You can always approach a P.D. James book with confidence. She writes extremely well and consistently creates interesting mysteries. Of course, there is a certain formula to what she does – the often remote setting with a small group of captive suspects. Keeps it neat and tidy. But she’s great at describing settings and fleshing out her characters to make them real and believable people. The motive for murder sometimes seems a bit farfetched – would someone really commit murder for the reasons she comes up with in this book, for example? I don’t know, maybe my life is too cloistered and I just don’t realise what’s happening ‘out there’.
The Private Patient is about an investigative journalist who decides in middle age to have a significant scar on her face removed. She chooses to have it done at a private clinic in the country where a cast of rather complex characters – and, of course, murder – awaits her. Commander Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is called in and sorts it all out with his trusted team of two. I noted with amazement that P.D. James is now 89 years old and that this book was written when she was in her mid-eighties. Unbelievable. It does feel as if she means this to be her last murder mystery with all the personal ends satisfyingly tied up for her main characters.
This book was written in 1939 and is the grand-daddy of all detective stories. It features Philip Marlowe, a private investigator in the style immortalised by Humphrey Bogart: a cool and tough talking ladies’ man who is undaunted by anything and anybody. This is a very enjoyable book. It’s clearly dated in some parts, but the dialogue is sometimes so funny and even charming, it doesn’t matter. Philip Marlowe is the lone wolf detective that so many subsequent characters have been modelled on. He likes women and liquor, has been to jail and doesn’t do divorce business, as he states in the introduction. In this book, he takes on a case which starts out as blackmail, but soon becomes about murder and mayhem.
The story certainly has plenty to keep you entertained, but it’s the writing that does it for me. Marlow is so cool, so unimpressed by everything that the dialogue and his description of people and events makes me laugh: “Fine. Let’s dip the bill. Got a glass? The purring voice was now as false as an usherette’s eyelashes and as slippery as a watermelon seed.” Read and enjoy.
I don’t know that I would have enjoyed this book if it hadn’t been about Barack Obama, if you see what I mean. Written in the mid-90’s and then re-released in 2004, it covers the early part of his life. There are three main focus areas in the book: the part of his childhood when he was being brought up by his maternal grandparents, his young adulthood which he spent as a ‘community organizer’ and his visit to Kenya to meet the paternal side of his family. It certainly gives an interesting insight into his personality and thinking, especially in view of his presidential election campaign and how it was conducted.
Obama is an accomplished writer, obviously a serious man and deep thinker, but he’s not a very interesting writer or great storyteller. A lot of the material falls pretty flat, particularly the dialogue, which feels forced as if he’s been told to include it to lighten the reading. He provides many insights into what made him the man he is, what shaped his thinking and approach to life. That’s what I meant about enjoying the book mainly because it’s about Barack Obama, a man I find truly fascinating, rather than it being a good read.
What a beautifully written book. David Wroblewski has a talent for writing which is greater than his talent for story-telling, but for a first novel this is a good book. The story is about a boy and his parents who have a dog-breeding business in a remote part of Wisconsin. There is a lot about the art of breeding and training dogs in this book, so if that’s not a topic of interest to you, I probably wouldn’t bother reading it, because even though it’s essentially a story about a murder, you have to go through an awful lot of dog-stuff on the way. But I love dogs, so I didn’t mind.
Edgar is the only son and he’s mute – he can’t speak – which is a strange and important feature of this story. In fact, there are a lot of strange and illogical aspects to this story, but if you can go with it and not be too analytical and rational about the whole thing, then it’s an enjoyable read. His father suddenly dies and Edgar thinks it’s his fault until some weird things start to happen. As I said, it is a strange book – ultimately a bit unsatisfying, but worthwhile.
This is a great little book. Thought provoking and intense in a languid way – if that’s possible. It’s about a loving couple from Norway who go on a much anticipated and well planned trip to New York. One day, they visit the Metropolitan Museum where the husband is captivated by a particular painting. He stands in front of it for a long time – so long that his wife decides to go to the ladies’ while she’s waiting for him. When she comes back, he’s gone. The rest of the book is about her reaction to his disappearance and what she does to find him.
I enjoyed it very much, both because of Kristensen’s writing skill and because the idea intrigued me. What would I have done in a similar situation? And is it possible to really know someone else, even if you’ve lived with them for years? The ending is not entirely satisfying, but is in keeping with the rest of the book (without giving away too much).
