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jackhuw28's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
montims's review against another edition
2.0
Bleeeach! I read this straight after her Tartan Tragedy, and I am soooo tired of reading this pre-AIDS period stuff...
Young readers: be aware that in the 60s, 70s, and beginning of the 80s, it was perfectly acceptable to write of men who would be behaving discourteously if, upon first meeting a woman, they do not fondle her thigh, and a woman would be impolite if she didn't go to bed with him. Generally they would both then have a cigarette...
Jemima Shore behaves - very coolly - like this in both books. However, this is a review of the Splash of Red - the first intruder who bursts upon her is drunk and beats her up, then apologises. Because he is drunk, she says and does nothing about the beating; he also plant kisses upon her. The second intruder is not drunk, so he twists her nipple hard, and rests his hand on her thigh. They then sleep together. Another lover of her just-dead friend rests his hand on hers during lunch (he doesn't really want her - he's just being polite - though she does toy with the idea of sleeping with him). Yet another lover of the friend (as were also those two intruders mentioned earlier - the friend got about. She also, incidentally, had had 2 abortions - mentioned as a throwaway - and was said to not only enjoy the violence inflicted on her by her lovers, but to encourage and invite it) had made threatening and offensive phone calls to Jemima, and later confessed to spying on her and her friend in the friend's bedroom, through a peephole that he had made through the wall and a painting. "What's a little voyeurism among friends?" was her response.
Ack. I'm not at all a prude, but it is interesting how attitudes have changed over the last 25 years or so. I don't object to reading such things as a historical record of the tempora and mores, but the Jemima Shore trilogy I have just read was republished just a couple of years ago. I love Fraser's biographies, but these books were just tedious.
Young readers: be aware that in the 60s, 70s, and beginning of the 80s, it was perfectly acceptable to write of men who would be behaving discourteously if, upon first meeting a woman, they do not fondle her thigh, and a woman would be impolite if she didn't go to bed with him. Generally they would both then have a cigarette...
Jemima Shore behaves - very coolly - like this in both books. However, this is a review of the Splash of Red - the first intruder who bursts upon her is drunk and beats her up, then apologises. Because he is drunk, she says and does nothing about the beating; he also plant kisses upon her. The second intruder is not drunk, so he twists her nipple hard, and rests his hand on her thigh. They then sleep together. Another lover of her just-dead friend rests his hand on hers during lunch (he doesn't really want her - he's just being polite - though she does toy with the idea of sleeping with him). Yet another lover of the friend (as were also those two intruders mentioned earlier - the friend got about. She also, incidentally, had had 2 abortions - mentioned as a throwaway - and was said to not only enjoy the violence inflicted on her by her lovers, but to encourage and invite it) had made threatening and offensive phone calls to Jemima, and later confessed to spying on her and her friend in the friend's bedroom, through a peephole that he had made through the wall and a painting. "What's a little voyeurism among friends?" was her response.
Ack. I'm not at all a prude, but it is interesting how attitudes have changed over the last 25 years or so. I don't object to reading such things as a historical record of the tempora and mores, but the Jemima Shore trilogy I have just read was republished just a couple of years ago. I love Fraser's biographies, but these books were just tedious.
briarfairchild's review
1.0
Aghhh, bad, bad, bad! A very generous dollop of slut-shaming and an absolute torrent of victim-blaming: Jemima decides astonishingly quickly that because her friend Chloe has lied to her a couple of times, she's a massive liar and deserves all she gets. Apparently it was her own fault that her abusive-ex turned abuser; she drove him to drink and not only triggered his violence but actually enjoyed it. The only person who comes out of this whole situation well is the Lionnel fellow, who actually (shock!) believed Chloe when she told him how horrible it was for her in that relationship - and he is punished for this by death. Classy. And of course because Chloe apparently liked to have a lot of sex with a lot of people, she must be a bad person. Ew.
Jemima has what for anyone else would be a pretty traumatic time during this book. She loses a close friend. Then she gets badly beaten up by the close friend's abusive ex (but obviously that was the close friend's fault because she brought the violence out in him, which is presumably why Jemima is so sympathetic towards him for the rest of the book). Then another friend dies. She deals with all of this with perfect cool and calm. She is not upset. She has no nightmares and cries no tears. She appears, in fact, to have very few emotions apart from the occasional burst of panic and, of course, her indestructible self-confidence. As in the other books, she's definitely not as intelligent as she and everybody else thinks she is. In fact, she behaves remarkably stupidly on occasion.
Jemima has what for anyone else would be a pretty traumatic time during this book. She loses a close friend. Then she gets badly beaten up by the close friend's abusive ex (but obviously that was the close friend's fault because she brought the violence out in him, which is presumably why Jemima is so sympathetic towards him for the rest of the book). Then another friend dies. She deals with all of this with perfect cool and calm. She is not upset. She has no nightmares and cries no tears. She appears, in fact, to have very few emotions apart from the occasional burst of panic and, of course, her indestructible self-confidence. As in the other books, she's definitely not as intelligent as she and everybody else thinks she is. In fact, she behaves remarkably stupidly on occasion.
read_by_hev's review
1.0
My third DNF for February 2018 (so have listed it as 2016 so that it does not count in my book challenge). I went into this expecting a cosy mystery, with a reasonable pace and nice characters. Unfortunately, this is not what I got.
I found the dialogue very difficult to read, which disrupted my enjoyment of the book which was a shame as the characters seemed to be well thought out and established. However, this was just the beginning of my discomfort with the book. I found the break ins to her flat to be uncomfortable, and not adding anything to the story (especially the second one). I also didn't like that the view of a "strong, independent woman" was depicted alongside a woman who would sleep with a man despite saying that she felt uncomfortable beforehand (especially since he had broken into her flat). This annoyed me more than I care to mention and it was shortly after this that I stopped reading so I cannot comment on the rest of the book.
I would like to say that the publisher definitely knew how to market this book, despite that what is written on the blurb may not be what you are expecting. It is a shame, and I had hoped to get some enjoyment out of this book. I probably wont be reading any more of this series. What a shame.
I found the dialogue very difficult to read, which disrupted my enjoyment of the book which was a shame as the characters seemed to be well thought out and established. However, this was just the beginning of my discomfort with the book. I found the break ins to her flat to be uncomfortable, and not adding anything to the story (especially the second one). I also didn't like that the view of a "strong, independent woman" was depicted alongside a woman who would sleep with a man despite saying that she felt uncomfortable beforehand (especially since he had broken into her flat). This annoyed me more than I care to mention and it was shortly after this that I stopped reading so I cannot comment on the rest of the book.
I would like to say that the publisher definitely knew how to market this book, despite that what is written on the blurb may not be what you are expecting. It is a shame, and I had hoped to get some enjoyment out of this book. I probably wont be reading any more of this series. What a shame.
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