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3.08 AVERAGE
3.08 AVERAGE
Cuando estaba en mi último año de preparatoria escribí un ensayo sobre este libro así que todavía me acuerdo, y como a medida en que pasa el tiempo se pone peor de lo que me acordaba. El "juego de ripper" sobre el cual el título se basa casi no tiene relevancia en la historia. En su lugar, la historia se concentra en la vida romántica de Indiana, ella es el peor personaje, y sus pretendientes no son mejores. El misterio tiene el secuestro de Indiana como clímax, pero las circunstancias que conllevan a esa situación nunca tuvieron ningún sentido.
Él era un modelo de inocencia y ella tenía reputación de demonio. Parecía inevitable que se enamoraran.
Él era un modelo de inocencia y ella tenía reputación de demonio. Parecía inevitable que se enamoraran.
What's arguably more interesting than this book is the furor surrounding its author. If you think of the book world as tame and polite, you might be surprised at how the claws came out over Ripper.
Here's what happened: Ripper is a departure for Allende, who has built her considerable reputation with volumes of historical fiction and magical realism. She is married to a crime novelist, William C. Gordon, and at the suggestion of her agent, decided to try her hand at the mystery/thriller genre. Then, she went on NPR and made a bunch of questionable-at-best comments about her opinion of the genre, and capped everything off by claiming Ripper was a tongue-in-cheek “joke” of a book.
Perhaps understandably, some listeners took issue with the interview. Fans of genre fiction have long been sensitive to literary authors' scorn. They don't take kindly to the snobbishness that says their favorite books aren't worth reading, and I imagine it's especially tough to swallow that attitude coming from someone who has co-opted the genre for her own purposes. Some suggested that if Allende finds the genre beneath her, it's just as well she leave it alone, as Ripper doesn't succeed as a thriller anyway.
And, well, they're right about that. Ripper may be a fairly interesting read, with a couple compelling characters and well-established setting, but it doesn't capture the momentum and suspense of a good thriller. The sixteen-year-old girl sleuth who is supposedly the central investigator is thinly developed, conspicuously absent from the most exciting scenes, and actually has a relatively minor role in the climax. The murderer, without giving too much away, is exactly the person we think it will be, and the “twist” regarding his or her identity provokes eye-rolls instead of gasps. This is definitely not a “leave the light on” kind of book. In fact, you could probably read it in the dead of night, and your only worry would be falling asleep in your chair.
So I suggest you read this book with a different mindset. Don't expect your spine to be tingled. Instead, appreciate what Allende has always done well: selection of detail. She evokes San Francisco so lyrically, I felt like if I went there, I'd recognize it. She creates several unusual, magnetic characters, and describes even minor characters in lush, expansive prose. She thoroughly explores those characters' thoughts, histories, and motivations, even when they're not immediately relevant to the central plot. Unfortunately, these elements at which she excels are the same ones that get in the way of a good thriller. No one wants to read two pages describing an artist's rooftop apartment when a juicy plot point is about to revealed. So if you want to enjoy this book, you should simply forget that it's supposed to be a thriller and read it like you would Allende's other work.
Allende eventually apologized for her comments, saying she was trying to be self-deprecating, but her loudest critics weren't appeased. Maybe eventually literary and genre fiction will find a way to peaceably coexist, but currently, very few authors have managed to bridge the divide and find success in both worlds.
In any case, I'll be surprised if Ripper turns out to be anything more than a solitary experiment for Allende. Though if she does decide to branch out again in the future, maybe her publisher will keep her off the radio.
Here's what happened: Ripper is a departure for Allende, who has built her considerable reputation with volumes of historical fiction and magical realism. She is married to a crime novelist, William C. Gordon, and at the suggestion of her agent, decided to try her hand at the mystery/thriller genre. Then, she went on NPR and made a bunch of questionable-at-best comments about her opinion of the genre, and capped everything off by claiming Ripper was a tongue-in-cheek “joke” of a book.
Perhaps understandably, some listeners took issue with the interview. Fans of genre fiction have long been sensitive to literary authors' scorn. They don't take kindly to the snobbishness that says their favorite books aren't worth reading, and I imagine it's especially tough to swallow that attitude coming from someone who has co-opted the genre for her own purposes. Some suggested that if Allende finds the genre beneath her, it's just as well she leave it alone, as Ripper doesn't succeed as a thriller anyway.
And, well, they're right about that. Ripper may be a fairly interesting read, with a couple compelling characters and well-established setting, but it doesn't capture the momentum and suspense of a good thriller. The sixteen-year-old girl sleuth who is supposedly the central investigator is thinly developed, conspicuously absent from the most exciting scenes, and actually has a relatively minor role in the climax. The murderer, without giving too much away, is exactly the person we think it will be, and the “twist” regarding his or her identity provokes eye-rolls instead of gasps. This is definitely not a “leave the light on” kind of book. In fact, you could probably read it in the dead of night, and your only worry would be falling asleep in your chair.
So I suggest you read this book with a different mindset. Don't expect your spine to be tingled. Instead, appreciate what Allende has always done well: selection of detail. She evokes San Francisco so lyrically, I felt like if I went there, I'd recognize it. She creates several unusual, magnetic characters, and describes even minor characters in lush, expansive prose. She thoroughly explores those characters' thoughts, histories, and motivations, even when they're not immediately relevant to the central plot. Unfortunately, these elements at which she excels are the same ones that get in the way of a good thriller. No one wants to read two pages describing an artist's rooftop apartment when a juicy plot point is about to revealed. So if you want to enjoy this book, you should simply forget that it's supposed to be a thriller and read it like you would Allende's other work.
Allende eventually apologized for her comments, saying she was trying to be self-deprecating, but her loudest critics weren't appeased. Maybe eventually literary and genre fiction will find a way to peaceably coexist, but currently, very few authors have managed to bridge the divide and find success in both worlds.
In any case, I'll be surprised if Ripper turns out to be anything more than a solitary experiment for Allende. Though if she does decide to branch out again in the future, maybe her publisher will keep her off the radio.
Nå er det en stund siden jeg "leste" denne boken. Jeg begynte på boken i de siste dagene av 2014, men ble ikke ferdig med den før ut på ny året i februar en gang. Jeg hører vanligvis ikke på så mye lydbøker. Mye skyldes kanskje at jeg er litt kresen når det kommer til opplesere. Denne gangen fikk jeg den perfekte oppleseren Bodil Vidnes-Kopperud. Hun ledet meg gjennom bokens mange spenningstopper, og tviser og cliffhangere.
Denne boken var min første møte med forfatteren,og jeg må si at det gav mersmak.Nå fikk jeg lyst å utforske mer av Allende forfatterskap. Likte godt hvordan hvordan forfatteren skildret og gav liv til de ulike karakterne som vi møtte på iløpet av boken. Forfatteren greide å holde på meg gjennom hele boken, og må innrømme at en liten tåre falt mot slutten av boken
No spoilers! =)
In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s essay on magical realism, he illustrates the natural emergence of the genre, which merges elements of the fantastic and marvelous into the mundane dramas and tragedies of life, from Latin America. At its first discovery by the Europeans, the Amazonian forests were more marvelous than fiction, with its colorful birds with spoons for beaks or pigs with on their backs. It was more fantastic than the language could handle, for how could “rio”, which, for the European recalled the mild stream of the Danube, describe the powerful Amazon river? How could the word “tempestad” even begin to capture the fury of the South American thunderstorm? Of course it was, a place where fantasy became fiction, that gave birth to a genre where fantasy is everyday life.
Isabel Allende’s first novel, House of the Spirits, fully folds the magical elements of curses and psychic premonitions into the drama that unfolds in the Trueba’s hacienda in Chile. In stark contrast to the pastoral setting of her earliest novel, Allende’s latest novel, //Riper// is set in modern day San Francisco. In such a chic and modern city where little girls film footage of grisly murders from their smartphones and every astrological prediction can be discredited with the power of statistical databases, Allende still teases out natural magic. While there are no explicit spells or predictions in San Francisco, she explores the implicit magic of the Bay Area in the powerful minds of it heroes and in the enchantment of the twisting streets of the City. Where the European explorers were fascinated by the colorful birds and exotic plants, the explorers of San Francisco are drawn to the flamboyantly colorful transvestites of the Castro clubs, the beautiful Victorian houses jammed together like jigsaws on sloped streets, and the mystery of the ever-present fog. Most impressive of all, she paints this magical scenery on a canvas of a full-blown murder mystery.
In order not to spoil the mystery, I’ll avoid talking about the plot itself and the main themes of sadism and childhood, but rather stick to the magic of its setting and characters. The protagonists of the story are the players of an online RPG called Ripper, which extends the boundaries of role playing when the game transforms to an investigation of a series if murders in the Bay Area. While, online, the game’s impressive cast of Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Paddington and Esmerelda are all-powerful and analyze facts and clues faster than the police, behind the keyboards sit an anorexic girl in Canada, a teenage African American orphan, a paralyzed New Zealander in a wheelchair, and the main character, Amanda, an awkward teenager attending a Catholic boarding school in San Francisco. By brushing over their less-than-perfect true identities and conducting dialogue through the God-like personas, Allende demonstrates the transformative powers of the anonymity of an online chat room catalyzed by true imagination.
There are also ghosts that litter the scenery as the post-traumatic stress dreams haunt Ryan Miller, a former Navy SEAL. Like the ghosts of fairy tales, Ryan’s ghosts will not cease to haunt him until he comes to terms with the green-eyed Afghani girl cradling her little brother and makes peace with her.
While at points Allende’s novel seems to mock mystics and psychics with the ridiculous Celeste Roko’s astral projections, she shows us that we can still find magic in the world. We can transfigure ourselves with imagination to bring back the dead and converse with them. We can be guided with the ghosts of our past if we are not ashamed of them. We can find adventure and new magic by opening our eyes to the beauty of a city.
In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s essay on magical realism, he illustrates the natural emergence of the genre, which merges elements of the fantastic and marvelous into the mundane dramas and tragedies of life, from Latin America. At its first discovery by the Europeans, the Amazonian forests were more marvelous than fiction, with its colorful birds with spoons for beaks or pigs with on their backs. It was more fantastic than the language could handle, for how could “rio”, which, for the European recalled the mild stream of the Danube, describe the powerful Amazon river? How could the word “tempestad” even begin to capture the fury of the South American thunderstorm? Of course it was, a place where fantasy became fiction, that gave birth to a genre where fantasy is everyday life.
Isabel Allende’s first novel, House of the Spirits, fully folds the magical elements of curses and psychic premonitions into the drama that unfolds in the Trueba’s hacienda in Chile. In stark contrast to the pastoral setting of her earliest novel, Allende’s latest novel, //Riper// is set in modern day San Francisco. In such a chic and modern city where little girls film footage of grisly murders from their smartphones and every astrological prediction can be discredited with the power of statistical databases, Allende still teases out natural magic. While there are no explicit spells or predictions in San Francisco, she explores the implicit magic of the Bay Area in the powerful minds of it heroes and in the enchantment of the twisting streets of the City. Where the European explorers were fascinated by the colorful birds and exotic plants, the explorers of San Francisco are drawn to the flamboyantly colorful transvestites of the Castro clubs, the beautiful Victorian houses jammed together like jigsaws on sloped streets, and the mystery of the ever-present fog. Most impressive of all, she paints this magical scenery on a canvas of a full-blown murder mystery.
In order not to spoil the mystery, I’ll avoid talking about the plot itself and the main themes of sadism and childhood, but rather stick to the magic of its setting and characters. The protagonists of the story are the players of an online RPG called Ripper, which extends the boundaries of role playing when the game transforms to an investigation of a series if murders in the Bay Area. While, online, the game’s impressive cast of Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Paddington and Esmerelda are all-powerful and analyze facts and clues faster than the police, behind the keyboards sit an anorexic girl in Canada, a teenage African American orphan, a paralyzed New Zealander in a wheelchair, and the main character, Amanda, an awkward teenager attending a Catholic boarding school in San Francisco. By brushing over their less-than-perfect true identities and conducting dialogue through the God-like personas, Allende demonstrates the transformative powers of the anonymity of an online chat room catalyzed by true imagination.
There are also ghosts that litter the scenery as the post-traumatic stress dreams haunt Ryan Miller, a former Navy SEAL. Like the ghosts of fairy tales, Ryan’s ghosts will not cease to haunt him until he comes to terms with the green-eyed Afghani girl cradling her little brother and makes peace with her.
While at points Allende’s novel seems to mock mystics and psychics with the ridiculous Celeste Roko’s astral projections, she shows us that we can still find magic in the world. We can transfigure ourselves with imagination to bring back the dead and converse with them. We can be guided with the ghosts of our past if we are not ashamed of them. We can find adventure and new magic by opening our eyes to the beauty of a city.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
While Ripper was a riveting read, it was not great.
The first 400 pages leading up to the climax stirred interest and intrigue for a what should have been a gripping ending. Who was the serial killer? Would Indiana be found in time?
However, the climax failed to impress. When finally revealing the serial killer's identity, Allende took a few leaps to connect very detached storylines. The big revealation would have been more believable if the character's were more developed. As if to further underscore a watered down character-verse, there were secondary characters where there shouldn't have been.
With about 40 pages left to read and disappointed with the novel, I was checking the pages obsessively to see how much more I had to read until I finished.
While I love Allende's novels and recommend them to everyone, I wouldn't recommend Ripper.
The first 400 pages leading up to the climax stirred interest and intrigue for a what should have been a gripping ending. Who was the serial killer? Would Indiana be found in time?
However, the climax failed to impress. When finally revealing the serial killer's identity, Allende took a few leaps to connect very detached storylines. The big revealation would have been more believable if the character's were more developed. As if to further underscore a watered down character-verse, there were secondary characters where there shouldn't have been.
With about 40 pages left to read and disappointed with the novel, I was checking the pages obsessively to see how much more I had to read until I finished.
While I love Allende's novels and recommend them to everyone, I wouldn't recommend Ripper.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No