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Book reviews: Blanche Passes Go; The Autograph Man; Snow Falling On Cedars
Hello everyone. This is my first time posting my reviews to a book comm, I'm hoping I'm doing it right.
Title: Blanche Passes Go
Author:Barbara Neely
Info: Barbara Neely 2000; Pub Viking Ltd 2000; ISBN:0670891657
Reasons for reading it:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
50books_poc. They had a rec page in the comm, and someone had suggested the Blanche series in the mystery category. I love mystery books so I decided to set out to find a copy.
How I got it: BookMooch. <3 <3
Insta-review: Blanche White, the titular character, is the most refreshing, convincing and interesting female detective I've encountered yet. A fifty-something large, Black and strong-willed woman with a peculiar spirituality and a no-nonsense attitude to life, Blanche feels complex and real. I was initially startled by how invariably she saw everything in term of race in her life (I know, clueless white girl showing her arse here), so this book was definitely a bit of an eye-opener for me. The mystery side was not particularly compelling, but the character development more than made up for it. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
***
Title: The Autograph Man
Author:Zadie Smith
Info: Zadie Smith 2002; Pub Penguin Books 2003; ISBN:0140276343
Reasons for reading it:50books_poc. I heard a lot about Zadie Smith (she was one of the few non-White authors I could name before starting with my 50books_poc project) but had never read anything of hers before. Choice fell on The Autograph Man because it was immediately available on BM.
How I got it: BookMooch.
Insta-review: The Autograph Man failed to live up to all the hype about the author. It's probably because I found the main character, Alex-Li Tandem, completely unsympathetic. Must confess my little knowledge of Jewish culture proved a big obstacle: the book was simply full of too many cultural references that went past my head. Characterisation was not the only problem, though: the writing completely failed to grab me. I had to re-read the prologue (which was the best part of the book anyway) three times before I could decide I had enough of a grip on the characters to continue. After 3 weeks spent forcing myself to read at least 20 pages a day and having not made past the half-book mark, I gave up. Big disappointment. Not sure I'll give White Teeth a try in the future.
****
Title: Snow Falling Cedars
Author:David Guterson
Info: David Guterson 1994; Pub Vintage 1999; ISBN:9780375704376
Reasons for reading it: I remember distinctly that someone I stalk on LJ (read: someone not officially on my flist, but whose journal is interesting enough for me to lurk at) sang high praise of this book.
How I got it: BookMooch.
Insta-review: Snow Falling On Cedars is part mystery, part courtroom drama and part romance. Centering around the murder of a white fisherman in a secluded island in post-WWII smalltime America, the fact that the accused is a man of Japanese origins means that the racial aspects of the story take prominence. The mystery is surely interesting and makes for an absorbing read, but I feel the descriptions and the believable characters are the strongest points of the novel. I also loved the great use of flashbacks and how the stories of the main characters are evenly fleshed out and nicely interwoven. All in all, a pretty good read, if not outstanding.
Crossposted to my journal.
Title: Blanche Passes Go
Author:Barbara Neely
Info: Barbara Neely 2000; Pub Viking Ltd 2000; ISBN:0670891657
Reasons for reading it:
50books_poc. They had a rec page in the comm, and someone had suggested the Blanche series in the mystery category. I love mystery books so I decided to set out to find a copy. How I got it: BookMooch. <3 <3
Insta-review: Blanche White, the titular character, is the most refreshing, convincing and interesting female detective I've encountered yet. A fifty-something large, Black and strong-willed woman with a peculiar spirituality and a no-nonsense attitude to life, Blanche feels complex and real. I was initially startled by how invariably she saw everything in term of race in her life (I know, clueless white girl showing her arse here), so this book was definitely a bit of an eye-opener for me. The mystery side was not particularly compelling, but the character development more than made up for it. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
***
Title: The Autograph Man
Author:Zadie Smith
Info: Zadie Smith 2002; Pub Penguin Books 2003; ISBN:0140276343
Reasons for reading it:
50books_poc. I heard a lot about Zadie Smith (she was one of the few non-White authors I could name before starting with my 50books_poc project) but had never read anything of hers before. Choice fell on The Autograph Man because it was immediately available on BM. How I got it: BookMooch.
Insta-review: The Autograph Man failed to live up to all the hype about the author. It's probably because I found the main character, Alex-Li Tandem, completely unsympathetic. Must confess my little knowledge of Jewish culture proved a big obstacle: the book was simply full of too many cultural references that went past my head. Characterisation was not the only problem, though: the writing completely failed to grab me. I had to re-read the prologue (which was the best part of the book anyway) three times before I could decide I had enough of a grip on the characters to continue. After 3 weeks spent forcing myself to read at least 20 pages a day and having not made past the half-book mark, I gave up. Big disappointment. Not sure I'll give White Teeth a try in the future.
****
Title: Snow Falling Cedars
Author:David Guterson
Info: David Guterson 1994; Pub Vintage 1999; ISBN:9780375704376
Reasons for reading it: I remember distinctly that someone I stalk on LJ (read: someone not officially on my flist, but whose journal is interesting enough for me to lurk at) sang high praise of this book.
How I got it: BookMooch.
Insta-review: Snow Falling On Cedars is part mystery, part courtroom drama and part romance. Centering around the murder of a white fisherman in a secluded island in post-WWII smalltime America, the fact that the accused is a man of Japanese origins means that the racial aspects of the story take prominence. The mystery is surely interesting and makes for an absorbing read, but I feel the descriptions and the believable characters are the strongest points of the novel. I also loved the great use of flashbacks and how the stories of the main characters are evenly fleshed out and nicely interwoven. All in all, a pretty good read, if not outstanding.
Crossposted to my journal.