Helpful Score: 4
One of the best books from Margaret Drabble. Opens with the fascinating life of a Korean crowd princess and her unhappy and unhinged husband with court politics and intrigue from centuries past. Then moves to modern day acedemic lecture circuits and the everyday drama of different lives without a change in pace and still keeps a theme intact throughout. "Clever" doesn't even come close to describing it. A marvel of narrative technique and a really enjoyable story as well.
Helpful Score: 1
Loved the first half, POV the Crown Princess... but after only a few pages of the second half I quit. The third-person POV is very awkward... the idea, I think, is that it is the Princess's ghost observing. Didn't work for me. :(