Case Histories (Jackson Brodie, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 17, 2023 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: mystery, audio, detective-mystery

First of all, this book needs to come with ALL the content warnings. Missing child, murdered child, mom with postpartum depression, domestic violence, child sex abuse, child neglect, assault, homelessness, car accident, infidelity, murder and attempted murder, fat-shaming (SO MUCH fat shaming), even the N-word makes a showing (and why?? it was needless) ... it's all there in chapters one through three, and it just keeps coming. I normally avoid books in which children are missing or dead, but First of all, this book needs to come with ALL the content warnings. Missing child, murdered child, mom with postpartum depression, domestic violence, child sex abuse, child neglect, assault, homelessness, car accident, infidelity, murder and attempted murder, fat-shaming (SO MUCH fat shaming), even the N-word makes a showing (and why?? it was needless) ... it's all there in chapters one through three, and it just keeps coming. I normally avoid books in which children are missing or dead, but this one slipped past my radar. I managed to muddle through.

And ... I don't know, man. Maybe Atkinson is not for me. What was this hot mess? It jumps around like a droplet of water on a hot pan, never going anywhere in particular, just jumping jumping jumping. And, when exactly did Brodie do any investigating? Did I miss that part? I listened to the audiobook (capably read by Susan Jameson) and I confess I fell asleep a few times. I went back and re-read what I'd missed, but it didn't make it any better. Oddly, the text in the ebook is not exactly the same as the text of the audiobook. At first I thought it was just Jameson's mistake here and there, but sometimes entire sentences were out of order or missing, and then we got to the black cat with the offensive name, and lo and behold, in the e-book the black cat is called "Mrs Chippy"!  I did not see any note in the ebook explaining why changes had been made.

I guess if you have a thing for down-on-his-luck private investigators, Jackson Brodie is, without question, your man. It doesn't get any more down on one's luck than this.

Everyone is unlikeable, every single character (including Brodie's eight year old daughter, Marlee), except for the extremely corpulent Theo, whose beloved daughter was brutally murdered (one of the cold cases in this book - Theo does not want to die without knowing who did it - can you blame him?) How many times did Atkinson tell us that old man Theo is fat? more times than I care to count. And even Theo isn't particularly likeable, he's just not UNlikeable. Theo is, inexplicably, the ONLY parent in this book who is actually devoted to his children; other than good parenting, Theo's only characteristic is "fat." He's the only character who doesn't really have any character other than his physical description. Atkinson clearly doesn't think much of fat people.

The characters are not unlikeable in interesting ways, or in "love to hate them" ways, they are just unlikeable in that way that means I don't give a shit about them.

Both Theo and the Wyre parents clearly have a favorite child among their brood, and I always wonder when I read something like that. I have two children, neither is a favorite, I truly love them both equally. Do other parents really have a favorite child? Atkinson has two daughters, is one her favorite? Why is this such a common theme in novels?

I understand why so many reviews are lauding Atkinson for being such a great writer, for creating a literary mystery with real and complex characters. I get it. The Land sisters, in particular, are a masterpiece of writing. But I didn't CARE about any of them. I just wanted this book to end. The ending was satisfying (mostly because it was over). Not all of the mysteries (er, "cold cases") were solved, which was annoying. (view spoiler)

I stuck it out through to the end. I had to see if anything ever made sense. I can't say it was worthwhile. ...more

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