by Bryn Greenwood
I saw some good review of this book and thought it sounded interesting and it was. It is a strange story but well told
The story is about a young woman Zee, who is struggling physically and financially. She was injured in a motorcycle crash and is still in pain and paying for her medical bills. At the time of her accident she had just told her boyfriend she was pregnant. He is unhappy about it and dumps her. She storms off on a motorcycle and ends up getting in an accident. She is on pain killers and THC for her pain.
Zee is burdened with trying to support her 600 pound hoarder mother who likes her other sister better and doesn't appreciate anything she does for her. She is living with and trying to support her sister and the sister's young son. To make some extra money she transports and sells drugs. She feels her life is a total ongoing disaster and she isn't far from wrong.
Zee's father was a criminal who went to prison for some bank robberies and died while in prison. Her mother never recovered from the loss of her husband. This started her on the hoarding behaviour. Zee's sister volunteers at a local prison.
One day the sister doesn't come home, Zee looks after the nephew, whom she loves dearly, as best she can. Then the news comes that there has been a riot at the prison, two very dangerous prisoners escaped and have taken two volunteers hostage, one of who is Zee's sister.
The police arrive at Zee's mother's place with a search warrant. They suspect the sister may not be a hostage but a willing participant. They search the house dumping a lot of stuff outside and leaving it there. I cannot imagine that police would actually do that. Zee tried to calm her mother who ends up going to the hospital.
While these things are happening we find out that there is a young man who has been stalking Zee. Gentry is a young autistic man who is fascinated with knights and chivalry and sees himself as Zee's protector and guardian. Zee evenutally meets him and gets his help with some things. She also meets is natural and adopted family. The natural family use and abuse him, the adopted family seem to love him but perhaps overprotect him. Gentry takes her into the country where he is actually working on building a castle and where he and some other friends gather to joust.
Zee with the help of an uncle who was a partner in crime with her father, manage to locate where the escaped prisoners and her sister are hiding out. She, Gentry, some of Gentry's friends and her cousin work on a plan to go and rescue the sister. They get to the remote location but things go badly. The sister, as was suspected, actually loves one of the escapees and won't leave him even after he is killed.
Gentry is injured and one of his friends is killed. Gentry ends up going to jail for being part of the melee. Zee denies being at the fracus. Gentry's family are furious with her for getting Gentry and her friend involved with the disaster.
Zee feels bad but she feels she has to look after her mother and fight to have some access to her nephew (his paternal grandparents get custody as both their son and now daughter-in-law are now in jail).
It seems very sad that poor innocent Gentry and his friend have to pay the price for this misadventure but it seems he is prepared to accept this punishment as part of his knightly loyalty to Zee.
Zee's uncle has given her some money he had from the bank robberies he did with her father. Zee uses this money to help her mother, set up a trust fund for her nephew, and pay the mortgage on the land Gentry was buying and building his castle on.
It was a strange story but interesting and well written.
Monday, 23 September 2019
A Better Man
by Louise Penny
I was eagerly awaiting this new book by Louise Penny. However, I have to say I was quite disappointed by the story.
As the story starts Armand Gamache has been investigated for a police investigation and gun battle in the last book. He is being pilloried by his superiors and the Premiere. They are trying to get him to resign by removing him from his position and offering him the demotion job of Head of Homicide (which he held years before). This is is a big comedown from his position of Head of the Surete. To their surprise and frustration he accepts. He will take over from his son-in-law who is leaving for France for a non-police position.
A major rainfall and potential flooding event is about to fall on Quebec. Gamache makes some suggestions about how to mitigate the flood by cutting channels in fields. His superiors and government officials do not appreciate his input.
So this is the main reason why I did not enjoy this story, the whole pick on Gamache theme. In addition do his dealings with his superiors and the provincial officials someone is posting on Facebook/Instagram that he is a failure and botched the previous job. There is a lot of chatter against him as a result of this.
One of the police officers that Gamache had previously wooed to homicide announces that her goddaughter is missing and asks for her disappearance to be investigated. Even though it is not homicide's role and she has only been gone for a short time Gamache and the officer start investigating. The woman was married to a pottery and was the victim of domestic abuse. They meet a policeman who had responded to calls to the property. He seems more than casually interested in the woman. The woman's husband is suspected as he is an abuser and an alcoholic with a quick temper but so far they cannot pin anything on him. The young officer tries to get some information by posing as an art gallery interested in his work. Her sleuthing turns up the fact that the husband and the woman who is doing his social media might be more than just work colleagues.
While they are investigating Quebec is flooding, including at 3 Pines.
While all this is going on there is a side story about the 3 Pines artist Clare. She had received some substantial acclaim previously but recently produced some miniatures which have received a lot of criticism. She is having trouble dealing with the criticism. Then a young internet 'influencer" about art comes to 3 pines, meets her and sees her work. This person also pans her miniatures. People who have bought her art now wish to get their money back. She is devastated.
That is all there is to this story. I don't know what point it had in the book other than to parallel Gamache's being trashed on the Internet.
While they are investigating the damage caused by the flooding the missing woman's body is discovered in the river near 3 pines. Her car is found on a bridge nearby.
Things get worse for Gamache as footage of other firefights he was in are shown and the parts that are shown online are not complimentary to him (but they do not show the entire story).
It seems that the poet Ruth might have put up this footage to try to salvage his reputation but she denies doing it. It eventually turns out it was one of Gamache's superiors who did it. I am not clear as to why she did it, Gamache had helped her get her job.
In the end they find out that the police officer who originally brought up the missing woman actually was the one who killed her accidentally. The officer was angry at the woman for taking advantage of her father, asking for money. The officer is in love with the woman's father but he seems to have rebuffed her for his daughter.
I usually really enjoy the characters, the quirkiness, the not quite up to police procedure behaviour of Gamache but this time I found all the conspiracy stuff against him hard to take and hard to understand. This was probably my least or second least favourite of all her books.
I will be interested in seeing how Gamache fares without his side-kick son-in-law. As all of Gamache's children and their families are now in France it makes you wonder why he and his wife bother to stay in Quebec. It seem he cannot let go of his passion to right wrongs.
I was eagerly awaiting this new book by Louise Penny. However, I have to say I was quite disappointed by the story.
As the story starts Armand Gamache has been investigated for a police investigation and gun battle in the last book. He is being pilloried by his superiors and the Premiere. They are trying to get him to resign by removing him from his position and offering him the demotion job of Head of Homicide (which he held years before). This is is a big comedown from his position of Head of the Surete. To their surprise and frustration he accepts. He will take over from his son-in-law who is leaving for France for a non-police position.
A major rainfall and potential flooding event is about to fall on Quebec. Gamache makes some suggestions about how to mitigate the flood by cutting channels in fields. His superiors and government officials do not appreciate his input.
So this is the main reason why I did not enjoy this story, the whole pick on Gamache theme. In addition do his dealings with his superiors and the provincial officials someone is posting on Facebook/Instagram that he is a failure and botched the previous job. There is a lot of chatter against him as a result of this.
One of the police officers that Gamache had previously wooed to homicide announces that her goddaughter is missing and asks for her disappearance to be investigated. Even though it is not homicide's role and she has only been gone for a short time Gamache and the officer start investigating. The woman was married to a pottery and was the victim of domestic abuse. They meet a policeman who had responded to calls to the property. He seems more than casually interested in the woman. The woman's husband is suspected as he is an abuser and an alcoholic with a quick temper but so far they cannot pin anything on him. The young officer tries to get some information by posing as an art gallery interested in his work. Her sleuthing turns up the fact that the husband and the woman who is doing his social media might be more than just work colleagues.
While they are investigating Quebec is flooding, including at 3 Pines.
While all this is going on there is a side story about the 3 Pines artist Clare. She had received some substantial acclaim previously but recently produced some miniatures which have received a lot of criticism. She is having trouble dealing with the criticism. Then a young internet 'influencer" about art comes to 3 pines, meets her and sees her work. This person also pans her miniatures. People who have bought her art now wish to get their money back. She is devastated.
That is all there is to this story. I don't know what point it had in the book other than to parallel Gamache's being trashed on the Internet.
While they are investigating the damage caused by the flooding the missing woman's body is discovered in the river near 3 pines. Her car is found on a bridge nearby.
Things get worse for Gamache as footage of other firefights he was in are shown and the parts that are shown online are not complimentary to him (but they do not show the entire story).
It seems that the poet Ruth might have put up this footage to try to salvage his reputation but she denies doing it. It eventually turns out it was one of Gamache's superiors who did it. I am not clear as to why she did it, Gamache had helped her get her job.
In the end they find out that the police officer who originally brought up the missing woman actually was the one who killed her accidentally. The officer was angry at the woman for taking advantage of her father, asking for money. The officer is in love with the woman's father but he seems to have rebuffed her for his daughter.
I usually really enjoy the characters, the quirkiness, the not quite up to police procedure behaviour of Gamache but this time I found all the conspiracy stuff against him hard to take and hard to understand. This was probably my least or second least favourite of all her books.
I will be interested in seeing how Gamache fares without his side-kick son-in-law. As all of Gamache's children and their families are now in France it makes you wonder why he and his wife bother to stay in Quebec. It seem he cannot let go of his passion to right wrongs.
Lampedusa
by Steven Price
This story is set in Sicily. It is set in approximately 1950. It is about Guiseppe Lampedusa, the last Prince of Lampedusa.
I didn't realize that Sicily had a nobility class.
Guiseppe is nearing death, he has emphysema. He has some respect in society by virtue of this hereditary title but most of the family lands have been sold or were destroyed in the war. He and his wife are struggling financially. He and his wife have no children and he feels the family story and his legacy will die with him. He and his wife adopted the adult son of another family to pass on the family title but there will be little estate to pass on to him Guiseppe decides to write a novel loosely based on family history.
As part of the family estate the family own the island of Lampedusa but it appears to be abandoned and in the past was rumoured to house monsters. Guiseppe has some young men around him who come to visit him so he can lecture them about world literature. He enjoys doing this.
One day he and some of the young men head off to one of the family's properties, an estate that became a monastery when two of his relatives became devout and became a priest and nun. One or both of these people were sainted. When they visit the monastery they find it is all in ruins. Guiseppe had hoped it might be in decent shape so he could sell it to someone to run as a B and B.
When Guiseppe discovers how serious his illness is he is hesitant to tell his wife because he doesn't want to worry her. When he does tell her several months later she is furious at him for not telling her sooner. She stops talking to him. They really seemed to love each other so I found this reaction of hers puzzling.
Once Guiseppe's book is written he elicits the help of a cousin who is a poet to help convince a publisher to publish it. His book is rejected. It is not clear but I suspect the cousin did nothing to champion his cause, perhaps being jealous of him having success.
After he dies Guiseppe's adopted son gets the book published and it becomes a best-seller. Guiseppe will not know it but he has indeed secured his place in history, at least literary history, with the book.
From my description this may not have seemed to interesting but I really enjoyed the book. I loved the authors language and the characters.
This story is set in Sicily. It is set in approximately 1950. It is about Guiseppe Lampedusa, the last Prince of Lampedusa.
I didn't realize that Sicily had a nobility class.
Guiseppe is nearing death, he has emphysema. He has some respect in society by virtue of this hereditary title but most of the family lands have been sold or were destroyed in the war. He and his wife are struggling financially. He and his wife have no children and he feels the family story and his legacy will die with him. He and his wife adopted the adult son of another family to pass on the family title but there will be little estate to pass on to him Guiseppe decides to write a novel loosely based on family history.
As part of the family estate the family own the island of Lampedusa but it appears to be abandoned and in the past was rumoured to house monsters. Guiseppe has some young men around him who come to visit him so he can lecture them about world literature. He enjoys doing this.
One day he and some of the young men head off to one of the family's properties, an estate that became a monastery when two of his relatives became devout and became a priest and nun. One or both of these people were sainted. When they visit the monastery they find it is all in ruins. Guiseppe had hoped it might be in decent shape so he could sell it to someone to run as a B and B.
When Guiseppe discovers how serious his illness is he is hesitant to tell his wife because he doesn't want to worry her. When he does tell her several months later she is furious at him for not telling her sooner. She stops talking to him. They really seemed to love each other so I found this reaction of hers puzzling.
Once Guiseppe's book is written he elicits the help of a cousin who is a poet to help convince a publisher to publish it. His book is rejected. It is not clear but I suspect the cousin did nothing to champion his cause, perhaps being jealous of him having success.
After he dies Guiseppe's adopted son gets the book published and it becomes a best-seller. Guiseppe will not know it but he has indeed secured his place in history, at least literary history, with the book.
From my description this may not have seemed to interesting but I really enjoyed the book. I loved the authors language and the characters.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)