Bruce Beckham's Blog - Posts Tagged "maltese-falcon"
In for a penny
I just finished Still Life by Louise Penny - a new author to me.
I enjoyed the mystery and the rural setting, and was pleased to see it each time it came out of my rucksack (this was my woodland dog-walking reading for the last few weeks).
I note that it has had stacks of reviews so I won't try to reprise the plot.
Perhaps of more interest would be my observations?
I found the continuity, moving from narrative to dialogue and vice-versa, quite clunky at times - this surprised me given the awards the book has racked up.
Early on, the reader is bombarded with characters - I make it 14 in the first 12 pages. For someone like me, who forgets people's names within about 5 seconds of being introduced, this posed quite a challenge. I could have done with a glossary.
Most curious - and I'll try to avoid a minor spoiler here - is a character who is introduced as a possible protagonist, and who then gradually fades into oblivion.
There are several contextually inappropriate jokes thrown in - some of these surprisingly risqué. However, I did laugh out loud - an unusual achievement - at the moment Inspector Gamache is tempted to take the change left behind by the previous occupant of a dining table.
I am always puzzled when the authorial voice successively reveals selected thoughts of a series of characters - this happens quite often. It does create a contradiction - especially when one of them is the murderer!
I read this book hot on the heels of the all-time-classic The Maltese Falcon - which is one tough act to follow. I guess overall I prefer the hard-bitten to the 'comfy' - but I can see the attraction of the latter and I should like to read the next in the series.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
I enjoyed the mystery and the rural setting, and was pleased to see it each time it came out of my rucksack (this was my woodland dog-walking reading for the last few weeks).
I note that it has had stacks of reviews so I won't try to reprise the plot.
Perhaps of more interest would be my observations?
I found the continuity, moving from narrative to dialogue and vice-versa, quite clunky at times - this surprised me given the awards the book has racked up.
Early on, the reader is bombarded with characters - I make it 14 in the first 12 pages. For someone like me, who forgets people's names within about 5 seconds of being introduced, this posed quite a challenge. I could have done with a glossary.
Most curious - and I'll try to avoid a minor spoiler here - is a character who is introduced as a possible protagonist, and who then gradually fades into oblivion.
There are several contextually inappropriate jokes thrown in - some of these surprisingly risqué. However, I did laugh out loud - an unusual achievement - at the moment Inspector Gamache is tempted to take the change left behind by the previous occupant of a dining table.
I am always puzzled when the authorial voice successively reveals selected thoughts of a series of characters - this happens quite often. It does create a contradiction - especially when one of them is the murderer!
I read this book hot on the heels of the all-time-classic The Maltese Falcon - which is one tough act to follow. I guess overall I prefer the hard-bitten to the 'comfy' - but I can see the attraction of the latter and I should like to read the next in the series.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
