, especially Stella, though for good reason: she has shell-shock-induced amnesia. The character herself feels a keen distance from who she was, or who she might be. Even within that plot development, it wasn't hard to guess what had happened or how it will end (tidy predictability, with a fair dose of rambling). Though I kept reading till the end, I didn't seem to care who Stella turned out to be. And when we find out, it's disappointingly average.
Do You like book A Vida Secreta De Stella Bain (2014)?
I liked it! There were interesting plot devices - not entirely what I was expecting.
—ronuela13
