Earlier this month, I watched the first season of Poldark and rather enjoyed it. So of course, I had to start reading the books. I’ve finished the first book on audio, and here are my thoughts in handy little bullets:
– The TV series stayed remarkably faithful to the story. Some timelines are condensed and a few things left out, but I was very impressed.
– I didn’t realize the series was started in the 40s. I was expecting it to be more modern historical fiction, which isn’t my favorite genre, and was glad to discover I was reading a classic!
– Of course, because I was reading a classic, and historical fiction at that, there was some iffy morality involved. There was, for instance, a lot of talk about how if you love someone, risking or taking a beating is no big thing. You’d rather continued to be married to your husband, even if he drinks himself into a stupor and then knocks you around. Um, no. As with most classics, though, I try to place both the characters and authors into their respective time periods for evaluation, and therefore don’t condemn the book for that.
– I’m not sure how much I would have enjoyed the book if I hadn’t seen the series and gotten to know the characters beforehand. It’s a novel where not a whole lot happens – people live and struggle and scheme through the years, but there’s no real rising action or climax. I might have been bored if I didn’t already know and love the people in the story.
– The audio, read by Oliver Hembrough, was fantastic.
The Zen Leaf 
I love this series too! I was able to get most of them from SAPL before I left, I only have two books left in the series! I’m looking forward to watching season 2 when I get a chance (I can get PBS if I go on base). I’m so glad you like it.
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I’m hoping I can get my hands on audio versions of the whole series. I’m pretty much doing audio exclusively these days…
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I am deciding if I want to read the books or not. Sometimes I feel like I’ve gotten enough of the story out of the show, especially if it’s not a shorter movie that will obviously have to cut a lot out or make changes for dramatic reasons. I still have to watch this week’s episode too but I’ll probably decide after this season whether I want to read it or not.
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I just wanted to see if there was anything more to it. It’s been fun and comfortable to listen to.
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I also wondered if I would have enjoyed the book as much if I hadn’t seen the show first. I had high expectations but then was never super enthusiastic about picking it up between reading other books. I checked out the second book in the series but never got to it. I’m excited about Season 2 though!
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I don’t think I would have liked it as much if I hadn’t seen the show first.
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