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writerlibrarian's review against another edition
2.0
Paru sous le pseudonyme de Barbara Vine dans sa version originale “The blood doctor”, ce roman de la célèbre reine du crime Ruth Rendell vit sous un autre rythme, un autre ton que les thrillers psychologiques auxquels Ruth Rendell nous offre. La raison de l’existence d’un pseudonyme pour une auteur dont l’écriture a été cataloguée, classée, jugée.
Crime par ascendant raconte l’histoire de Martin Nanther, auteur de biographies, qui écrit la vie de son aïeul, le docteur Henry Nanther, médecin anobli par la reine Victoria pour les écrits et recherche sur l’hémophilie à la fin du XIXe siècle. Martin découvrira que son parent n’était pas le bon docteur qu’il paraissait être, ces découvertes se font avec pour toile de fonds, la disparition de la Chambre des Lords et la quête de Judy, seconde épouse de Martin, pour un enfant.
Un style lent, un peu empesé, un peu lourd donne l’impression que ce roman n’en finit plus. L’intrigue est intéressant mais la résolution du mystère prend tellement de temps que lorsqu’on découvre le secret d’Henry, ce secret importe peu.
Les descriptions de la vie au temps de Victoria, les mœurs, traditions, façons de vivre sont étrangement les moments forts du roman. Ce roman n’est pas un des meilleurs “Ruth Rendell”.
Crime par ascendant raconte l’histoire de Martin Nanther, auteur de biographies, qui écrit la vie de son aïeul, le docteur Henry Nanther, médecin anobli par la reine Victoria pour les écrits et recherche sur l’hémophilie à la fin du XIXe siècle. Martin découvrira que son parent n’était pas le bon docteur qu’il paraissait être, ces découvertes se font avec pour toile de fonds, la disparition de la Chambre des Lords et la quête de Judy, seconde épouse de Martin, pour un enfant.
Un style lent, un peu empesé, un peu lourd donne l’impression que ce roman n’en finit plus. L’intrigue est intéressant mais la résolution du mystère prend tellement de temps que lorsqu’on découvre le secret d’Henry, ce secret importe peu.
Les descriptions de la vie au temps de Victoria, les mœurs, traditions, façons de vivre sont étrangement les moments forts du roman. Ce roman n’est pas un des meilleurs “Ruth Rendell”.
ilonalaa's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage
vulveeta's review against another edition
2.0
compellingly dull? is that a thing? the premise is somewhat interesting, i guess--a book about a writer trying to decipher his great-grandfather's past interwoven with his wife's desire for a viable pregnancy--but there's no decent payoff. you keep reading hoping something interesting will happen, but it doesn't. it's a bunch of family histories with unmemorable names and failed pregnancies. i only use the word compelling because i did keep reading.. but the writing isn't that particularly remarkable, so idk. i was hoping the grandfather would turn out be a serial killer or a murderer, but it turns out he selected a family to breed into solely to produce a hemophiliac child. and then when he did, after 4 or 5 other children, he actually loved the kid. and then it died. boo-urns. i was actually really into the henry parts, so maybe this book would have been good it if didn't involve a present-day search for answers.
jessni's review against another edition
2.0
2.5
A little too slow-paced, Jude drove me up the wall, and the "mystery" seemed pretty obvious too soon.
A little too slow-paced, Jude drove me up the wall, and the "mystery" seemed pretty obvious too soon.
kathleenitpdx's review against another edition
2.0
Barbara Vine writes well and this is a unique premise, but it seemed to take forever to get where she was going when it was apparent fairly early in the book where that was. It was fun to get up to speed on some the Briticisms here--things like Twiglets and cross-benchers.
The narrator is Lord Nanther a heritage peer. The story is set during the 1999 debate about the House of Lords reform. I ended up learning a lot of interesting information about the House of Lords, and a little bit about current treatments for hemophilia.
I am not sure that the side-story of Lord Nanther's wife's miscarriages adds that much to the story except to provide some reasons for Nanther's growing understanding of others.
The narrator is Lord Nanther a heritage peer. The story is set during the 1999 debate about the House of Lords reform. I ended up learning a lot of interesting information about the House of Lords, and a little bit about current treatments for hemophilia.
I am not sure that the side-story of Lord Nanther's wife's miscarriages adds that much to the story except to provide some reasons for Nanther's growing understanding of others.
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