"Sharp and memorable...Finely wrought."
NEWSDAY
They were six friends from the Midwest who moved to New York City with high hopes o... read full description
NEWSDAY
They were six friends from the Midwest who moved to New York City with high hopes o... read full description
reviews
Aug 29, 2011
mark
rated it: 
literary author Jane Smiley does a murder mystery, which is cause enough for interest. the central character is fascinatingly and realistically deluded in her understanding of the events unfolding around her and in her lack of comprehension of the inner character of her lifelong friends. this is much more of a slow-burning character study and a depiction of an emotionally intricate set of relationships than a suspense-filled mystery. however, the sequence in which the heroine finally finds herse
More...
0 comments
like
(7 people liked it)
Jul 10, 2008
Ardys
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 10, 2010
Kirsty
rated it:
Hmmmm. I left this book with 9/15 chapters completed five years ago. I'm the sort of person who generally soldiers on through books I'm not enjoying and all my memories were that I did enjoy this book. So I've been kind of bemused for a long time that I didn't finish this book up and decided it was about time for another go.
I enjoyed the beginning, like last time, but hit a severe case of the blahs in the middle. I guess that was like last time too. I could have happily abandoned it ag More...
I enjoyed the beginning, like last time, but hit a severe case of the blahs in the middle. I guess that was like last time too. I could have happily abandoned it ag More...
Mar 09, 2009
Michelle
rated it:
I listened to this book, which may have largely contributed to my not really liking it. I didn't know anything about it and just picked it up at the library because I like Jane Smiley.
The premise was somewhat interesting -- two musicians were found murdered in their NY apartment, and the list of people who had keys to the apartment was so long as to make it nearly impossible to reconstruct, and thus the list of possible suspects was equally long.
The narrator, Alice, found More...
The premise was somewhat interesting -- two musicians were found murdered in their NY apartment, and the list of people who had keys to the apartment was so long as to make it nearly impossible to reconstruct, and thus the list of possible suspects was equally long.
The narrator, Alice, found More...
Aug 30, 2009
Amy
rated it:
I'm a fan of Jane Smiley but Duplicate Keys didn't grip me the way Moo or A Thousand Acres did. An interesting but predictable mystery, apart from one gripping suspense sequence towards the end, Duplicate Keys was slow moving and frequently dull. I entertained myself through the slow bits by trying to decide if Smiley was actually basing her characters entirely around diagnostic criteria for specific mental health problems in the DSMIV. No single character rang 100% true and the main character's
More...
Mar 09, 2009
Margie
rated it:
The protagonist reminds me very much of the protagonist of A Thousand Acres; unable to discern the motives of others, unable to see anything but the best in people, and willing to twist herself into origami shapes in order to create a truth that allows everyone else to be a good person. I'm not sure if I dislike her because she's unlikeable or if it's because she reminds me of parts of myself I dislike.
It's interesting to see the template of Smiley's character development overlain o More...
It's interesting to see the template of Smiley's character development overlain o More...
Jun 05, 2011
Anne Hawn
rated it:
This book was a disappointment to me. I disliked all the characters and the naive, blissfully unaware, Alice was too stupid to be a librarian, much less a friend. Non of the characters were well developed and their lives were pitiful.
The plot was about some friends in their 30's who had come through the hippie commune era and were living in New York. The band had had a hit record, but had done nothing much since. They seemed on the border of going some place, but never quite made More...
The plot was about some friends in their 30's who had come through the hippie commune era and were living in New York. The band had had a hit record, but had done nothing much since. They seemed on the border of going some place, but never quite made More...
Feb 18, 2008
Sara*
rated it: 
I just finished Jane Smiley's Duplicate Keys, a mysterious story of murder, betrayal, and life in 1980 New York City. The story follows a group of friends, a few of them in a band, from the Midwest who come to NYC seeking their piece of the rock n' roll pie. The group has moderate success and receives lukewarm reviews, but the members trudge on obsessing over their next great song, lyric, review, connection. Two of the band members are found in their apartment dead by Alice, a friend outside the
More...
Oct 12, 2007
REVIEW:
Alice Ellis is a Midwestern refugee living in Manhattan. Still recovering from a painful divorce, she depends on the companionship and camaraderie of tightly knit circle of friends. At the center of this circle is a rock band struggling to navigate New York’s erratic music scene, and an apartment/practice space with approximately fifty key-holders. One sunny day, Alice enters the apartment and finds two of the band members shot dead. As the double-murder sends waves of shock through More...
Alice Ellis is a Midwestern refugee living in Manhattan. Still recovering from a painful divorce, she depends on the companionship and camaraderie of tightly knit circle of friends. At the center of this circle is a rock band struggling to navigate New York’s erratic music scene, and an apartment/practice space with approximately fifty key-holders. One sunny day, Alice enters the apartment and finds two of the band members shot dead. As the double-murder sends waves of shock through More...
Jan 14, 2009
Beverly
rated it:
Early in her career, the eclectic Jane Smiley tried her hand at a mystery. Although she succeeded in creating some suspense and an air of menace, this is more a mystery about the unconscious and Freudian/Jungian archetypes about change, adulthood, and selfhood. Having to plot a mystery, though saved Smiley from the amorphous non-plots that plague some of her fictions. The heroine, Alice Ellis, discovers the dead bodies of 2 friends when she enters their apartment to water the plants. The action
More...
Aug 22, 2009
Dolores
rated it:
Quintessential Jane Smiley. Interesting description of characters. A great read for anyone who wants to remember or learn about life in NYC in 1980, before cell phones, internet service, cd's. One wonders at times, " why doesn't she just call and tell them she'll be delayed!" and then one remembers there was no such thing as cellphones.
I guessed the mystery of the murder immediately. The interest is in reading about the curses, the disappointments, the blessings of long term More...
I guessed the mystery of the murder immediately. The interest is in reading about the curses, the disappointments, the blessings of long term More...
Apr 28, 2009
Mary Jo
rated it:
My initial comment about this book was that I felt like I was reading a Woody Allen movie - it takes place in NYC in the early 80s and just feels like Woody. I swear Mia Farrow could be the lead.
The mystery was interesting, if not terribly gripping. It had nothing to do with the murder really and more about the circle of friends of the victims. There is also alot about relationships - intimate physical and friendship relationships. Intersting.
The mystery was interesting, if not terribly gripping. It had nothing to do with the murder really and more about the circle of friends of the victims. There is also alot about relationships - intimate physical and friendship relationships. Intersting.
Sep 01, 2007
Johnsergeant
rated it:
Listened to the audiobook from Recorded Books
Narrated By: Ruth Ann Phimister
Jane Smiley’s talent for creating emotionally-gripping tales of family relationships was celebrated when she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for A Thousand Acres (RB# 94792). In Duplicate Keys, Smiley displays her flair for creating a haunting mystery. Everyone has keys to Susan’s New York apartment: all her friends, and friends of friends. So one afternoon, when Alice u More...
Narrated By: Ruth Ann Phimister
Jane Smiley’s talent for creating emotionally-gripping tales of family relationships was celebrated when she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for A Thousand Acres (RB# 94792). In Duplicate Keys, Smiley displays her flair for creating a haunting mystery. Everyone has keys to Susan’s New York apartment: all her friends, and friends of friends. So one afternoon, when Alice u More...
Jul 22, 2010
Kerry
rated it:
Everyone has a friend like Alice, loyal, naive, the peacemaker, a little clingy sometimes. As she gets caught up in this drama and the story unfolds I could feel her desperately trying to hang on to reality and trying to save the pieces that are left while almost denying other people had been part of her life. She at once caggy, manipulative and almost boring. The duplicate keys don't get you till the end...
Oct 28, 2009
Erin
rated it:
I was super-excited to read my second Jane Smiley novel. The plot, I thought, was awesome and something I could really get into. Unfortunately the protagonist needs to have the crap kicked out of her. I have never seen so much all-over-the-place dialog--particularly at the end--and it all amounted to a big pile of nothing. Up until the end it was pretty good.
Dec 21, 2008
Maria
rated it:
I give this book 5 stars for excellent writing, and 1 for being the slowest paced book I've ever read that isn't nonfiction. The resulting 3 stars perhaps does not really reflect my disgust with the main protagonist who in a chameleon-like way changes with each person she is with until I was ready to kill her myself. Too much introspection and not enough action.
Jul 04, 2011
Debby
rated it:
I liked this book, but definitely not as much as A Thousand Acres. A combination of factors, I think. First, I'm not really a big mystery fan, and second, I didn't find the protagonist particularly believable. Actually, more often than not, I found her irritating. But the book kept my interest, and was well written.
Feb 17, 2011
Donna
rated it:
I was disappointed in this novel by Jane Smiley. The characters were interesting to a point, and there was one really intriguing scene when the main character is desperately trying to escape from immediate danger.
I was not happy with the language and some of the over-descriptive, intimate details. Not one I would recommend.
I was not happy with the language and some of the over-descriptive, intimate details. Not one I would recommend.
Oct 31, 2011
Douglas
rated it:
This early Smiley novel starts slowly and implausibly, with friends reacting in odd ways to the murder of two members of their group. But I'm glad I stuck with it, because Smiley ends up telling a compelling, moving story of friendship, betrayal and lost dreams, all within the tense confines of a modern cozy mystery.
Jan 18, 2011
Merry
rated it: 
This book should be a lot better known than it is. It is one of the best descriptions I have ever read of a group of 60s friends - in this case, a band plus attached friends and girlfriends. It is also a wonderful psychological study and creepy mystery.
Jun 23, 2009
Patricia
rated it:
Unlike any of Smiley's other books. A decent mystery, with Smiley's lovely writing. The characters are a bit two-dimensional, and though it appears, at first, to be a true mystery story (grizzled detective, gruesome and elegantly described murder scene), it's really not-- in the sense that there's not the pleasing discovery of clues and the like. A nice breezy summer read though.
Jan 17, 2010
Lacy
rated it:
This was alright. I like that it was quick, though I feel it could have been reduced to a short story and still been good.
Great characterization, not that mysterious, and not to difficult to figure out. Ho hum.
Great characterization, not that mysterious, and not to difficult to figure out. Ho hum.
Mar 13, 2011
Joy H.
rated it:
RE: _Duplicate Keys_ by Jane Smiley
In my notes I wrote: "Jane Smiley reveals deep insights about feelings and relationships, and articulates them with words and similes that clearly illustrate her meaning."
In my notes I wrote: "Jane Smiley reveals deep insights about feelings and relationships, and articulates them with words and similes that clearly illustrate her meaning."
Jul 24, 2008
Amanda
rated it:
Smiley's style is so readable that I enjoyed the book in spite of the fact that I spent the first half arguing with it. As I turned the pages (and I did keep turning the pages), I kept saying to myself, this is not how real people act. The book begins with a murder, and all the friends spend the days following talking about how "amazing" it is and arguing about whether one of the victims was destined to die young anyway. They ate a lot, too. I lived through a freind's murder, and w
More...
Oct 12, 2008
Maria
rated it:
Whatever genre Jane Smiley is covering, what remains consistent is the depth of her character studies. Even more fascinating than the individual characters, however, is the subtle and highly realistic way in which she captures relationships among people. When you finish her books you would swear that the characters are real people living somewhere in the world.
This book could be called a murder mystery. It really isn't. It covers relationships between friends and lovers and questions More...
This book could be called a murder mystery. It really isn't. It covers relationships between friends and lovers and questions More...
Aug 21, 2011
Amy
rated it:
a mystery and more: a disquisition on the ideals vs. the realities of friendship, what we perceive, what we contribute, motives and allegiences. The woman can write!
Jan 15, 2010
doug
rated it:
A real white knuckle page turner. There's one particularly tense section of this book I was reading when an earthquake hit and I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Dec 07, 2009
Sue
rated it:
Read it years ago, and reread it last week, so I knew "who did it?" Wouldn't have thought about perspective of being the wife of musician. Interesting.
Mar 11, 2011
Susan
rated it:
Jane Smiley tries out the "creepy" mystery. Entertaining look at the New York Scene, but a bit predictable in the end.
Jan 28, 2010
erin
rated it:
I love Smiley, but this was the wrong book at the wrong time. Also? 1980 was weird. I'm glad I pretty much missed it.
