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A review by shanaqui
The Widow of Bath by Margot Bennett
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
It's rare that a book in the British Library Crime Classics series is a total miss for me, but I'm afraid this is a rare case where I was really unimpressed -- and in fact, really tempted not to finish. I remember not being a huge fan of Margot Bennett's style in the other book I've read, The Man Who Didn't Fly, but this was much worse.
It's histrionic, overly dramatic, and trying far too hard to be clever. The characters are all puppets dancing to the author's tune, serving her (overly convoluted) mystery and parroting her attempted bon mots. I didn't like a single character, and sometimes I wasn't sure what was even meant to be going on between the weird, allusive, circular conversations and the attempted clever dialogue. It doesn't help that the main character is pretty spineless, thinks he's clever, mucks things up, and then feels sorry for himself about it.
It feels like maybe Bennett was reaching for the cleverness of someone like Raymond Chandler -- I can see a little similarity to his style here and there. But she doesn't hit those heights, and her prose isn't a pleasure to read.
It's histrionic, overly dramatic, and trying far too hard to be clever. The characters are all puppets dancing to the author's tune, serving her (overly convoluted) mystery and parroting her attempted bon mots. I didn't like a single character, and sometimes I wasn't sure what was even meant to be going on between the weird, allusive, circular conversations and the attempted clever dialogue. It doesn't help that the main character is pretty spineless, thinks he's clever, mucks things up, and then feels sorry for himself about it.
It feels like maybe Bennett was reaching for the cleverness of someone like Raymond Chandler -- I can see a little similarity to his style here and there. But she doesn't hit those heights, and her prose isn't a pleasure to read.