The Chalk Circle Man (Commissaire Adamsberg #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

May 21, 2015 Nadine in NY Jones rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, detective-mystery, translation

I really enjoyed this one, but I can't quite put my finger on why. It's a fast book, shorter than it looks (there's a lot of space on those pages), and fast because it is a page turner, and quite pleasant to become immersed in. Is it odd for a story about murders to be pleasant? It sounds odd. But there are very few gruesome details, and a lot of interesting asides about various characters. I think, above all, it is the characters that make this book so enjoyable. They are so very DIFFERENT. Not I really enjoyed this one, but I can't quite put my finger on why. It's a fast book, shorter than it looks (there's a lot of space on those pages), and fast because it is a page turner, and quite pleasant to become immersed in. Is it odd for a story about murders to be pleasant? It sounds odd. But there are very few gruesome details, and a lot of interesting asides about various characters. I think, above all, it is the characters that make this book so enjoyable. They are so very DIFFERENT. Not at all like the stock characters I've become used to in mysteries. I don't know if this is because the book is not American, or if it is the skill of the author, or (most likely) some combination of those two. The mystery is rather satisfying, because I figured it out before the reveal, but only shortly before, and not because the investigators make stupid mistakes (they don't! so refreshing!) but because all the information you need is presented to you, the reader.

Commissioner Adamsberg is thoughtful, vague, brilliant, absent-minded, confused, confident, gentle and kind, and an excellent police detective because he has an innate ability to sense the connection between dots. He's odd and insightful, but maybe not the nicest guy (but not a jerk either). He tends to get so wrapped up in his cases, and so distracted by odd tangents, that he is not always present with the people around him.

While listening to Margellon's report, Adamsberg was leafing through the mail from his letter box. He had in front of him a letter from Christiane, passionate in tone, repetitive in content. Leaving you. Egotistical. Don't want to see you again. Have my pride. And so on for six pages.

All right, we'll think about that tonight, he told himself, feeling sure that he was indeed egotistical, but having learned from experience that when people are really leaving you they don't bother to warn you with six-page letters. They just go without a word, like the petite cherie. And people who walk about with the handle of a revolver sticking out of their pockets never kill themselves either, as some poet whose name he couldn't remember had said, in more or less those words. So Christiane would probably be back, with plenty of demands. Complications ahead. Under the shower, Adamsberg resolved not to be too mean, and to think about her tonight, if he could rememmber to think about her.

Don't let that chosen passage give the wrong impression - Adamsberg's romantic life is barely a sidenote in the story. It just struck me as interesting. The whole book is full of interesting little observations on life that I had never really considered before, not clearly anyway.

'No need to think,' said Le Nermord. 'It's quite simple and sad. I don't go out at night. I spend every evening writing. Nobody lives with me to confirm that, and I don't see much of my neighbours.'

They all sat nodding, without knowing why. There are moments when everyone just sits nodding.

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Aug 15, 2024 Daisy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: france, aroundtheworld2024

Ah. Original characters.

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Oct 30, 2020 Rachel Shields Ebersole rated it liked it

Nicely different from American crime novels (of course), and literally all the characters were eccentrics, which made for some fascinating internal monologues. Four stars for the writer's skill; 3 stars for how much I personally enjoyed it, and because I would only recommend it to people w very specific taste, rather than
just broadly say lots of folks would love it. Definitely worth it as an interesting cross-cultural experience though. ...more

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