In parts dull and a chore to read, but in others it emotionally manipulated me into compulsive reading. However, the ending felt empty, and made me wonder why I gave the effort.

Bennett's realist style allows him to describe scenes in such detail that I could picture them perfectly, but stops him focusing on plot or character sharply enough to make an involving story. His dryness swamps the characters, who never become more than names. We know Anna's father is a tyrant because we're told through statements but we're not shown. All the characters are named objects rather than people with emotions, Willie Price especially.

What kept me reading was the overhanging air of doom. There are continual hints a tragedy will happen. I don't want this innocent woman to have tragedy befall her, so I read on, mesmerised. I don't want it to happen, so I must read on to see that it doesn't, but I know it's inevitable, and my very continuing to read is what's drawing it nearer. This is the power of Anna Of The Five Towns.

However, this overhanging doom doesn't pay off. The ending is supported by the events of the book, but doesn't conclude what is important in the story. To discover what the tragedy actually was, the tragedy that kept me in a state of agitated suspense throughout, that was the reason I kept going through the dryness, was such a relief! I don't care if Anna's mother obsession turns out that in the last moment she realises she loves Willie. If she's only just realised, it can't be that important, and if he dies, I'm not bothered, because he was never portrayed as a person, just a thing that Anna liked to care for. She still escapes her evil father, and will be protected by Mynors, which is where the main story is focused, so the sudden popping of this 'oh no what will the tragedy be' leaves me unable to care that there is a tragedy. And it's a disappointment because the ending doesn't tie anything else up, making it all a waste of time.

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