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The White Swan - General Chat Thread
By Susan · 1428 posts · 190 views
By Susan · 1428 posts · 190 views
last updated Feb 06, 2021 07:39AM
What Members Thought
Published in 1974, this is – astonishingly – the 28th mystery in the Roderick Alleyn series. Many of the views in this novel, particularly in terms of race, seem very outdated now and make uncomfortable reading.
The mystery is centred around the visit of the President of Ng’ombwana, an emerging, African nation. The President is being difficult about security and so Alleyn, who went to school with him and knows him by his nickname, ‘The Boomer,’ due to his loud voice, is sent to make him see reas ...more
The mystery is centred around the visit of the President of Ng’ombwana, an emerging, African nation. The President is being difficult about security and so Alleyn, who went to school with him and knows him by his nickname, ‘The Boomer,’ due to his loud voice, is sent to make him see reas ...more
3.5★
Wanda McCaddon does a great narration & her voice for Inspector Alleyn's school friend Boomer was particularly excellent.
As for the book itself, I was surprised to find that this is a Marsh that I had not previously read. I have seen in some of the other reviews that some people had problems with this book's treatment of race. Certainly some of the characters were racist but just as clearly others were not. If you are sensitive about this issue, then it might be better to skip this one.
I tho ...more
Wanda McCaddon does a great narration & her voice for Inspector Alleyn's school friend Boomer was particularly excellent.
As for the book itself, I was surprised to find that this is a Marsh that I had not previously read. I have seen in some of the other reviews that some people had problems with this book's treatment of race. Certainly some of the characters were racist but just as clearly others were not. If you are sensitive about this issue, then it might be better to skip this one.
I tho ...more
Review of the audiobook narrated by Nadia May
Continuing with my Ngaio Marsh audiobook glom -- largely courtesy of Audible Plus having so many titles in their catalog -- I reached this book, which is rather controversial for its antiquated racial and class biases. The author's attitudes, which are those to be expected from a seventy-nine-year-old lady writing in 1974, did not bother me all that much, although I would not accept them from a contemporary author.
I also cut Dame Marsh some slack for ...more
Continuing with my Ngaio Marsh audiobook glom -- largely courtesy of Audible Plus having so many titles in their catalog -- I reached this book, which is rather controversial for its antiquated racial and class biases. The author's attitudes, which are those to be expected from a seventy-nine-year-old lady writing in 1974, did not bother me all that much, although I would not accept them from a contemporary author.
I also cut Dame Marsh some slack for ...more
For those of a PC nature, I will say the book does contain racial prejudice, also prejudice against over-weight persons, but not by everyone.
It centres around a president of an new African republic, on which an assassination is attempted. This character is an old school friend of Alleyn, and so he is brought in to help prevent any attempt, making things difficult for him. Another acquaintance of Alleyn's past is also included, a retired diplomat who helps Alleyn as he speaks the African languag ...more
It centres around a president of an new African republic, on which an assassination is attempted. This character is an old school friend of Alleyn, and so he is brought in to help prevent any attempt, making things difficult for him. Another acquaintance of Alleyn's past is also included, a retired diplomat who helps Alleyn as he speaks the African languag ...more
"Among whom might be found the old cloak and dagger merchant. And apart from all these more or less motivated persons," Alleyn said, " there are the ones policemen like least - the fanatics. The haters of black pigmentation, the lonely woman who dreams about a black rapist, the man who builds Antichrist in a black image, or who reads a threat to his livelihood in every black neighbor, or for whom the commonplace phrases - black outlook., black record, as black as it's painted, black villainy, an
...more
A fun read with over-the-top characters and plot that made it seem a bit of a spoof. The portrayals of the Africans seem quite dated even for the time this was written. The retired military man and his adopted stray cat Lucy Lockett are wonderful characters and I would love to see them in later books.
Apr 21, 2016
Chris
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Gary Vassallo
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Rachel Burke
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review of another edition
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