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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
prose and atmosphere were amazing, especially the descriptions of sometimes foggy, sometimes Ice-bound Dublin in February. Characters and plot both felt thin though, so mixed feelings about the book as a whole. Would like to read more by this author, so opting for 3 stars.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don’t know why I keep reading these ponderous, depressing books.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Looking for an engrossing mystery? Skip this. Enjoy lively characters and action? This is not for you. On the other hand, if you favor Irish angst, drunken maundering, men and women having casual sex and then regretting it, and pages and pages of characters dwelling on their interior failings rather than getting on with anything that advances the plot, dig right in.
This is my first--and last--Quirke novel. I had another one on my to-read pile, but it is going to the used bookstore unread. You could really read the first two chapters and the last two and skip the entire middle of this book if all you want is the "mystery" that is the thin excuse for this story.
Benjamin Black (John Banville) writes beautifully, but I didn't enjoy spending time with these sad, depressing characters, and even the mystery itself wasn't much of one. As for Quirke, I can't imagine why people keep returning to read more of his story. I found him lacking in charm and devoid of any redeeming personality traits that might tempt me to enjoy spending time with him. Only Inspector Hackett seemed appealing, and we see too little of him in this outing. Not recommended, unless you like a good wallow in other people's troubles.
This is my first--and last--Quirke novel. I had another one on my to-read pile, but it is going to the used bookstore unread. You could really read the first two chapters and the last two and skip the entire middle of this book if all you want is the "mystery" that is the thin excuse for this story.
Benjamin Black (John Banville) writes beautifully, but I didn't enjoy spending time with these sad, depressing characters, and even the mystery itself wasn't much of one. As for Quirke, I can't imagine why people keep returning to read more of his story. I found him lacking in charm and devoid of any redeeming personality traits that might tempt me to enjoy spending time with him. Only Inspector Hackett seemed appealing, and we see too little of him in this outing. Not recommended, unless you like a good wallow in other people's troubles.
I put this onto my to-read list in 2015 - I was looking for a title to fill a challenge of "a book with a character named April" - and have just now read it (6 years behind on challenges is pretty much normal for me). I think I must have been having problems finding a book to fit - no doubt there are other books with characters named April, but clearly none of them appealed - as it's rare that I'll read a series without starting at the beginning. However, on the occasions where I have done that, it hasn't mattered - I'm keen to read #1 and #2, but I wasn't annoyed that I didn't know what was in them. The things alluded to (which I presume happened in one or other or those books) are simply a mystery for me to uncover.
So, we're in the 1950s in Ireland. Quirke, a pathologist and a heavy drinker (the latter of which holds more importance in this novel), is contacted by his daughter (interesting backstory there) when one of her close friends (April) hasn't been in touch for a couple of weeks. This is most unusual - they ordinarily chat in person or by phone every day. Phoebe convinces Quirke to do a little investigating and he enlists his detective friend. Then April's estranged family start making noises of discontent.
I really enjoyed the setting and all the side-stories within this book, and there are lots of characters that I was involved in. I also like that the ending leaves a number of things unanswered.
So, we're in the 1950s in Ireland. Quirke, a pathologist and a heavy drinker (the latter of which holds more importance in this novel), is contacted by his daughter (interesting backstory there) when one of her close friends (April) hasn't been in touch for a couple of weeks. This is most unusual - they ordinarily chat in person or by phone every day. Phoebe convinces Quirke to do a little investigating and he enlists his detective friend. Then April's estranged family start making noises of discontent.
I really enjoyed the setting and all the side-stories within this book, and there are lots of characters that I was involved in. I also like that the ending leaves a number of things unanswered.
Not quite a four-star rating, but an enjoyable read. I'll definitely read books 1 and 2 with Quirke as the main character. Maybe I would've enjoyed this one more if I hadn't read it out of order.
The thing I loved most was how Quirke's character is developed in comparison with everyone and everything else in this book. Even the car he purchases is an important character throughout the book. My favorite description: "the thing resisted him, maintaining what seemed to him a sullen obstinacy. Only on occasion, on certain open stretches of the road, did it forget itself and relinquish its hauteur and leap forward with eagerness, almost it seemed with joy, setting up that distinctive muffled roar under the bonnet that made people's head turn. Afterwards, however, when he pulled up at the garage in Herbert Lane, the idling engine seemed to him to be smoldering with renewed, pent-up rancor. He was not good enough to be an Alvis owner; he knew it, the car knew it, and there was nothing to do but gloomily acknowledge the fact and take care that the damned thing did not turn on him and kill him."
I also enjoyed Quirke's relationship with his daughter's friend, Isabel Galloway. An unlikely and inappropriate relationship, captured so beautifully in these lines, "as she sat and gazed at him he felt like a slow old moose caught in the crosshairs of a polished and very powerful rifle...She seemed to be amused at something large and ongoing, a marvelously absurd cavalcade, of which, he suspected, he was just now a part." She continues to make him feel awkward, at one point, "He felt like Alice after she had eaten the magic cake and grown huge."
How can you not like Quirke. Such a charming mess of a man.
The thing I loved most was how Quirke's character is developed in comparison with everyone and everything else in this book. Even the car he purchases is an important character throughout the book. My favorite description: "the thing resisted him, maintaining what seemed to him a sullen obstinacy. Only on occasion, on certain open stretches of the road, did it forget itself and relinquish its hauteur and leap forward with eagerness, almost it seemed with joy, setting up that distinctive muffled roar under the bonnet that made people's head turn. Afterwards, however, when he pulled up at the garage in Herbert Lane, the idling engine seemed to him to be smoldering with renewed, pent-up rancor. He was not good enough to be an Alvis owner; he knew it, the car knew it, and there was nothing to do but gloomily acknowledge the fact and take care that the damned thing did not turn on him and kill him."
I also enjoyed Quirke's relationship with his daughter's friend, Isabel Galloway. An unlikely and inappropriate relationship, captured so beautifully in these lines, "as she sat and gazed at him he felt like a slow old moose caught in the crosshairs of a polished and very powerful rifle...She seemed to be amused at something large and ongoing, a marvelously absurd cavalcade, of which, he suspected, he was just now a part." She continues to make him feel awkward, at one point, "He felt like Alice after she had eaten the magic cake and grown huge."
How can you not like Quirke. Such a charming mess of a man.
Third in a series of noir mysteries set in the foggy austerity of 1950s Dublin.
this is great! i started reading this series over 10 years ago. i come back to it ever so often. i like some of the reads better than others, but all were worthy of my attention. i've also been reading a lot of John Banville, Benjamin Black's real name. his prose is to die for. i come to the Quirke novels for the story, but stay for the writing.