While reading this book I kept thinking "nothing is really happening, but the writing is great". And that was true for 95% of the book. Finally, at seWhile reading this book I kept thinking "nothing is really happening, but the writing is great". And that was true for 95% of the book. Finally, at seemingly the last moment, parts of the mystery are solved, but in a truly unbelievable manner, and in a way that does not redound to our heroes' credit.
There are beautiful descriptions here, of a bleak winter Dublin, of the people in a wealthy powerful family and a group of young friends. Black/Banville is good at describing characters and bringing them off the page . . . but the substance is thin. A woman disappears, and the players in the drama spend 300 pages telling each other that they don't know where she went.
Some subjects, like race and class in 1950s Ireland, are touched on, but very lightly and gingerly. Even the relationships between the characters feel in the end very insubstantial - these are all loners moving into and out of each others' lives without making much of a connection.
A pleasant read, but without much substance behind it - this is a book to be enjoyed but ultimately forgotten. ...more
An anthology of new short works, commissioned by a crime/mystery imprint at around the turn of the century. The authors are mostly crime fiction authoAn anthology of new short works, commissioned by a crime/mystery imprint at around the turn of the century. The authors are mostly crime fiction authors active in the 25 years or so before 2000. Some amusing work here, but the quality is spotty.
I'm struck a bit at the way mystery authors especially rely on type characters for their stories. There isn't much of an opportunity to really develop character too extensively in a short format, but the fallback to stereotypes seems even more pronounced here than in other fiction. Ranging from tongue-in-cheek neanderthal noir stereotypes to stereotypes from the modern liberated woman's point of view. The characters just don't hold many surprises.
"What's in a Name?" by Margaret Maron stands out as a nice representative and a solid little work of fiction. ...more
A terrific, human memoir. Sedaris is hilarious and open and despicable, but in ways that feel entirely familiar. Here he is dealing primarily with hisA terrific, human memoir. Sedaris is hilarious and open and despicable, but in ways that feel entirely familiar. Here he is dealing primarily with his relationships with his siblings and his aging father, life on the road, his home life, his partner. He has a genius for a deeply funny turn of phrase. His humanity, his guilt with himself, and his (one imagines) exaggerated weirdness all blend into a series of wildly entertaining and bittersweet essays. ...more
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