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3.14 AVERAGE
3.14 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Simply put this is a tale of a man's life set in Victorian times. The man, William, has an almost preternatural knack and foresight for business and thrives and leads a good life. Like all lives, there is some sadness and regret, particularly over an incident in his childhood when he killed a rook. Halfway through though (his life and our story) tragedy strikes. This changes everything the nature of his life and the nature his new business. The second half of the story may be about madness, a haunting or something else…
Setterfield tells William’s story in a normal third person narrative but interspersed among the number chapters are small sections simply marked &(ampersand) where we are instructed in the nature and legends of Rooks. Notably, as the ampersand connects Bellman & Black but is not part of them, the ampersands will connect the story without becoming directly part of it.
Overall I really enjoyed this somewhat dark yet beautiful tale. I was already a fan of Setterfield's prose from The Thirteenth Tale and fell quite easily into the reading of this. Her research into Death Practices and Rituals of the Victorian are not only well done but I suspect one of the inspirations for this book. However, it is her insights into life, not death that is lovely as seen in the quote below.
“He had rediscovered the spaces in between words and tasks and thoughts, and they were surprisingly fruitful.”
Overall, this would be recommended for lovers of the slightly darker Victorian fiction. But be warned this is not a melodramatic gothic tale similar to Setterfield's previous novel The Thirteenth tale. It is far more eyrie, simple yet quietly beautiful tale.
Setterfield tells William’s story in a normal third person narrative but interspersed among the number chapters are small sections simply marked &(ampersand) where we are instructed in the nature and legends of Rooks. Notably, as the ampersand connects Bellman & Black but is not part of them, the ampersands will connect the story without becoming directly part of it.
Overall I really enjoyed this somewhat dark yet beautiful tale. I was already a fan of Setterfield's prose from The Thirteenth Tale and fell quite easily into the reading of this. Her research into Death Practices and Rituals of the Victorian are not only well done but I suspect one of the inspirations for this book. However, it is her insights into life, not death that is lovely as seen in the quote below.
“He had rediscovered the spaces in between words and tasks and thoughts, and they were surprisingly fruitful.”
Overall, this would be recommended for lovers of the slightly darker Victorian fiction. But be warned this is not a melodramatic gothic tale similar to Setterfield's previous novel The Thirteenth tale. It is far more eyrie, simple yet quietly beautiful tale.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Beautifully written, but I struggled to connect with any of the characters. I could not feel happy or sad for them. I actually liked the first quarter of the book, but then the story just became flat. I felt no tension building towards the conclusion, and was left wondering, so what?
I am in no doubt that the author can write wonderful books, and I was captivated by her previous novel. Unfortunately this one missed the mark for me.
The story: As a boy, William Bellman commits one small cruel act that appears to have unforseen and terrible consequences. The killing of a rook with his catapult is soon forgotten amidst the riot of boyhood games. And by the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, he seems indeed, to be a man blessed by fortune. Until tragedy strikes, and the stranger in black comes, and William Bellman starts to wonder if all his happiness is about to be eclipsed. Desperate to save the one precious thing he has left, he enters into a bargain. A rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner, to found a decidedly macabre business. And Bellman & Black is born.
I am in no doubt that the author can write wonderful books, and I was captivated by her previous novel. Unfortunately this one missed the mark for me.
The story: As a boy, William Bellman commits one small cruel act that appears to have unforseen and terrible consequences. The killing of a rook with his catapult is soon forgotten amidst the riot of boyhood games. And by the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, he seems indeed, to be a man blessed by fortune. Until tragedy strikes, and the stranger in black comes, and William Bellman starts to wonder if all his happiness is about to be eclipsed. Desperate to save the one precious thing he has left, he enters into a bargain. A rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner, to found a decidedly macabre business. And Bellman & Black is born.
The Thirteenth Tale is one of my favorite books. It's a Gothic tale about a mysterious writer, as well as being an ode to books and reading. On Goodreads, I have one quote on my profile page, and it's from that book:
"My gripe is not with lovers of the truth but with truth herself. What succor, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story? What good is truth, at midnight, in the dark, when the wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney? When the lightning strikes shadows on the bedroom wall and the rain taps at the window with its long fingernails? No. When fear and cold make a statue of you in your bed, don't expect hard-boned and fleshless truth to come running to your aid. What you need are the plump comforts of a story. The soothing, rocking safety of a lie."
It's a good summation of the draw of fiction, and anyone who finds something to like in that quote should read the book. Aside from quotes like that, the book is a good, mysterious, sometimes-creepy story. I've recommended it a lot over the years.
Bellman & Black is Setterfield's first novel since having published The Thirteenth Tale, and I, like many people, had high expectations for it, which might be a large part why this book was so disappointing. It's certainly well-written -- Setterfield's writing is poetic without being obtuse, and she does a good job with writing tragic characters -- but the story is lacking in so many ways. The story of Bellman & Black is that of Bellman himself (the mysterious Black doesn't feature in the story until after the halfway point in the book), and so much of his life is hardly worth writing about. He's an exceptional businessman, turning a textile mill from a successful business to an enterprise, and a large part of the first half of the novel is reading about how he does it, and how much other people admire him for it. I understand its point -- in order to build up the significance of Bellman's tragedy, the author first had to show how much he had to lose -- but it doesn't make for interesting reading.
The opening scene of the novel is of Bellman, as a young boy, killing a rook with a slingshot. He doesn't do it out of malice, but because it's an impossible shot that he's determined to make. From that point forward, rooks feature in Bellman's life, particularly when something terrible happens to him. And they do. Most of what Bellman gained in the first half of the novel is lost, possibly because he killed that rook so long ago. He's haunted by the rooks and the mysterious Black, but in more ways than one, he's haunted by his own past.
I have mixed feelings about the book. Thematically, it's interesting, and the book gives you much to think about upon reflection, but the book wasn't exciting or engaging. By the time I reached the last 100 pages of the book, I was just ready to be finished with it so I could move on to something else. The Thirteenth Tale had a thoughtful ending, but it also had a compelling story going on to support that ending. Bellman & Black is more like something one reads for a literature assignment -- it's not particularly interesting, but it raises a lot of talking points. It's hard to recommend because of that, even to fans of her previous book.
"My gripe is not with lovers of the truth but with truth herself. What succor, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story? What good is truth, at midnight, in the dark, when the wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney? When the lightning strikes shadows on the bedroom wall and the rain taps at the window with its long fingernails? No. When fear and cold make a statue of you in your bed, don't expect hard-boned and fleshless truth to come running to your aid. What you need are the plump comforts of a story. The soothing, rocking safety of a lie."
It's a good summation of the draw of fiction, and anyone who finds something to like in that quote should read the book. Aside from quotes like that, the book is a good, mysterious, sometimes-creepy story. I've recommended it a lot over the years.
Bellman & Black is Setterfield's first novel since having published The Thirteenth Tale, and I, like many people, had high expectations for it, which might be a large part why this book was so disappointing. It's certainly well-written -- Setterfield's writing is poetic without being obtuse, and she does a good job with writing tragic characters -- but the story is lacking in so many ways. The story of Bellman & Black is that of Bellman himself (the mysterious Black doesn't feature in the story until after the halfway point in the book), and so much of his life is hardly worth writing about. He's an exceptional businessman, turning a textile mill from a successful business to an enterprise, and a large part of the first half of the novel is reading about how he does it, and how much other people admire him for it. I understand its point -- in order to build up the significance of Bellman's tragedy, the author first had to show how much he had to lose -- but it doesn't make for interesting reading.
The opening scene of the novel is of Bellman, as a young boy, killing a rook with a slingshot. He doesn't do it out of malice, but because it's an impossible shot that he's determined to make. From that point forward, rooks feature in Bellman's life, particularly when something terrible happens to him. And they do. Most of what Bellman gained in the first half of the novel is lost, possibly because he killed that rook so long ago. He's haunted by the rooks and the mysterious Black, but in more ways than one, he's haunted by his own past.
I have mixed feelings about the book. Thematically, it's interesting, and the book gives you much to think about upon reflection, but the book wasn't exciting or engaging. By the time I reached the last 100 pages of the book, I was just ready to be finished with it so I could move on to something else. The Thirteenth Tale had a thoughtful ending, but it also had a compelling story going on to support that ending. Bellman & Black is more like something one reads for a literature assignment -- it's not particularly interesting, but it raises a lot of talking points. It's hard to recommend because of that, even to fans of her previous book.
dark
mysterious
I haven't been this annoyed by a book in a long time. There was no compelling storyline - just repeated anecdotes of William Bellman's business success and various enterprises. And I don't understand why the story is being described as a character study instead - there is absolutely no character development at all. When the main character's wife and three of his young children die within one chapter, and I don't shed one tear, there is an issue with the character development. I had absolutely no interest in the story after this, and basically skimmed until the end to see if there was any resolution. But instead there was no compelling explanation for Black, for Bellman's slow deterioration, or even for the point of that damn rook's death that was supposed to be the pivotal piece of Bellman's story!! And I don't care what a collective group of rooks is called when it has negative significance to the story!! A maddening read.
This week I also read Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield. It was my pick for our St. Stephen's Episcopal Church book club. I'm afraid I'm about to be voted off the island out of book club.
I have waited for years for her second book. I absolutely loved The Thirteenth Tale, and it was one of my all-time favorite books. But Bellman & Black falls way short of the touted ghost story it is supposed to be. I don't think it in any way represents that genre.
William Bellman makes a mistake as a young boy. When he is ten, he shoots and kills a young rook with his slingshot. An impossible shot, the parabola linking himself to the bird is flawless. Skip ahead a few years, and William is working in a mill he'll eventually own. But when he loses almost his entire family to illness, he strikes up a deal with a mysterious man to save his remaining daughter. As a result, he becomes and obsessive-compulsive manager, and embarks on a quest to create the quintessential Victorian mourning emporium and Bellman & Black is born.
What disappointed me so much about this book is Setterfield's exhaustingly lengthy description of Victorian textile mills and Bellman's OCD obsession with his Bellman & Black business. That's pretty much the gist of the book: description after (boring) description, and the story is totally lost. There are a few interesting breaks from the descriptions with these little personified blurbs about rooks. I had no idea that there are so many collective nouns for rooks! Maybe if Setterfield had focused on the Victorians' obsession with the dark and middle ages, occult, and funeral practices of the Celts (which she did barely touch upon) it might have made for a better story.
The only way I would recommend this book to anyone is if he or she wants to learn more about how a Victorian mill was run or about the Victorian mourning process. I really wanted to like this book. And my book club members are not going to be happy with me. I dread our meeting this morning!
I have waited for years for her second book. I absolutely loved The Thirteenth Tale, and it was one of my all-time favorite books. But Bellman & Black falls way short of the touted ghost story it is supposed to be. I don't think it in any way represents that genre.
William Bellman makes a mistake as a young boy. When he is ten, he shoots and kills a young rook with his slingshot. An impossible shot, the parabola linking himself to the bird is flawless. Skip ahead a few years, and William is working in a mill he'll eventually own. But when he loses almost his entire family to illness, he strikes up a deal with a mysterious man to save his remaining daughter. As a result, he becomes and obsessive-compulsive manager, and embarks on a quest to create the quintessential Victorian mourning emporium and Bellman & Black is born.
What disappointed me so much about this book is Setterfield's exhaustingly lengthy description of Victorian textile mills and Bellman's OCD obsession with his Bellman & Black business. That's pretty much the gist of the book: description after (boring) description, and the story is totally lost. There are a few interesting breaks from the descriptions with these little personified blurbs about rooks. I had no idea that there are so many collective nouns for rooks! Maybe if Setterfield had focused on the Victorians' obsession with the dark and middle ages, occult, and funeral practices of the Celts (which she did barely touch upon) it might have made for a better story.
The only way I would recommend this book to anyone is if he or she wants to learn more about how a Victorian mill was run or about the Victorian mourning process. I really wanted to like this book. And my book club members are not going to be happy with me. I dread our meeting this morning!