Scan barcode
A review by mackle13
The Black Book of Secrets by F.E. Higgins
3.0
This is a pretty cool book which several reviews have called Dickensian. Not exactly being an expert on things Dickens, I'm not sure I can comment one way or the other - though I will say it has that bleak, cynical and sort of gothic atmosphere to it, which is what I think they're talking about.
The gist is that Ludlow Fitch escapes the horrors of his parents and the City, and stumbles across the path of Joe Zabbidou, he of the eponymous Black Book of Secrets. See, Joe is a pawnbroker, but while he does trade in the usual sort of junk, he is also a broke of secrets.
The book alternates between first person narrative of Ludlow's memiors, excerpts from said Black Book, and third person - which is, ostensibly, the author piecing together the "true story" from fragments she's collected. Honestly, I think it could've worked either in all third person or, perhaps, first person except for the secrets bit (though since the secrets are recorded as they're told, you could even just have that as extended dialogue.)
One of the faults of the book is that the characters aren't really developed or defined enough - and this includes the narrator. The voices don't change enough - the first person bits sounding rather similar to the third person bits - and breaking up the narrative in this fashion sort of serves to highlight the fact that the author doesn't have the felicity to pull it off. (Felicity? I think the pseudo-Victorianism is wearing off on me.)
Ditto with the excerpts/secrets - there's not enough variety in language and representation, and it was annoying that each entry started off along the lines of "My name is so-and-so and I have an awful secret to tell." They just didn't sound like stories being told the way people would tell stories, if ya ken? (And now I've slipped into Dark Tower.)
Anyway...
I also wish that both Joe and Ludlow were developed more, that a lot of the mystery of Joe is based on the fact that he won't explain anything (a device which routinely irritates me), and that Jeremiah - the villain of the piece - was a bit less ham-handed.
The lack of real character development is even more important because, well, not a lot really happens. This is very much a character book, in many ways, so it would be nice for them to have some meat on their literary bones.
That said, it did have some interesting sort of commentary on humanity and society. As I said, it comes from a bleak and cynical place, but I can't really say anything strike me as particularly unlikely - just, as I said, a bit ham-fistedly handled.
And, overall, I did enjoy the story. It dragged a bit towards the middle, but as the story progressed I wanted to learn more about the town and the people and their secrets.
It only sort of whet my appetite, though, and never really satiated it. But maybe that's for the good, as it's a series and there's more to come?
I hope further installments improve in execution because, really, that's the thing that's mostly lacking, it seems.
The gist is that Ludlow Fitch escapes the horrors of his parents and the City, and stumbles across the path of Joe Zabbidou, he of the eponymous Black Book of Secrets. See, Joe is a pawnbroker, but while he does trade in the usual sort of junk, he is also a broke of secrets.
The book alternates between first person narrative of Ludlow's memiors, excerpts from said Black Book, and third person - which is, ostensibly, the author piecing together the "true story" from fragments she's collected. Honestly, I think it could've worked either in all third person or, perhaps, first person except for the secrets bit (though since the secrets are recorded as they're told, you could even just have that as extended dialogue.)
One of the faults of the book is that the characters aren't really developed or defined enough - and this includes the narrator. The voices don't change enough - the first person bits sounding rather similar to the third person bits - and breaking up the narrative in this fashion sort of serves to highlight the fact that the author doesn't have the felicity to pull it off. (Felicity? I think the pseudo-Victorianism is wearing off on me.)
Ditto with the excerpts/secrets - there's not enough variety in language and representation, and it was annoying that each entry started off along the lines of "My name is so-and-so and I have an awful secret to tell." They just didn't sound like stories being told the way people would tell stories, if ya ken? (And now I've slipped into Dark Tower.)
Anyway...
I also wish that both Joe and Ludlow were developed more, that a lot of the mystery of Joe is based on the fact that he won't explain anything (a device which routinely irritates me), and that Jeremiah - the villain of the piece - was a bit less ham-handed.
The lack of real character development is even more important because, well, not a lot really happens. This is very much a character book, in many ways, so it would be nice for them to have some meat on their literary bones.
That said, it did have some interesting sort of commentary on humanity and society. As I said, it comes from a bleak and cynical place, but I can't really say anything strike me as particularly unlikely - just, as I said, a bit ham-fistedly handled.
And, overall, I did enjoy the story. It dragged a bit towards the middle, but as the story progressed I wanted to learn more about the town and the people and their secrets.
It only sort of whet my appetite, though, and never really satiated it. But maybe that's for the good, as it's a series and there's more to come?
I hope further installments improve in execution because, really, that's the thing that's mostly lacking, it seems.