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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Such suspense from such a simple plot. I absolutely loved it.
Read this a hundred years ago when I read just about all the Tey, Marsh, and Sayers I could find. We are talking 5-8th grade. Also devoured several Christie books.
Elizabeth MacKintosh, was known by her pen name Josephine Tey. She was born in 1896 and died in 1952. This story was originally published in 1950. In 1990, the Crime Writer’s Association, considered her book “The Daughter of Time” as the greatest crime novel of all time.
And…
She is known to be part of the Golden Age of British Crime writing. She has also been considered to be a first-rate storyteller, and that is why readers have bonded so readily to her writing style and realistic characters.
In this story…
The reader is taken in by the author’s refreshing prose and keen eye for character.
And…
It centers around imposters and identity theft. With the character of Brat Farrar, as odd as he is, still with a conscience.
So…
The tension in the novel arises from his own discomfort with the fraud he is perpetuating. It seems that all he wants to do is belong. To a family.
But…
At what cost?
And…
The question becomes…could he actually be the long-lost brother?
Especially…
When it is a rich family that is missing their “dead” family member.
And…
When he is questioned more closely, he signals that he is after “retribution.”
For what?
And…
Why?
Has somebody in this family committed some crime that they need to be held accountable for?
And…
By saying he is there for “retribution,” is Brat now putting himself in danger?
Will…
Brat escape the trap he has created for himself and make it into a world where he really does belong and can be loved for himself?
The deception on all sides makes for a chilling, page turning twisty mystery.
And…
She is known to be part of the Golden Age of British Crime writing. She has also been considered to be a first-rate storyteller, and that is why readers have bonded so readily to her writing style and realistic characters.
In this story…
The reader is taken in by the author’s refreshing prose and keen eye for character.
And…
It centers around imposters and identity theft. With the character of Brat Farrar, as odd as he is, still with a conscience.
So…
The tension in the novel arises from his own discomfort with the fraud he is perpetuating. It seems that all he wants to do is belong. To a family.
But…
At what cost?
And…
The question becomes…could he actually be the long-lost brother?
Especially…
When it is a rich family that is missing their “dead” family member.
And…
When he is questioned more closely, he signals that he is after “retribution.”
For what?
And…
Why?
Has somebody in this family committed some crime that they need to be held accountable for?
And…
By saying he is there for “retribution,” is Brat now putting himself in danger?
Will…
Brat escape the trap he has created for himself and make it into a world where he really does belong and can be loved for himself?
The deception on all sides makes for a chilling, page turning twisty mystery.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The Return of Patrick Ashby
Review of the Arrow paperback edition (2009) of the 1949 original
Josephine Tey is one of the classic mystery writers and the author of the genre-bending time-crossing [b:The Daughter of Time|6094905|The Daughter of Time (Inspector Alan Grant #5)|Josephine Tey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320489943l/6094905._SY75_.jpg|3222080] (1949) where her regular detective Inspector Grant investigates the supposed crimes of England's Richard III through historical documents when he is sidelined from regular cases due to illness.
Brat Farrar is one of Tey's few non-Inspector Grant books. She still makes a few genre-bending steps by revealing the main character's impersonation deception at the front end. Despite that revelation early on, there is still a constant level of suspense and increasing danger throughout the book. You are wondering whether the deception can be maintained and whether there are people who know more than they will reveal. And you wonder whether there are some who definitely know that Brat Farrar could not possibly be the lost heir Patrick Ashby, and there is only one possible reason that they could know that.
This was a re-read of an old favourite, and I'm tempted to re-read several more Josephine Teys in the near future as I read all of them 20-30 years ago well before the Goodreads days.
Review of the Arrow paperback edition (2009) of the 1949 original
Josephine Tey is one of the classic mystery writers and the author of the genre-bending time-crossing [b:The Daughter of Time|6094905|The Daughter of Time (Inspector Alan Grant #5)|Josephine Tey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320489943l/6094905._SY75_.jpg|3222080] (1949) where her regular detective Inspector Grant investigates the supposed crimes of England's Richard III through historical documents when he is sidelined from regular cases due to illness.
Brat Farrar is one of Tey's few non-Inspector Grant books. She still makes a few genre-bending steps by revealing the main character's impersonation deception at the front end. Despite that revelation early on, there is still a constant level of suspense and increasing danger throughout the book. You are wondering whether the deception can be maintained and whether there are people who know more than they will reveal. And you wonder whether there are some who definitely know that Brat Farrar could not possibly be the lost heir Patrick Ashby, and there is only one possible reason that they could know that.
This was a re-read of an old favourite, and I'm tempted to re-read several more Josephine Teys in the near future as I read all of them 20-30 years ago well before the Goodreads days.
Echoes of the Great Gatsby, but much more charming, with Tey's characteristic mixture of British society gossip and ever-growing background dread.
This book (as with [b:Miss Pym Disposes|243399|Miss Pym Disposes|Josephine Tey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348697101l/243399._SY75_.jpg|517557]) is much more concerned with the mental states and motivations that make the characters who are caught between good and evil do things, and the struggles that they face, than details of plot or the truly evil characters. There are wonderful details, just not whodunnit details. It's an immaculately constructed psychological-social exploration rather than a mystery novel.
This book (as with [b:Miss Pym Disposes|243399|Miss Pym Disposes|Josephine Tey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348697101l/243399._SY75_.jpg|517557]) is much more concerned with the mental states and motivations that make the characters who are caught between good and evil do things, and the struggles that they face, than details of plot or the truly evil characters. There are wonderful details, just not whodunnit details. It's an immaculately constructed psychological-social exploration rather than a mystery novel.
I look at the positive reviews for this and feel I must have been reading a different book. I found the solution to the so-called mystery blindingly obvious very early on, and then had to wade through hours of stuff about horse-riding and posh people talking poshly about being posh, and how much birth matters and how important money is. I eventually got so fed up I skipped about a third of it, tuned back in for the last couple of chapters and discovered that the solution was exactly as I'd thought. It's well enough written, but the story is the ultimate in bland, and Tey's good old Tory of the Shires values, which I found quite entertaining in The Franchise Affair, simply irritated me in this one.
Post-WWII era English mystery. (nothing WWII-ish about it) Good ethical, philosophical questions. Too "fancy" for my mood (seemed Austin/Bronte -esque) but still interesting.