Book 6 (May 23 - 26)
I Begged my Husband to Shoot Me
That does it! I'm officially done with judging a book by its cover!
On my last visit to the library, I wandered there at ease, picking the books which seemed interesting at first glimpse. I took a couple of detective stories set in Italy, a mystery novel revolving around Hitchcock (which I wrote about in my previous review) and a crime novel in which the investigation was carried out by Sherlock Holmes himself, plus it was about his wife, which I found intriguing. It was "The Murder of Mary Russell" by Laurie R. King.
From the beginning, the book seemed engaging, a little slow-paced though. I thought I was about to read one of those novels which mimic classical ones, with their slow but steady building of the atmosphere, surroundings, appearances and characters. And the book met my expectations, it included very thorough descriptions of everything, which I especially like when it comes down to interiors , I adore all these chandeliers, sconces, chests of drawers and similar stuff, and characters.
However, the first chapter where the inciting and intriguing event happens, is followed by a huge flashback into Mrs. Hudson's past, and it killed me mercilessly. First, it was so boring, I was begging my husband to shoot me so that I didn't have to finish the book. Second, Mrs. Hudson's past reveals the secrets about her origin and her family, which are cringe-worthy. They ruined Mrs. Hudson, a nice English lady, for me forever.
To some extent, I am always suspicious of the stories that are built on well-known classical characters, the so-called fan fiction. It has a ring of fraud to it. It seems much easier to attract the audience with a story about their beloved and well-known character than create something from scratch. But I am always ready to give in to temptation and give it a try, sometimes fan fiction turns out to be fun. "The Murder of Mary Russell" turned out to be not bad, but boring, the only feature this novel shouldn't have copied from the classical novels.
Of course, there were reasons to enjoy it too. I liked how the characters were portrayed, the mystery itself, the investigation and the twist. I think if it were a little shorter and Mrs. Hudson's story were less hideous, I would have liked the novel much more.
There was one particular thing in this book which blew my mind. At some point, Mrs. Hudson's mother has to travel to Australia to her fugitive husband, who is a criminal. She has no money for this travel, so, she decides to commit a crime to be transported to Australia for free as a felon. More than that, she has a baby girl and she is expects to be sent to Australia with her so that the baby's father could meet his daughter for the first time. What a diseased mind could come up with such an idea!? What follows, is even better. Apparently, her relationship with her parents, who are well-to-do, is so bad that when she steals some jewelry from their house, they turn her in to the police! Wow! I think it is over the top even for Mr Paul Dombey from "Dombey and Son" by Dickens. But, brace yourself for what comes next. When she, Mrs. Hudson's mother, commits this crime, she is, of course, very conveniently sent to Australia, where, upon arrival she is released by the warden because, apparently, that's how felons were treated in those times. The warden has a soft spot for damsels in distress, so he sets her free in spite of the law. Also, there is some business he has to tend to, so he has no time to bother with a mother with a baby. It is such a far-fetched sequence of events! These things happen just to keep the plot moving.
I give this book 5 / 10.
Even didn't manage to take its photo before taking it back to the library, so, no photo of the cover this time, sorry.
I have decided to choose books more carefully, doing a research before going to the library. Speaking of research, I am now writing the third part of my Victorian mystery about the detective Cassandra Ayers, "The Lost Caravan", and I need to get an insight into Egyptian history, so I've robbed the library of their entire shelf of books about Egypt, and my next read is "Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians" by Bob Brier and Hoyt Hobbs.
That does it! I'm officially done with judging a book by its cover!
On my last visit to the library, I wandered there at ease, picking the books which seemed interesting at first glimpse. I took a couple of detective stories set in Italy, a mystery novel revolving around Hitchcock (which I wrote about in my previous review) and a crime novel in which the investigation was carried out by Sherlock Holmes himself, plus it was about his wife, which I found intriguing. It was "The Murder of Mary Russell" by Laurie R. King.
From the beginning, the book seemed engaging, a little slow-paced though. I thought I was about to read one of those novels which mimic classical ones, with their slow but steady building of the atmosphere, surroundings, appearances and characters. And the book met my expectations, it included very thorough descriptions of everything, which I especially like when it comes down to interiors , I adore all these chandeliers, sconces, chests of drawers and similar stuff, and characters.
However, the first chapter where the inciting and intriguing event happens, is followed by a huge flashback into Mrs. Hudson's past, and it killed me mercilessly. First, it was so boring, I was begging my husband to shoot me so that I didn't have to finish the book. Second, Mrs. Hudson's past reveals the secrets about her origin and her family, which are cringe-worthy. They ruined Mrs. Hudson, a nice English lady, for me forever.
To some extent, I am always suspicious of the stories that are built on well-known classical characters, the so-called fan fiction. It has a ring of fraud to it. It seems much easier to attract the audience with a story about their beloved and well-known character than create something from scratch. But I am always ready to give in to temptation and give it a try, sometimes fan fiction turns out to be fun. "The Murder of Mary Russell" turned out to be not bad, but boring, the only feature this novel shouldn't have copied from the classical novels.
Of course, there were reasons to enjoy it too. I liked how the characters were portrayed, the mystery itself, the investigation and the twist. I think if it were a little shorter and Mrs. Hudson's story were less hideous, I would have liked the novel much more.
There was one particular thing in this book which blew my mind. At some point, Mrs. Hudson's mother has to travel to Australia to her fugitive husband, who is a criminal. She has no money for this travel, so, she decides to commit a crime to be transported to Australia for free as a felon. More than that, she has a baby girl and she is expects to be sent to Australia with her so that the baby's father could meet his daughter for the first time. What a diseased mind could come up with such an idea!? What follows, is even better. Apparently, her relationship with her parents, who are well-to-do, is so bad that when she steals some jewelry from their house, they turn her in to the police! Wow! I think it is over the top even for Mr Paul Dombey from "Dombey and Son" by Dickens. But, brace yourself for what comes next. When she, Mrs. Hudson's mother, commits this crime, she is, of course, very conveniently sent to Australia, where, upon arrival she is released by the warden because, apparently, that's how felons were treated in those times. The warden has a soft spot for damsels in distress, so he sets her free in spite of the law. Also, there is some business he has to tend to, so he has no time to bother with a mother with a baby. It is such a far-fetched sequence of events! These things happen just to keep the plot moving.
I give this book 5 / 10.
Even didn't manage to take its photo before taking it back to the library, so, no photo of the cover this time, sorry.
I have decided to choose books more carefully, doing a research before going to the library. Speaking of research, I am now writing the third part of my Victorian mystery about the detective Cassandra Ayers, "The Lost Caravan", and I need to get an insight into Egyptian history, so I've robbed the library of their entire shelf of books about Egypt, and my next read is "Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians" by Bob Brier and Hoyt Hobbs.
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