Review: The Chaperone

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a story about all the things one woman sees and learns and experiences in her long life. In some ways (writing style, the attitude of the narrator) it reminded me of Gilead. The story is told through the point of view of Cora, the main character who begins her life in an orphanage in NYC at the end of the 19th century. There are places where the older and wiser voice of Cora many years later pops in though, which gives the story a certain depth and allows for some interpretation of the events that occur. There are a lot of "oh my goodness!" moments in the book, and I don't want to say too much about what happens because that would spoil those. Overall this was a really good story well told.

The Grapes of Wrath

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on"
                 --The Battle Hymn of the Republic,
                    by Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)
                    published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862

 "The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, both repels and attracts you. The horrors of the picture, so well drawn, make you dread sometimes to begin the next chapter, and yet you cannot lay the book down or even skip a page.The book is coarse in spots, but life is coarse in spots, and the story is very beautiful in spots just as life is...Even from life's sorrows some good must come. What could be a better illustration than the closing chapter of this book?"
       -- Eleanor Roosevelt, from her column, My Day, 6/28/1939

The Grapes of Wrath is one of the titles included on The Big Read website which has quite a bit of interesting information about the novel and some questions for discussion. I read the novel as part of a  Grapes of Wrath Readalong.

Overall I didn't love this book. The writing is very powerful, and in some cases very beautiful. I can see why it was an important book in its time (it was published in 1939) because it pulls no punches in its depiction of a terrible situation for the migrant farm workers. As an historical novel I think it is very successful. It brings life to an episode in American history that I don't think can be understood without seeing the human beings who suffered through it. The structure of the novel--chapters about the Joad family interspersed with "generals" depicting details of the the times--works very well. The shifting of perspective from a single family's struggles to a wider lens gives both context and depth to the Joad's story.

When I read chapter 3 I thought the turtle was probably a symbol for the family. After finishing the novel I went back and re-read the chapter and I think the turtle is a symbol of the migrant farmers generally, not just the Joad family.

The role of men and women in the book is interesting. One of the questions the Big Read discussion guide asks is, "At which points in the book does the power in the family gradually shift from Pa to Ma?" and I think the answer to that is that it doesn't. Ma has the power all along, she just doesn't exercise it except when she has to. The very first chapter, which is mostly about the dust, sets up this idea of the women waiting to see if the men are going to break and hanging back as long as they are still whole. As troubles pile up and Pa falls apart, Ma is there to pick up the pieces and to take on the leadership of the family. Whenever Pa rallies, Ma steps back and lets him run things again until the next time he founders.


My experience of reading this book was as Eleanor Roosevelt described, at several points I didn't really want to go on and find out what was coming, but I couldn't really look away.

N: Name of the Rose

The Name of the Rose was the first novel of Umberto Eco. It was first published in Italy in 1980 and in the US in 1985. It was made into a movie in 1986 with Sean Connery and a very young Christian Slater. I read it many years ago, and my recollection is that it was brilliant. One of these days I am going to have to re-read it as the details are sketchy in my mind. It is set in a 14th century Franciscan monastery and the mystery revolves around an amazing library.

"The year is 1327. Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, the empirical insights of Roger Bacon--all sharpened to a glistening edge by wry humor and a ferocious curiosity. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and digs into the eerie labyrinth of the abbey, where "the most interesting things happen at night."

This post is part of the Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012 at Mysteries in Paradise. I got behind on this and am working on catching up the letters I missed.

M: Ngaio Marsh

There is a wonderful overview of the life and work of Ngaio Marsh at Crime Watch. I have only read three of her books so far, but have loved them and plan to read the rest of the Roderick Alleyn series. Here are my reviews in the order I read the books.

 
Last Ditch by Ngaio Marsh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read about Ngaio Marsh in a piece about the golden age of mystery writers and as I have read all of Sayers and a lot of Christie I was very excited to discover Marsh who was put in the same category of writer. It appears, based on this book that she deserves to be in the list. I was surprised by the solution to this mystery and I really liked the characters. Marsh's detective reminds me of Louise Penny's detective. The family at the center of this story had a very Great Gatsby feel about them, I'm not sure if it was the things they said and did or the writing style that left that impression, but it was definitely there.

Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am very excited to have discovered this author--she is wonderful and has written a lot of books. This novel was different from other mysteries I have read in that the whole first half of the book takes place in the family where the crime happens, and we are there for the crime itself. Our narrator is the wife of the Chief Inspector who will be called in later to solve the crime who happens to have gotten mixed up with the family but isn't really connected. I thought the plot device was very effective as it gave the reader two very distinct views of the suspects but didn't give too much away early on. I did not figure out the murderer, right up to the arrest I thought it was someone else, but it made sense once it was revealed. The book had quite a few bits I found funny, mostly observations of human behavior, and the plot was excellently done.

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had read some other Alleyn mysteries by Marsh and enjoyed them. This is the first of the series and was excellent. Alleyn is a bit of an odd-duck--reminds me of Adam Dalgleish from the P. D. James books--but is a very appealing detective as he has a self-awareness that I think makes him more interesting as a character. The mystery in this book was a traditional closed-room scenario, but had a few twists as it went along that kept it from being predictable.


This post is part of the Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012 at Mysteries in Paradise. I got behind on this and am working on catching up the letters I missed.

Classics Club Meme

The Classics Club Meme for October 2012 is "Why are you reading the classics?"

"One loses one’s classics. Oh not all. That is what I find so wonderful. A part of one’s classics remains, to help one through the day." --Winnie in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days

I am reading the classics because I think they provide a context for other reading (and for movies, and plays, and talking to people). I have read quite a few classics, getting a degree in English Literature made it very hard to avoid them.  Some of them I loved and thought were amazing books that I enjoyed reading (The Great Gatsby, Death Comes for the Archbishop, Mrs. Dalloway). Others I didn't really enjoy much (Moby Dick, The Last of the Mohicans, The Red Pony). But whether I liked the books or not, I feel like reading works that are considered classics gives me the ability to have a deeper understanding of the world, of myself, and of the things--classic or not--that I read. When a novel or a movie makes a reference to something from one of the classics I have read I know what they are referring to which gives me a more complete understanding than I would have otherwise. The more classics I read, both in general and in specific genres like mystery or science-fiction, the more I will be able to appreciate the other things I read. 

The other reason for reading the classics is that they speak to a universal experience that, as Winnie points out, can help on through the day. 

L: Donna Leon

Donna Leon is an American-born writer whose series of mystery novels is set in Venice, Italy. The city is very much a part, almost a character, in the books. Her detective is Commissario Guido Brunetti who lives in Venice with his wife Paola (a literature professor and fabulous cook) and their 2 children.
I have read the first three books in the series and so far each one has had some flaw that kept me from loving it. I keep reading them, however, because Brunetti is such a great character and the descriptions of the city of Venice are wonderful.
I cannot recommend these books without reservation, but I plan to keep reading the series and see where it goes. 


Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The detective was an appealing character, and the style of the writing was good. However, the mystery was totally lame -- there was one clear explanation for what had happened as soon as the body was found and after lots of wandering around in the victim's past and the lives of various people who were involved with him our hero figured out what was obvious from the beginning. In fairness, the why took a little longer to figure out.

Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I like the character of Brunetti, and I love the parts where he is talking to his boss and we hear what Brunetti wants to say. The city of Venice is a strong character in the book, which I also liked. I thought the mystery here was overly convoluted and not really thoroughly explained by the end. There is a grand conspiracy going on, and the unfolding of it for Brunetti is certainly dramatically presented, but by the end I didn't feel like everything had been untangled.

Dressed for Death by Donna Leon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I like the character of Inspector Brunetti, but the beginning of this book was WAY too preachy about respecting the transvestites. Brunetti didn't strike me as a neanderthal idiot in previous books so why does he have to be one here? Because otherwise the lectures on accepting gay men wouldn't be there. Show, don't tell would improve this aspect of the novel a lot. Once the soap box is put away and they start tracing money and uncovering corruption the novel improves a lot. I do love Brunetti's wife Paola. She spends most of this book in the mountains reading Henry James. At one point B. wonders if his lack of promotion is related to his wife being insane. I think it is, and he should thank her every day.

This post is part of the Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012 at Mysteries in Paradise. I got behind on this and am working on catching up the letters I missed.

Grapes of Wrath Read Along: Weeks 3 and 4

This week's Read-Along assignment: chapters 12-18 (inclusive) for week 3 and chapters 19-25 for week 4

Overall impression so far:  Bleak, and very soap-boxy, but the writing is beautiful and the characters are interesting. Ma Joad is awesome!

Specifics from this week:
I got behind in my reading, but am caught up now so am writing about  2 weeks of resding at once.

I am still thinking that the non-Joad chapters are a good break from the constant death and impending doom of the main storyline, but some of them are  boring and way to much like a propaganda film. I really liked the chapter about the camps that create a new society every night and then break down like a circus in the morning. the images were sad and beautiful, and kinda hopeful.

Ma Joad driving off the crazy religious woman who was scaring Rose of Sharon was a wonderful scene and I loved Ma's explanation that  God has bigger fish to fry than Rosasharn and she needs to get over herself.

Beautiful image:
"The eastern mountains were blue-black, and as he watched, the light stood up faintly behind them, colored at the mountain rims with a washed red, then growing colder, grater, darker, as it went up overhead, until at a place near the western horizon it merged with pure night. Down in the valley the earth was the lavender-gray of dawn." (p. 371)
If there was more of this kind of writing and less road kill I would be liking this book a lot more.

W: Well Schooled in Murder

Well Schooled in Murder by Elizabeth George is #3 in the Inspector Lynley series.

"When thirteen-year-old Matthew Whately goes missing from Bredgar Chambers, a prestigious public school in the heart of West Sussex, aristocratic Inspector Thomas Lynley receives a call for help from the lad's housemaster, who also happens to be an old school chum. Thus, the inspector, his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, and forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James find themselves once again outside their jurisdiction and deeply involved in the search for a child—and then, tragically, for a child killer. Questioning prefects, teachers, and pupils closest to the dead boy, Lynley and Havers sense that something extraordinarily evil is going on behind Bredgar Chambers's cloistered walls. But as they begin to unlock the secrets of this closed society, the investigation into Matthew's death leads them perilously close to their own emotional wounds—and blinds them to the signs of another murder in the making...."

I started reading this series, which I really like, with book #15. This was a huge mistake as that book contains a lot of major life events for Lynley which makes the drama in his life earlier a bit anti-climactic. If you haven't read these books yet start at the beginning, or at least near the beginning as the developments in the lives of the characters are a huge part of the stories. I have read about half the series so far.

This particular book, wasn't one of my favorites, but having read some of the later books it was interesting to see where Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers begins the series. The main reason that this isn't one of my favorite George novels is that there are lots of red herrings in this book, some of them rather sordid, and I didn't think they added much to the book overall. Later books seem more tightly structured which I think is an improvement. 

I recently saw my first episode of the Masterpiece Mystery Inspector Lynley series, which happened to be this story (from series 2). The program was excellent, I don't think I've ever seen a MM episode I didn't like, but I was bothered by Nathaniel Parker as Lynley because that isn't what I thought Tommy Lynley, Eighth Earl of Asherton, looked like.



 This post is part of the Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012 at Mysteries in Paradise.

V: Death at Victoria Dock

Death at Victoria Dock is the 4th book in Kerry Greenwood's Phryne (rhymes with briny) Fisher series.

The series is set in Melbourne, Australia in the late 1920s and Ms. Fisher gets into all sorts of trouble, drives her fabulous car too fast, flies herself places in her plane, and takes up with all sorts of lovely young men. The books also feature a regular cast of characters including her right-hand-woman, Dot (who is very proper and often scandalized by Phryne's behavior, but stands by her none-the-less); a couple of wharfies, Bert and Cec, who investigate things for her; and her adopted daughters. This book also introduces policeman Hugh Collins, who becomes very important in the series later on.

 If you like your detectives serious and proper, this series is not for you. However, if you are not put off by a bit (OK, a lot) of carousing while wearing (or not wearing) amazing outfits then Phryne is your kind of detective. As with any series it is best to begin at the beginning, but I actually started this one well into it and have not found it difficult to follow reading randomly as I come across the books. Think of it as meeting a new person, you come into their life where they are and you learn about things that happened to them in the past as you get better acquainted.

 This post is part of the Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012 at Mysteries in Paradise.

K: Duncan Kincaid

Superintendent Duncan Kincaid is the lead detective in a series of books by Deborah Crombie. I have read 5 of the 14 books so far and have thoroughly enjoyed them. 

Deborah Crombie lives in Texas, but her books are all British and the place is very much a part of the novels. I think one of the things that makes a detective novel stand out is the complexity of the characters and Kincaid is a very well developed, and somewhat conflicted character, as is his Sergent, Jemma James. The interplay between the two, and following their personal lives as they unravel the mysteries in each book, gives these books depth.
 
This post is part of the Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012 at Mysteries in Paradise. I got behind on this and am working on catching up the letters I missed.

Review: A Man Lay Dead

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had read some other Alleyn mysteries by Marsh and enjoyed them. This is the first of the series and was excellent. Alleyn is a bit of an odd-duck--reminds me of Adam Dalgleish from the P. D. James books--but is a very appealing detective as he has a self-awareness that I think makes him more interesting as a character.

The mystery in this book was a traditional closed-room scenario, but had a few twists as it went along that kept it from being predictable.

Wondrous Words Wednesday

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Bermuda Onion, where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our weekly reading.

myrmidon (n) 1 : cap : a member of a legendary Thessalian people who accompnied their king Achilles in the Trojan War. 2: a loyal follower; esp. : a subordinate who executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously.
"A gentleman in a mackintosh will be there pretending to botanize in the iron railings. One of my myrmidons." (p. 123)




megrim (n) 1: (a) a migraine; (b) vertigo, dizziness. 2 (a) fancy, whim; (b) pl : low spirits.
"It has helped to establish evidence which I needed, said Alleyn firmly. I cannot see that anything else is of consequence. I am unable to feel any sympathy with the incalculable megrims of the layman." (p.202)

Words are from A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh. Definitions are from Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary.

Review: Old City Hall

Old City Hall by Robert Rotenberg

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The setting of this mystery/thriller is Toronto and the author includes a lot of local history and information about the city which I thought really added a lot to the novel. The book begins with profiles of the lawyers and police officers, and a few other folks, then moves into the investigation. The point of view switches among the various investigators so as the book goes on you only know as much about the crime as the investigative team does. Overall I thought this was an effective way to present the story, but it made the ending where we had to get the background on all the people involved in the crime a bit dense.

Overall I thought this was a good book, my only quibble with it was the "chase" scene toward the end where someone is racing to the courthouse with information that will prevent a miscarriage of justice. It was overdone and ridiculous. The author is a Canadian attorney and was his first novel. I look forward to reading more of his books.

Review: Redshirts

Redshirts by John Scalzi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought this book was very clever and quite funny. It was also a lot more substantial than I expected it to be. Here is the basic premise: On the original Star Trek Kirk and Spock and Bones go down to alien planets with some people from the ship whom we had never seen until this episode. You recall how those people wore uniforms with red shirts and how they were always the ones who got killed? This book is from the point of view of those people. No, it's not exactly Star Trek. No, I can't tell you exactly what it is as that would spoil the book for you. Definitely worth reading.

Grapes of Wrath Read Along: Week 2

This week's Read-Along assignment: set chapters 1-11 (inclusive)

Overall impression so far: Very bleak, but the writing is beautiful and the characters are interesting. The philosophical preaching gets a bit thick in places.

Specifics from this week: 
I really like the way the book is structured. The sideways approach to the story, like introducing young Tom Joad through the interaction with the truck driver, is very effective as far as keeping the reader unsure (but not in a bad way) of what is coming. The short chapters that look at the world beyond the immediate view of the Joad family broadens the reader's perspective and provides a break from the mounting tension of the family's problems. There were several small things that I think might be setting up some of the larger themes of the novel.

I loved the chapter about the turtle. I suspect that the journey of the turtle may turn out to be a metaphor for the journey of the Joads to California. I will keep a look out for big trucks trying to run them down and nice ladies who swerve to keep from harming them.

"For a moment he stopped, his head held high. He blinked and looked up and down. At last he started to climb the embankment." (p. 20)

When Muley (as in stubborn as?) is talking Tom and Casy into going into the field to hide from the sheriff he says "An' it all just amounts to what you tell yourself." (p.75). I thought this idea that what is brave, or cowardly, what is going along with the man, or bucking him, is a matter of the way you frame it in your own mind, was probably worth keeping in mind as the journey to Cali. continues.

The question of how the perspective changes the reality of a situation is also there in the way the women are depicted. In the very beginning of the novel, in the chapter about the dust, before we have any specific characters to connect with, Steinbeck describes the men faced with the destruction of their world as being the centers of the family, the ones who will figure out what to do.

"The women knew it was all right, and the watching children knew it was all right. Women and children knew deep in themselves that no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were whole." (p. 6)

But what struck me most about this, was that a few lines earlier the women go out to see if the men are going to break, the women rush to stand beside their men because the man are fragile and might break. It is the women who are watching to make sure they don't have to step in, that the men can do it. The scene where Ma Joad asks Tom whether prison has changed him seemed to echo this early scene. Ma Joad is checking to see if her men (in this case her son) are still whole.

Teaser Tuesday Meme

"That's what I've got for you, yes," Jenkins said.
"It's a little crazy," Dahl said.
"I told you that going in," Jenkins reminded him.
"And you didn't disappoint," Dahl said.
(p. 146, Redshirts by John Scalzi)

 Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (MAKE SURE THAT WHAT YOU SHARE DOESN'T GIVE TOO MUCH AWAY! YOU DON'T WANT TO RUIN THE BOOK FOR OTHERS!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

U: Nicola Upson

Nicola Upson is a British writer whose series of mysteries features Josephine Tey as a major character. The series is set between the World Wars and is a fascinating blending of fiction and biography. I have read and highly recommend the first 3 of the novels and the 4th is on my TBR list now that I know it came out. 

•  An Expert in Murder
• Angel With Two Faces
• Two for Sorrow
• Fear in the Sunlight

 This post is part of the Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012 at Mysteries in Paradise.

J: Josephine Tey

Josephine Tey is one of the pen names of Elizabeth Mackintosh who was born at Inverness, Scotland in 1896 and died in 1952. She also published under the name "Gordon Daviot." Tey is considered one of the 'Queens of Crime' from the Golden Age of mystery fiction.
 
Several years ago the Washington Post ran an interesting, but factually dubious, article about her. For example, the article says no pictures of her exist, but a tribute on the anniversary of her death includes several. 

Her mystery novels, some of which were published as Daviot, but have generally been reissued as Tey novels, are:

• The Man in the Queue  
• Shilling for Candles
• To Love and Be Wise
• The Daughter of Time
• The Singing Sands
• Miss Pym Disposes 
• The Franchise Affair
• Brat Farrar
  

This post is part of the Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012 at Mysteries in Paradise. I got behind on this and am working on catching up the letters I missed.

The Dorthy Parker Award

"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly.
It should be thrown with great force."
--Dorthy Parker

At The Beauty of Eclecticism there is a page for one of the best award ideas I have seen: The Dorthy Parker Award. The fabulous Ms. Parker originally said this (according to award page) about Atlas Shrugged. If I am ever unfortunate enough to read a book deserving of this award I will be sure to warn others by giving it a Parker Award.

Review: Tell the Wolves I'm Home

Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As I read this book I was reminded of Paula Danziger's books. The narrator here is a teenaged girl, Junie, who is dealing with the fact that her beloved uncle, Finn, has AIDS. She is also trying to sort out who she is and how that relates the the people around her, including her sister. The sister is of course having her own meltdown of sorts. There were a few spots in the book where the teenage-angst aspect of the narration bugged me and toward the end Junie responds to events in a way that seemed very callous and not like the person who we had traveled the previous 250+ pages with. There were some real strengths to the novel as well. I can't really explain them without giving away some aspects of the story, so consider this your spoiler alert.

The depiction of NY in the early 80's as AIDS was first appearing was very well drawn. The relationship between Finn and his lover, Toby, which we see only after-the-fact, was used to show how much a couple rubs off on each other. Things that Junie thought of as important aspects of Finn she realizes were really Toby. Without the naive teen narrator I don't think this theme could have been as subtly woven into the story as it was. Related to this was the theme of memory and whether learning more about a situation changes the value of your own memories of it. As Junie works through this issue for herself several good questions are raised which gives the reader a chance to think about this as well.

Overall this is a good novel about some interesting and complex characters.

T: Traditional

Make Mine a Mystery: Reader's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction by Gary Warren Niebuhr (2003) defines a traditional novel this way: 

"In a traditional novel, the action uses violence to establish the seriousness of the crime without trivializing its importance or glorifying its horrifying effects. Most violent action takes place on stage but is not graphically described. The emphasis can be equally on the perpetration and solution of the crime. The protagonist's goal is to find a solution to the crime, but not necessarily through the administration of justice by an official court of law. However, the intent of a traditional novel is to restore the balance of right and wrong in a society gone wrong."

Laurie King's Mary Russell novels (which I love!) are an example of the historical/traditional. Dog On It is an example of a traditional with a humorous twist to it. Sue Grafton's alphabet series is an example of traditional mystery as are the Adam Dalgleish novels of P. D. James. The traditional novel is essentially a book that combines elements of the cozy and the hard-boiled without tipping all the way either direction.

This post is part of the Crime Fiction Alphabet 2012 at Mysteries in Paradise.   

Grapes of Wrath Read Along: Week 1

Today's assignment from Laura at Devouring Texts, who is hosting this readalong, is to respond to this prompt:
"October 2nd: Things we think about Steinbeck- Have you read Grapes before? Were you booored? Do you harbour a (very understandable) love for Steinbeck? I think we all want to know."

I'm a little worried, given Laura's level of adoration for Steinbeck, that I'm going to get kicked out of the readalong for this, but past experience leads me to think I don't like Steinbeck. I read The Red Pony when I was in school and found it bleak, horrible, in places very icky. This put me off Steinbeck.

However, he is considered one of the great American writers, so I feel like I should give him another chance. John Ford and Henry Fonda thought this story was worth making a movie of, so it seems like a good option to show me a better side of Steinbeck.