Reviews

When the Killing's Done by T.C. Boyle

kangokaren's review against another edition

1.0

I couldn't get past the use of the "F" word in the first chapters. Sorry, but I never finished.

methanojen's review against another edition

4.0

I’ve attempted to read several of TC Boyle’s other books (Talk Talk and The Women) but this is the first one I’ve finished. My attention was held by Boyle’s ability to weave a story around the Channel Islands and their natural history, incorporating both past and present vignettes, many from a woman’s perspective. Although neither Dave nor Alma were very likeable characters, their intertwined stories and contrasting perceptions of the true face of environmentalism kept me reading. I hope Boyle writes more books in this vein and I’m anxious to get out to explore Santa Cruz Island after reading so much about it. Does anyone know how much of the island’s history as presented in this book is fact vs. fiction?

cseibs's review against another edition

3.0

A tad heavy handed at times but interesting exploration of how we approach animal conservation

pcastleton's review against another edition

5.0

Required reading of anyone me who visits the Channel Islands off Santa Barbara's coast. You'll see a similar story playing out in 2019 with the Farallon Islands.

tobinlopes's review against another edition

4.0

This was a different read for me. A novel about normal people doing things about which they were passionate. No magic, no ghosts, no extremely smart investigators, no violent crime. Just people living life and being fragile. It was compelling but slow to build as there weren't a lot of breakneck speed sections which led me to read it slowly. REAL people developed correctly provide a helluva story and that's what Boyle did here. Recommended for all discerning readers.

I gave it 8/10 on my personal scale.

-tpl

annevoi's review against another edition

4.0

Having spent some time on the Channel Islands working on several natural history articles, I was impressed with the audacity of taking that place and the various environmental issues they offer up as the theme of a novel. I have not read Boyle before, but I enjoyed his style (man, some of those sentences are masterpieces in sheer loopy length!), and certain of his characters are vividly over-the-top. The book twists and turns into and out of questions, dilemmas, comeuppances, realizations, and surprises. All in all, a riveting read.

readacorn's review against another edition

3.0

Es geht um zwei rivalisierende Tierschutz-Organisationen an der kalifornischen Küste. Die eine Organisation ist bestrebt, invasive Arten (Ratten, Schweine, etc) auf den Channel Islands zu dezimieren, um den Bestand von gefährdeten Arten zu schützen. Die andere Tierschutz-Organisation versucht dies mit aller Gewalt zu verhindern mit der Begründung, töten sei grundsätzlich falsch.
Von diesem Buch heißt es, die Moral sei so komplex dass der Leser mal der einen, mal der anderen Partei zuhalten würde. Das war bei mir nicht der Fall. Ich wusste schon nach 50 Seiten, welche Partei ich ergreifen würde und das hat sich Laufe der Lektüre auch nicht geändert. Aber ein Boyle ist immer lesenswert.

atmorrell's review

4.0

This is the first novel by TC Boyle I've ever read and it will certainly not be the last. The point where Boyle truly excels is character. He presents the main question of the plot in a way that makes me take one side from the beginning, but it's his characters that end up swaying you back and forth on the issue. His manipulation of time builds tension in an incredible way, giving you hints of what transpired but not telling you the details until the characters have already moved on to the next thing. And the language is beautiful, absolutely stunning, very poetic. I had to read this for a literature class, but I feel like I connected with this book in a way that is beyond what I learned in the classroom.

alexmonster's review against another edition

3.0

Thrilling and unique. A must-read for nature/wildlife/ecologist heads.

blissfulbookworm's review against another edition

3.0

While I'm well-acquainted with non-fiction environmental literature such as Fast Food Nation, The Ethics of What We Eat, and The Omnivore's Dilemma, to name a few--I still love fiction, so it's always a treat when I can read books that combine both worlds. Ruth Ozeki's My Year of Meats is one such example, and now I can add T.C. Boyle's When the Killing's Done to that list.

However, true to his style, there is something so relentlessly bleak about his books. I felt downright depressed after reading Boyle's The Tortilla Curtain, and likewise, When the Killing's Done left me feeling frustrated and fatalistic about the fate of the Channel Islands that are the subject matter of this novel. I could have easily bumped my rating up to four stars if there was a better sense of closure and purpose (as it is, if Goodreads allowed for half stars, I'd give this a 3.5)-- after all,

Spoiler

the idiotic and loathsome Dave Lajoy does finally have an epiphany, but what use is it since he dies the very next moment before anyone can know the truth. I honestly thought he would run into Alma on the island when he was trying to release the snakes, thereby also enabling her to realize that Dave was the culprit for the racoons sudden appearance on the islands as well. Nope, this meeting never takes place, even though the novel totally sets it up

. Thus, the reader is left feeling like, "Damn, the world is just screwed." Now, that may be Boyle's point, and perhaps even the reality of our present day, but it certainly makes the novel a little less enjoyable to read. I already know the world is screwed and that the world kind of sucks sometimes, but that's why I read: to escape into another world that has more hope and possibilities.

However, I still enjoyed the book, and would recommend it. There is a lot of interesting information to learn about the complexities and controversy surrounding environmental conservation, and I liked that the novel features so many strong female characters.