I don’t know whether I’m less stressed this week because I’m reading again, or whether I’m reading again because I have more time to myself because there are no stressful fires to kill... but anyway, I’m reading.
The first book in the marathon was Nicci French’s “Catch me when I fall”. Normally, I adore the work of this married duo of authors hiding under the pseudonym of Nicci French, because their work is both very female (emotions, great characterisation) and male (fast pacing, logical intricate plots with twists).
Now, before you all flame me for the sexist remark, and point out all the great male writers who use emotions and all the great female writers who do logic, let me tell you why I’m not too crazy about “Catch me when I fall”: it failed to have strong female as well as strong male attributes. It was difficult to get into the heroine’s head (admittedly, it may have been done on purpose to illustrate the enigma of somebody suffering from a bi-polar disorder), not much was emotionally at stake, the plot didn’t hold many surprises nor was it particularly menacing. The premise seemed to have lost the plot, and what could have been a gripping thriller about how a drunken one night stand with a mentally unhinged person could affect a happy marriage (I believe when Glenn Close cooked the bunny, she did not say everything there is to say on the topic), the book turned into a case study of a person suffering from a bi-polar disorder. Even the lost house key, like the proverbial gun hanging on the wall, failed to discharge by the end of the book. While the book was hard to put down thanks to the excellent writing, it was overall disappointing given the author(s).
The second book was Kathy Lette’s “How to kill your husband” (almost too hilarious), and the third “Between, Georgia” by the author of “gods in Alabama”. Watch this space.
Oh, a quick plug here: my "Murder @ A Little Bead Shop" is now availalbe from Echelon Press. Have a look on http://yewalus.kiwiwebhost.net.nz/.
2 comments:
Yvonne - just to let you know about a really good book about bipolar disorder: it's called: Mood Swing: the Bilolar Murders by Julie Lemoe - it's a p.o.d. book at my urgings; Julie's a member of our writers group. She was very discouraged and the group knew she was a good writer so I pushed her. She went with VBW Publishing, and it's a quality product. (Amazon.com) The thing that makes it different is that someone is targeting the bipolar clients of a community house for murder. The director teams up with the clients to trap the killer. Julie knows what she's writing aobout. M. E. KEMP: author: DEATH OF A DUTCH UNCLE: HILLIARD AND HARRIS, 3/07.s
That sounds like a great book, I'll try to get hold of it. Thank you!
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