Portrait of a Girl by Dorthe Binkert

I got this book as a Kindle First selection. It seemed like it would be interesting in the description. I wasn't too enthused when I started reading it, but I kept hoping it would redeem itself. First off, there were glaring errors, such as the use of modern slang ("Whatever") when this is supposedly taking place in the 1890s. There were too many minor characters and subplots that didn't add to the story. The author "telling" rather than "showing" -- repeatedly saying thing like "He felt sad" or "James gave his friend an amused look." What does an "amused look" look like? How about "James cocked an eyebrow and grimaced at his friend"? Give us a visual. The book is written in omniscient third person, so the author knows what's inside everyone's head, which I don't really care for. Maybe something was lost in translation, but the writing style is drab and boring, and nothing really happened in the book that was compelling. It just seemed to drag on forever. I held on until the end, but it was a letdown too.