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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
I can't really decide how I feel about this novel. I loved the subtlety and narrative style for the first half, but grew tired of it by the end. The only major event that really occurs is revealed on the first page, and the rest of the novel is meant to explain the motivations for that event. While I typically enjoy novels like this, part of me felt the book lacked intensity because of this narrative tactic.
I also struggled to keep all of the minor characters straight in the beginning. That being said, I loved the "King Solomon" plot line that Barbara Vine played with, and the examination of close, maybe overly close, family relationships was fascinating. I would be willing to read other novels by Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell), but this wasn't as gripping as I thought it would be.
I also struggled to keep all of the minor characters straight in the beginning. That being said, I loved the "King Solomon" plot line that Barbara Vine played with, and the examination of close, maybe overly close, family relationships was fascinating. I would be willing to read other novels by Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell), but this wasn't as gripping as I thought it would be.
This came in a little below my very high expectations. It is well constructed, well told, but never has you completely thrilled or gives you the shiver of everything coming together perfectly like Ruth Rendell's Judgment in Stone gives.
A Dark-Adapted Eye begins with the narrator remembering the execution by hanging of her aunt for the murder of her other aunt. It then traces her attempts, many years later and to some degree prompted by a writer's inquiry, of the events leading up to it. This unravels layer after layer of an increasingly twisted family history that ultimately leaves one core mystery unexplained. Along the way, it is an interesting description of changing English mores.
A Dark-Adapted Eye begins with the narrator remembering the execution by hanging of her aunt for the murder of her other aunt. It then traces her attempts, many years later and to some degree prompted by a writer's inquiry, of the events leading up to it. This unravels layer after layer of an increasingly twisted family history that ultimately leaves one core mystery unexplained. Along the way, it is an interesting description of changing English mores.
Not a bad read. It was one that kept you going to determine the outcome as there were plenty of cliffhanger moments. The ending was a bit anti-climactic, however. It felt a bit like 'do you really ever know a person completely?'. And I think we all know the answer to that, which is why we like fiction. In fiction, we can pretend that we do...
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had no idea when I began reading this that this book would dredge up so many childhood memories. I’m sure the pain of revisiting some of that colors my thoughts regarding it, but I will say that the book was riveting, emotional, and very much a story that could only happen during the timeframe it is set. Times have changed, attitudes are different, circumstances would be very different at other times.
It is the story of a murder, dredged up from the narrator’s past, when a writer contacts the family and wants to write a book about the murder and the circumstances of the murderer’s life.
The narrator, Faith, revisits what she knows, what she didn’t learn until too late, what she thinks is true, and how it is that the truth is never clear or logical.
Very much a psychological tale, examining all the characters in an extended family and how secrets and lies lead up to misery and hatred.
My personal experience is that lies and family secrets most certainly do that.
It is the story of a murder, dredged up from the narrator’s past, when a writer contacts the family and wants to write a book about the murder and the circumstances of the murderer’s life.
The narrator, Faith, revisits what she knows, what she didn’t learn until too late, what she thinks is true, and how it is that the truth is never clear or logical.
Very much a psychological tale, examining all the characters in an extended family and how secrets and lies lead up to misery and hatred.
My personal experience is that lies and family secrets most certainly do that.
Ruth Randell/Barbara Vine is always reliable for a good read. I didn't realize it when I picked it up, but this may be the first Barbara Vine novel. I confess I spent a good chunk of the novel trying to remember all the characters and their relationships to each other. Maybe I was a bit spaced out when I read the beginning and it never quite came clear to me, or maybe it was just confusing. I generally appreciate it when the narrative isn't over-expository, but in this case I could have used a family tree diagram. The narrator of the story is Faith, and most of it is her recollections of her two aunts, particularly Vera, who was hanged in punishment for committing murder. Although her victim eventually becomes obvious, for the vast majority of the book it is never said, who Vera murdered. She is portrayed as a difficult woman with definite secrets, and passions which obviously led her to commit murder. Faith's recollections are prompted by a writer who is researching the murder, with an eye to writing a book about it, a notion that deeply rattles the characters who have outlived Vera. Secrets, not just Vera's but those of many others, are revealed and serve to muddy the waters in the style of a classic whodunnit, though this is much more the style of Barbara Vine's psychological mysteries. Not sinister or menacing, but disturbing, leaving the reader guessing, though somehow satisfied.
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Barbara Vine is Ruth Rendell and that is about as interesting as anything gets here in this mystery novel which was actually quite dull, and never engaged me on any level. I plodded through it but it was tough going.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the first Rendell/Vine novel I have ever read, and it dawned on me that I had not had any good reasons for not reading her books before... Also--summertime is the best season to read murder mysteries and thrillers, both the fast-paced-non-challenging ones and the type that makes your little grey brain cells go hmmm. This Vine book is firmly in the latter category with its flashbacks/flash-forwards and historical details of properly behaving Brits in the early 20th century. I probably would have enjoyed the story more if I didn't have very little patience for reading about (upper) middle class struggles in Britain (I don't know what it is! I understand these struggles are valid!) and if I had not seen the big reveal come miles away. Maybe it was meant to be that way, though? There is something satisfying about figuring out a mystery instead of being strung along to an ever-deepening swamp of open-ended questions.
So, despite these minor details I still enjoyed the heck out of this novel, especially Rendell's writing as she seamlessly moved between eras and describing her characters in an amazingly lively manner considering how socially stilted they had to be.
So, despite these minor details I still enjoyed the heck out of this novel, especially Rendell's writing as she seamlessly moved between eras and describing her characters in an amazingly lively manner considering how socially stilted they had to be.