The book: Not quite what I expected, but worth the read
The author: Worth reading again
Review:
A number of years ago, I sat in a classroom and watched a movie that chronicled the last days of the Romanov dynasty. I do not recall the name of the movie, and given that I only watched it once probably twenty years ago, I hope I shall be forgiven my memory lapse. I remember feeling horrified at the end scene, where Russia's former Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, and the rest of their family were herded into a room to wait for their supposed rescue, only to be faced with a firing squad.
I decided right then and there I never wanted to enter politics.
A few days ago, I was looking over our library's new book section, and picked up Enchantments to try and see what its subject matter was. I thought perhaps it might be a fantasy book, complete with magic, dragons, and some insane quest. Instead, the book jacket informed me it was about those same end days I had once watched during class. However, this was not a typical novel about the Romanov family. It was told mostly from the perspective of Masha, who was Rasputin's daughter. Rasputin, I remembered, was a mystic healer, a womanizer, and someone who reportedly had control over the Tsarina Alexandra because of his ability to provide relief to her son, who suffered from hemophilia. Historical fiction about an enigma of a man, set in an interesting, if exceedingly bloody, time period? That sounded intriguing.
The first thing I had to wrap my brain around was a spelling of names to which I was unaccustomed. Alexei, as I remembered Nicholas' and Alexandra's son, was now dubbed Alyosha. Nicholas II himself was now Nikolay. I do not know whether Harrison's spelling is more accurate or not. I found myself accepting these differences without question as an obviously talented author wove her story.
Masha tells the vast majority of the story, and it is not always in chronological order. I felt vaguely as if I was reading a more upscale version of the movie Pulp Fiction. I knew pretty much everyone was going to die. That much had been taught to me in history classes years ago. In this novel, the reader jumps back and forth in time and it really only gives you a good indication of where you were in history by who is alive and who is dead. A number of the stories Masha spins to entertain Alyosha deal with her dead father's life. Others exist in the timeline in which she is telling those stories. Still other narration jumps ahead to Masha's life after the tsar and his family have been murdered. Then there are stories that are told afterwards, but exist in the space between previously discussed stories. (If John Travolta's character had suddenly appeared exiting one of the water closets mentioned in the book, I probably would not have been surprised.) However, instead of frustrating me (as Pulp Fiction does) with its lack of a coherent timeline, Harrison kept me glued to each and every page as I tried to process the interwoven tales.
I have two notes of caution for any reader of Enchantments. First of all, this novel discusses things of a sexual nature from time to time. This should not have surprised me, given what I already knew about Rasputin's life, but it somehow did. I did feel the author took quite a bit of liberty detailing Alyosha's interest and pursuit of sex, given that he was still a child when he died, but perhaps there is a historical basis for their mention. I honestly don't know. Secondly, when reading a book about a particularly bloody period in a country's history, expect depictions of violence. If someone was shot, expect to read where they were shot, how the bullet wound looked, and what further violence was perpetrated against the shot individual or his or her corpse.
I suspect a heck of a lot of research was done when writing this novel, although there was no "Works Cited" page (or equivalent) to help me figure out where history left off and the creative mind of Kathryn Harrison started. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons this novel was as spell-binding as it was.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Antiques Roadkill by Barbara Allan, a review
The book: Entertaining and fairly light reading for a murder mystery
The author: Snarky as all get-out, much to my immense delight, and worth reading again. (The "author" is actually two authors, Barbara Collins and Max Allan Collins, who use the joint pseudonym.)
Review:
A few weeks ago on our family vacation, I found myself at the whim of my husband, who had located and claimed the television remote at our hotel. For some odd reason, he had us watching some sort of show where people bid on storage units in the hopes they would find some great item or items they could later sell for profit. Antiques were a huge find. I'll take their word for it. Most of the items showed looked like trash to me.
When I stopped into the library not long after that, I found Antiques Roadkill on the mystery shelves, and figured it would be an interesting tie-in to that neverending chain of storage unit auctions show.
The story was straightforward enough. Brandy Borne was forced to move back in with her mother after a divorce. Her mother's mental issues aside, Brandy was not exactly the most stable individual herself. Brandy's much-older sister Peggy Sue appeared to have been tainted as well, although in different ways. Upon returning home, Brandy discovered Clint Carson, who dealt in antiques, had conned her mother out of most of her childhood memories, in the form of her mother's furniture and knick-knacks. When he turned up dead, Brandy and her mother were immediate suspects. The rest of the story wove back and forth between other individuals who had similarly been swindled, the social-climbers that surrounded Peggy Sue's life, and the random victims of their mother's mental illness and/or flair for the dramatic. (Those last two were sometimes, but not always, connected.)
Each chapter ended with "A Trash 'n' Treasures Tip." Most of them were tidbits I already knew, although the addition of character development through such those tips was something I found amusing.
The individuals throughout the book were more caricatures than characters, but that honestly made them more bearable. Every child out there has probably been embarrassed by his or her parent at one point or another, and the over-the-top theatrics turned the story into less of an embarrassment and more of a circus created strictly for the reader's entertainment. Brandy's snarky asides made me chuckle a number of times. Her frequent shout-outs to her need for, and love of, Prozac made me wonder whether it would actually help people feel more comfortable with requesting it should they need it themselves. (As a big supporter of medicines such as Prozac, and my personal go-to depression drug Zoloft, I think we need to get rid of the stigma attached to depression and other mental issues so people get the help they need without feeling worse about themselves. I'm still not sure if I think the jokes about being off one's medication would help or hurt that cause when the character is so over-the-top even without mental illness.) The story and characters were not believable, in my opinion, but they were entertaining.
All in all, Antiques Roadkill was a good, light read, and worth the couple of hours it took for me to get through it. I plan on seeking out other works from this collaborative duo, if mostly just to see if the characterization is always this exaggerated and entertaining.
The author: Snarky as all get-out, much to my immense delight, and worth reading again. (The "author" is actually two authors, Barbara Collins and Max Allan Collins, who use the joint pseudonym.)
Review:
A few weeks ago on our family vacation, I found myself at the whim of my husband, who had located and claimed the television remote at our hotel. For some odd reason, he had us watching some sort of show where people bid on storage units in the hopes they would find some great item or items they could later sell for profit. Antiques were a huge find. I'll take their word for it. Most of the items showed looked like trash to me.
When I stopped into the library not long after that, I found Antiques Roadkill on the mystery shelves, and figured it would be an interesting tie-in to that neverending chain of storage unit auctions show.
The story was straightforward enough. Brandy Borne was forced to move back in with her mother after a divorce. Her mother's mental issues aside, Brandy was not exactly the most stable individual herself. Brandy's much-older sister Peggy Sue appeared to have been tainted as well, although in different ways. Upon returning home, Brandy discovered Clint Carson, who dealt in antiques, had conned her mother out of most of her childhood memories, in the form of her mother's furniture and knick-knacks. When he turned up dead, Brandy and her mother were immediate suspects. The rest of the story wove back and forth between other individuals who had similarly been swindled, the social-climbers that surrounded Peggy Sue's life, and the random victims of their mother's mental illness and/or flair for the dramatic. (Those last two were sometimes, but not always, connected.)
Each chapter ended with "A Trash 'n' Treasures Tip." Most of them were tidbits I already knew, although the addition of character development through such those tips was something I found amusing.
The individuals throughout the book were more caricatures than characters, but that honestly made them more bearable. Every child out there has probably been embarrassed by his or her parent at one point or another, and the over-the-top theatrics turned the story into less of an embarrassment and more of a circus created strictly for the reader's entertainment. Brandy's snarky asides made me chuckle a number of times. Her frequent shout-outs to her need for, and love of, Prozac made me wonder whether it would actually help people feel more comfortable with requesting it should they need it themselves. (As a big supporter of medicines such as Prozac, and my personal go-to depression drug Zoloft, I think we need to get rid of the stigma attached to depression and other mental issues so people get the help they need without feeling worse about themselves. I'm still not sure if I think the jokes about being off one's medication would help or hurt that cause when the character is so over-the-top even without mental illness.) The story and characters were not believable, in my opinion, but they were entertaining.
All in all, Antiques Roadkill was a good, light read, and worth the couple of hours it took for me to get through it. I plan on seeking out other works from this collaborative duo, if mostly just to see if the characterization is always this exaggerated and entertaining.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The Burglar in the Rye by Lawrence Block, a review
The book: Worth reading, as long as you are not my offspring
The author: Worth reading again
Review:
Unbeknownst to me when I picked up The Burglar in the Rye, the book is actually written from the perspective of the burglar. (I had picked it up thinking it might be a mystery centered around a burglary instead of murder. The title amused me with its homage to J. D. Salinger, too.) It turns out that I quickly became enamored of such a perspective.
To be fair to Bernie Rhodenbarr, the burglar in question, he does actually run a legitimate bookstore on the side of his more nefarious endeavors. He also seems to have a knack for getting himself into rather oddball situations. I mean, I can certainly feel some pity for the hapless fool who winds up being startled mid-burglary and comes to the realization, while stuck in his hiding place, naturally, that he really has to pee. It was that sort of unexpected narration that actually made me giggle a number of times like the far-too-old-to-be-giggling-in-such-a-juvenile-manner woman that I am. So sue me. I found such things to be quite amusing.
I do not wish to say too much about the storyline here, although I personally doubt I could have figured out Whodunit on my own. Looking back on the book, I can safely say that Lawrence Block appears to be the type of author who glorifies in casually mentioning something seemingly unrelated to the main storyline that will later become the whole crux of the matter. Ultimately, I can say that Bernie must get to the bottom of a quest for privacy. Will he find, and be able to steal for himself, the famous letters written by the reclusive, mysterious Gully Fairborn, a rather famous author who clings desperately to a private life? Will he figure out who is the other involved thief? Will his closest friend Carolyn ever allow Bernie to drink his own alcoholic beverages, or will she continue to down them on his behalf? And finally, will he figure out who killed the individuals who were unfortunate enough to cross paths with Whodunit? (Yep. It figures. There had to be a murder or two thrown in there for good measure. So much for this being a story simply about a burglary!)
Lawrence Block appears, to me at any rate, to enjoy messing around with the reader's head. I had the impression that I would not have been able to solve this mystery on my own if I did not read another of his books first. If I had read another book first, I might have known that the seemingly unrelated tale casually told in a side story was actually the only part to which I really needed to pay attention. Ah, well. Live and learn. At least he was not as obnoxious as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who used to irk me when his Sherlock Holmes could figure out the mystery using clues to which the reader had no access. I like trying to figure out Whodunit sometimes. Now that I've read a Lawrence Block book, I feel I have a chance of figuring out Whodunit in another one of his writings.
I will note that this is not a murder mystery that I would feel comfortable allowing my ten-year-old to read. There are more than a few times where sex is not only alluded to, but characters actually describe what they overhear when a couple is going at it. Alcohol is also regularly consumed by a wide variety of characters, most of whom do wind up nursing hangovers the next day. This does not pass the "Overprotective Mommy" test, although I would probably peg it as about a PG-13 rating, as opposed to R or X, if the book was to play out in movie format.
All in all, the random chuckling I did throughout the book made this one an author I intend to hunt down and read once more. The narration by burglar was quite entertaining. He's quite the snarky character.
The author: Worth reading again
Review:
Unbeknownst to me when I picked up The Burglar in the Rye, the book is actually written from the perspective of the burglar. (I had picked it up thinking it might be a mystery centered around a burglary instead of murder. The title amused me with its homage to J. D. Salinger, too.) It turns out that I quickly became enamored of such a perspective.
To be fair to Bernie Rhodenbarr, the burglar in question, he does actually run a legitimate bookstore on the side of his more nefarious endeavors. He also seems to have a knack for getting himself into rather oddball situations. I mean, I can certainly feel some pity for the hapless fool who winds up being startled mid-burglary and comes to the realization, while stuck in his hiding place, naturally, that he really has to pee. It was that sort of unexpected narration that actually made me giggle a number of times like the far-too-old-to-be-giggling-in-such-a-juvenile-manner woman that I am. So sue me. I found such things to be quite amusing.
I do not wish to say too much about the storyline here, although I personally doubt I could have figured out Whodunit on my own. Looking back on the book, I can safely say that Lawrence Block appears to be the type of author who glorifies in casually mentioning something seemingly unrelated to the main storyline that will later become the whole crux of the matter. Ultimately, I can say that Bernie must get to the bottom of a quest for privacy. Will he find, and be able to steal for himself, the famous letters written by the reclusive, mysterious Gully Fairborn, a rather famous author who clings desperately to a private life? Will he figure out who is the other involved thief? Will his closest friend Carolyn ever allow Bernie to drink his own alcoholic beverages, or will she continue to down them on his behalf? And finally, will he figure out who killed the individuals who were unfortunate enough to cross paths with Whodunit? (Yep. It figures. There had to be a murder or two thrown in there for good measure. So much for this being a story simply about a burglary!)
Lawrence Block appears, to me at any rate, to enjoy messing around with the reader's head. I had the impression that I would not have been able to solve this mystery on my own if I did not read another of his books first. If I had read another book first, I might have known that the seemingly unrelated tale casually told in a side story was actually the only part to which I really needed to pay attention. Ah, well. Live and learn. At least he was not as obnoxious as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who used to irk me when his Sherlock Holmes could figure out the mystery using clues to which the reader had no access. I like trying to figure out Whodunit sometimes. Now that I've read a Lawrence Block book, I feel I have a chance of figuring out Whodunit in another one of his writings.
I will note that this is not a murder mystery that I would feel comfortable allowing my ten-year-old to read. There are more than a few times where sex is not only alluded to, but characters actually describe what they overhear when a couple is going at it. Alcohol is also regularly consumed by a wide variety of characters, most of whom do wind up nursing hangovers the next day. This does not pass the "Overprotective Mommy" test, although I would probably peg it as about a PG-13 rating, as opposed to R or X, if the book was to play out in movie format.
All in all, the random chuckling I did throughout the book made this one an author I intend to hunt down and read once more. The narration by burglar was quite entertaining. He's quite the snarky character.
The Big Cat Nap by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown, a review
The book: A little too many characters for my taste.
The author: Worth reading again, although start at the beginning of the series!
Review:
I happened to pick up a copy of The Big Cat Nap at my local library simply because my kidlets were dragging their feet checking out their library books and this book was on the shelf right next to the checkout desk where I was waiting. I love mysteries in general, so I figured it couldn't hurt to try a new one for a change. The front cover proudly proclaimed "THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY MRS. MURPHY MYSTERY," which implied to me that the author (pluralize that if you count the named cat as author number two) had to be at least somewhat decent to have stuck around for so long.
I was a bit put off when a list of characters greeted me upon opening the book. My general belief is that if an explanation is needed as to who everyone is, I'm not interested. Reading a list of characters does not really help me figure out how people relate to one another. That's where the actual writing comes into play. Regardless, I suppose it would be of some help to those who might actually care about such things going into the book.
The story itself seemed a bit confusing to me, mostly because it kept jumping back and forth from the perspective of the humans and that of the pets-who-do-not-consider-themselves-to-be-pets. I would have loved to see an entire mystery told from the standpoint of "The Really Important Characters," as the character list refers to the animals, but felt it somewhat distracting to jump back and forth between perspectives. Several animals, in my opinion, were mentioned for no reason other than to fill page space, although they might have played larger roles in the nineteen preceding books. Having not read any of them, I cannot say for sure.
The reading level was simple enough for me to not have to think much about what I was actually reading. Unfortunately, the cast of characters more than made up for that simplicity. The actual mystery itself was not much of one, in my opinion, but was entertaining enough to have justified the time it took to skim through the ending to make sure the Whodunits were who I thought they were. (Foreshadowing appears to be a favorite of the author. I think she would have been more subtle had she stood over me while I read the book and beat me over the head while screaming out Whodunits' names.) Regardless, it was not a waste of time, and I am considering reading more at some future date, should the desire for a quick, relatively uncomplicated mystery arise.
Ultimately, I'm torn between wanting to read more from Rita Mae Brown and not wanting to go through the hassle of trying to figure out the story from book one. I suspect the books would be much more enjoyable if read from start to finish, but I definitely would not recommend attempting to jump in to read this book without some sort of background. Too many characters, both human and otherwise, seemed to just be mentioned to give an "ah-ha!" moment to those who are already familiar with them.
The author: Worth reading again, although start at the beginning of the series!
Review:
I happened to pick up a copy of The Big Cat Nap at my local library simply because my kidlets were dragging their feet checking out their library books and this book was on the shelf right next to the checkout desk where I was waiting. I love mysteries in general, so I figured it couldn't hurt to try a new one for a change. The front cover proudly proclaimed "THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY MRS. MURPHY MYSTERY," which implied to me that the author (pluralize that if you count the named cat as author number two) had to be at least somewhat decent to have stuck around for so long.
I was a bit put off when a list of characters greeted me upon opening the book. My general belief is that if an explanation is needed as to who everyone is, I'm not interested. Reading a list of characters does not really help me figure out how people relate to one another. That's where the actual writing comes into play. Regardless, I suppose it would be of some help to those who might actually care about such things going into the book.
The story itself seemed a bit confusing to me, mostly because it kept jumping back and forth from the perspective of the humans and that of the pets-who-do-not-consider-themselves-to-be-pets. I would have loved to see an entire mystery told from the standpoint of "The Really Important Characters," as the character list refers to the animals, but felt it somewhat distracting to jump back and forth between perspectives. Several animals, in my opinion, were mentioned for no reason other than to fill page space, although they might have played larger roles in the nineteen preceding books. Having not read any of them, I cannot say for sure.
The reading level was simple enough for me to not have to think much about what I was actually reading. Unfortunately, the cast of characters more than made up for that simplicity. The actual mystery itself was not much of one, in my opinion, but was entertaining enough to have justified the time it took to skim through the ending to make sure the Whodunits were who I thought they were. (Foreshadowing appears to be a favorite of the author. I think she would have been more subtle had she stood over me while I read the book and beat me over the head while screaming out Whodunits' names.) Regardless, it was not a waste of time, and I am considering reading more at some future date, should the desire for a quick, relatively uncomplicated mystery arise.
Ultimately, I'm torn between wanting to read more from Rita Mae Brown and not wanting to go through the hassle of trying to figure out the story from book one. I suspect the books would be much more enjoyable if read from start to finish, but I definitely would not recommend attempting to jump in to read this book without some sort of background. Too many characters, both human and otherwise, seemed to just be mentioned to give an "ah-ha!" moment to those who are already familiar with them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)