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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
This 10th book in the series is not the most exciting installment, but it was interesting enough, and it does forward Maisie's personal life.
Oh, Maisy Dobbs, I want to go back in time (and through the fiction/reality vortex) and be your best friend. Failing that, I'll just sit around devouring your books.
This is one of my favorites, though, since they're all my favorites, it's a rather academic distinction. The mystery - the murder of an Indian woman - brings Maisy into some new territory, philosophically, and it's always good to challenge Maisy's mind in multiple ways. My heart swells, reading this series.
This is one of my favorites, though, since they're all my favorites, it's a rather academic distinction. The mystery - the murder of an Indian woman - brings Maisy into some new territory, philosophically, and it's always good to challenge Maisy's mind in multiple ways. My heart swells, reading this series.
I've been having a hard time with this series through the last few books - the situations were new, the social history interesting and insightful, but the structure of the "mystery" has been very much a constant. In addition, Maisie's quandaries about her personal life have started taking too large a part of the books. This one ended on a departure; I'll be very curious where her journey leads her.
I have read Maisie from book one. I even considered her to be one of my heroes a brave an independent young woman living her life on her own terms. My hope was unlike most mystery series heroines, Maisie would not get married and truly become a woman of her time and stay single. I enjoyed each one of her adventures up until the last two books of the series. Elegy for Eddie was a struggle to get through. This book wasn't much easier. Maisie isn't brave young woman I remember. She can't make up her mind about anything, a theme that runs through both books. Maisie keeps James dangling instead of either marrying him or letting him go. I hope that James finds someone else in Canada and leaves her, would serve her right. In this book Maisie is too wrapped up in herself and what to do with her life and the result was she lost me. I would've loved more to hear more about East Indian immigrants in England and the lives they led, more about Usha for sure. I wish I had more to say about this book, but it was that forgettable to me, I skimmed most of the pages so not much is staying with me. I can only hope when the Maisie reboot comes out next spring, it will be a new and improved Maisie and all of these issues will be behind her.
Another soothing entry in the series. This one is maybe not quite as compelling as some of the other books. It is, as the title would suggest, mostly about moving Maisie towards a new chapter in her life, which means saying goodbye to much that is familiar. Maisie being Maisie, that is going to take a lot of thinking and introspection. I still enjoy watching the character develop and discover herself, but I'm hoping the next book has a little more action in it as well.
This feels like an ending of sorts -- or a new beginning. Everything is tied up a bit too neatly (everyone found a new partner or job or etc without Maisie having to orchestrate it just before she leaves, because she's learned her lesson about orchestrating people's lives. Very convenient that the universe did it on its own...).
I'm hopeful that the next installment will see Maisie learning some real life lessons in a way she hasn't for quite a few books in the series now. Winspear is a good writer, so my hopes are high!
I'm hopeful that the next installment will see Maisie learning some real life lessons in a way she hasn't for quite a few books in the series now. Winspear is a good writer, so my hopes are high!
This installment was an interesting look at British xenophobia after the Great War, especially against Indian people. I don't think the plot line worked as well as many of them have. Winspear spends a lot of time, too much, imho, inside Maisie's head, figuring out what she will do next. The next book promises to be quite a change.
I don't judge these as critically as some other books I read because I think of them as fluffy fun reads in between heavier stuff. This installment has one of the better murder mysteries in the series so far, but also included quite a bit of reflection and remembrance of past books, which felt tedious. Maybe closer to a three for me but I'll bump it up since I enjoyed the mystery.
Continuation in the series I started many years ago out of obligation and slight interest. The narrator, which I discovered in the last book of the series, Elegy for Eddie, made this really enjoyable. I would have preferred more mystery/plot and less wishy-washyness from Maisie as she debated the future of her career and relationship.
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes