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Reading July
Jul. 7th, 2022 01:01 pmThe Mystery of the Blue Train
Five Little Pigs
Both Agatha Christie, both Poirot; Little Pigs is certainly a re-read, but I’m not sure about Blue Train (my most extensive Poirot reading phase was before I was ten, and I tended to imprint on the more sensational ones and zoom past the others). Pigs is the better mystery - it is solving an old case, and going back to the five people who were there to get their differing views on things, which is very satisfying as a mystery, while Train has a number of dubious stereotypes (the wealthy American, the Greek Jewish jeweller, the vaguely European gigolo) and the plot never quite comes together.
China Rich Girlfriend
Rich People Problems.
Both Kevin Kwan, and the rest of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy. In Girlfriend, Rachel is trying to track down her father, Astrid’s marriage is falling apart, and Kitty Pong is trying to buy her way up the social ladder; in Problems, Su Yi, the Young family matriarch is dying. Problems has the stronger storyline but it’s undercut by the book’s failure to actually let any of the characters endure significant consequences for their actions, and it’s hard to know how much of this is deliberate.
( Moderate spoilers )
It is readable and the lavish details are compellingly over the top (I kept looking up brand names), and the glimpses of Singapore’s history in Su Yi’s past are fascinating, as is the recognition of how quickly things are changing there. I did find myself comparing it to Jilly Cooper. Kwan is better on food (his food descriptions are incredible) but Cooper has the edge on character; both are equally skilled in minute analysis of social status amongst the elite.
A Seditious Affair, KJ Charles (re-read). Still fantastic. I never want to re-read any of the other Society of Gentlemen books on their own, but this makes me interested. Class, revolution, and desire, all wound up into two deeply opposed and fascinating characters.
The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz. Jacob Finch Bonner was fêted for his first book, but subsequent sales and attention fell off a cliff; he teaches in a third-rate college creative writing program. One of his students, Evan Parker, arrogantly declares that he needs no help with his writing because he has the perfect plot and, when Bonner hears it, he is forced to agree; but Parker never publishes, and when Bonner finds out Parker died, he is unable to resist the urge to tell the story himself…
This was fine but obvious, and I was unconvinced by the originality of the perfect plot (sure, I think it could easily be popular; there are plenty of other big hit thrillers that I don’t like; but to me it's a hook, not a plot).
The Murders of Molly Southbourne, Tade Thompson. Read because of rachelmanija ! Highly enjoyable and compelling, with all these little disturbing hints about the world in the background. For some bizarre reason the library has the first and the third so I will have to track down the second.
Five Little Pigs
Both Agatha Christie, both Poirot; Little Pigs is certainly a re-read, but I’m not sure about Blue Train (my most extensive Poirot reading phase was before I was ten, and I tended to imprint on the more sensational ones and zoom past the others). Pigs is the better mystery - it is solving an old case, and going back to the five people who were there to get their differing views on things, which is very satisfying as a mystery, while Train has a number of dubious stereotypes (the wealthy American, the Greek Jewish jeweller, the vaguely European gigolo) and the plot never quite comes together.
China Rich Girlfriend
Rich People Problems.
Both Kevin Kwan, and the rest of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy. In Girlfriend, Rachel is trying to track down her father, Astrid’s marriage is falling apart, and Kitty Pong is trying to buy her way up the social ladder; in Problems, Su Yi, the Young family matriarch is dying. Problems has the stronger storyline but it’s undercut by the book’s failure to actually let any of the characters endure significant consequences for their actions, and it’s hard to know how much of this is deliberate.
( Moderate spoilers )
It is readable and the lavish details are compellingly over the top (I kept looking up brand names), and the glimpses of Singapore’s history in Su Yi’s past are fascinating, as is the recognition of how quickly things are changing there. I did find myself comparing it to Jilly Cooper. Kwan is better on food (his food descriptions are incredible) but Cooper has the edge on character; both are equally skilled in minute analysis of social status amongst the elite.
A Seditious Affair, KJ Charles (re-read). Still fantastic. I never want to re-read any of the other Society of Gentlemen books on their own, but this makes me interested. Class, revolution, and desire, all wound up into two deeply opposed and fascinating characters.
The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz. Jacob Finch Bonner was fêted for his first book, but subsequent sales and attention fell off a cliff; he teaches in a third-rate college creative writing program. One of his students, Evan Parker, arrogantly declares that he needs no help with his writing because he has the perfect plot and, when Bonner hears it, he is forced to agree; but Parker never publishes, and when Bonner finds out Parker died, he is unable to resist the urge to tell the story himself…
This was fine but obvious, and I was unconvinced by the originality of the perfect plot (sure, I think it could easily be popular; there are plenty of other big hit thrillers that I don’t like; but to me it's a hook, not a plot).
The Murders of Molly Southbourne, Tade Thompson. Read because of rachelmanija ! Highly enjoyable and compelling, with all these little disturbing hints about the world in the background. For some bizarre reason the library has the first and the third so I will have to track down the second.
