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Wit's End: A Novel
"[A] delightful and eccentric new tale"( The Boston Globe ) from the author of the runaway bestseller The Jane Austen Book Club
In Karen Joy Fowler's newest novel, the bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club once again delivers top-notch storytelling, creating characters both oddball and endearing in a voice that is utterly and memorably her own. Wit's End is a clever, playful novel about finally allowing oneself to grow up-with a dash of mystery thrown in.
At loose ends and weary from her recent losses-the deaths of an inventive if at times irritating father and her beloved brother-Rima Lansill comes to Wit's End, the home of her legendary godmother, bestselling mystery writer Addison Early, to regroup...and in search of answers. For starters, why did Addison name one of her characters-a murderer-after Rima's father? But Addison is secretive and feisty, so consumed with protecting her famous fictional detective, Maxwell Lane, from the vagaries of the Internet that-rumor has it- she has writer's block. As one woman searches for truth, the other struggles to control the reality of her fiction.
Rima soon becomes enmeshed in Addison's household of a formerly alcoholic cook and her irksome son, two quirky dog-walkers, a mysterious stalker, the tiny characters that populate Addison's dollhouse crime-scene replicas, and even Maxwell Lane himself. But, wrapped up in a mystery that may or may not be of her own creation, Rima discovers to her surprise that the ultimate solution to this puzzle is the new family she has found at the house called Wit's End.
Playfully exploring the blurred boundaries between reality and virtual reality, fiction and fact, Karen Joy Fowler subverts the whodunit and gives us a thoroughly modern meta-mystery with wit, warmth, and heart.
In Karen Joy Fowler's newest novel, the bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club once again delivers top-notch storytelling, creating characters both oddball and endearing in a voice that is utterly and memorably her own. Wit's End is a clever, playful novel about finally allowing oneself to grow up-with a dash of mystery thrown in.
At loose ends and weary from her recent losses-the deaths of an inventive if at times irritating father and her beloved brother-Rima Lansill comes to Wit's End, the home of her legendary godmother, bestselling mystery writer Addison Early, to regroup...and in search of answers. For starters, why did Addison name one of her characters-a murderer-after Rima's father? But Addison is secretive and feisty, so consumed with protecting her famous fictional detective, Maxwell Lane, from the vagaries of the Internet that-rumor has it- she has writer's block. As one woman searches for truth, the other struggles to control the reality of her fiction.
Rima soon becomes enmeshed in Addison's household of a formerly alcoholic cook and her irksome son, two quirky dog-walkers, a mysterious stalker, the tiny characters that populate Addison's dollhouse crime-scene replicas, and even Maxwell Lane himself. But, wrapped up in a mystery that may or may not be of her own creation, Rima discovers to her surprise that the ultimate solution to this puzzle is the new family she has found at the house called Wit's End.
Playfully exploring the blurred boundaries between reality and virtual reality, fiction and fact, Karen Joy Fowler subverts the whodunit and gives us a thoroughly modern meta-mystery with wit, warmth, and heart.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1916
53 people are currently reading
778 people want to read
About the author
Karen Joy Fowler
151 books1,606 followersKaren Joy Fowler is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels and three short story collections. Her 2004 novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, spent thirteen weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s previous novel, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Her debut novel, Sarah Canary, won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian, was listed for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize as well as the Bay Area Book Reviewers Prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s short story collection Black Glass won the World Fantasy Award in 1999, and her collection What I Didn’t See won the World Fantasy Award in 2011. Her most recent novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, won the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction and was short-listed for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. Her new novel Booth published in March 2022.
She is the co-founder of the Otherwise Award and the current president of the Clarion Foundation (also known as Clarion San Diego). Fowler and her husband, who have two grown children and seven grandchildren, live in Santa Cruz, California. Fowler also supports a chimp named Caesar who lives at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone.
She is the co-founder of the Otherwise Award and the current president of the Clarion Foundation (also known as Clarion San Diego). Fowler and her husband, who have two grown children and seven grandchildren, live in Santa Cruz, California. Fowler also supports a chimp named Caesar who lives at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone.
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January 8, 2025In the interest of full disclosure, the author is a dear friend of mine. As a crime writer, I found this novel wildly entertaining. As someone who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I absolutely loved her rendering of place, particularly Holy City in the vicinity of Highway 17, the concrete ship, downtown Santa Cruz, and the various beaches. These locations were all part of my past, and seeing them again--in the hands of sch a skilled writer--was great fun for me. The mystery itself is bifurcated as the main character Rima attempts to untangle her father's role in the life and times of noted (and very quirky) crime writer A.B. Early, how he and Addison (that's the "A" in A.B. Early) fit into the history of Holy City, the death of Rima's mother, and the mysterious "disappearance" of a tiny figure from a miniature crime-scene tableau. Karen Joy Fowler is a writer who is simultaneously hilarious and tender. Every book of hers is different from the last book. I enjoyed the heck out of this one.
July 20, 2009
What the heck is this book about? It reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld's description of his sitcom. This is a book about nothing. When you are finished with this book, you don't know any more about the characters that you did before you started it.
I read this book on a bus trip to Milwaukee. If I had not been trapped on the bus with it, I would have quit half-way through. I would not recommed this book to anyone.
I have not read Fowler's "The Jane Austen Book Club" and am not likely to after reading this disaster!
I read this book on a bus trip to Milwaukee. If I had not been trapped on the bus with it, I would have quit half-way through. I would not recommed this book to anyone.
I have not read Fowler's "The Jane Austen Book Club" and am not likely to after reading this disaster!
July 9, 2008
Now this is a really fun book for the modern, Net-savvy reader. I don't think I've ever heard fanfiction discussed more accurately in a book before (or ever discussed period!), and I love the varying attitudes on it from the author to the rabid fangirl to the innocent net surfer who accidentally stumbles onto a slashy one--SO much fun!
I read in a professional review somewhere that this book feels "up to the minute fresh," and that is really an excellent way to put it. Blogging, forums, Dubbya's incompetencies, the polar bears on LOST--just little touches like those make the day and place so identifiable and make the story so much more real. If someone in the year 2058 wanted to know what real, day-to-day pop culture and life felt like in the years 2004 - 2008 (at least for liberal, net-savvy and literary intellectuals), this would be the perfect book for him. Since I (and so many of you, my friends) fall into the above category, I think you'll be really tickled by this story and find it a fun read, at the very least.
The story isn't all that profound (although the premise is fun--what happens when someone steals your characters, both literally (there is a break-in at the author's house and a rabid fan steals a little model of one of her characters), and figuratively (through fan works, fandom and a reader's personal interpretation and mental "exchange" with the characters as they read), but the author's writing style is just AMAZING! SO witty, so sharp and wry and fun, fun, fun--I haven't laughed out loud (there you go, that's in there too) that much while reading a book in years! (not since reading "Good Omens" by Tickle-me-Terry Pratchitt!)
The setting is really fun, too--an old, Victorian style mansion (once owned by the last surviving member of the Donner Party @_@) in Santa Cruz, CA (which somehow manages to feel both California beachy and rustic/down-to-earth like one of those New England fishing towns where authors go to write). Just a lovely, interesting and fun book for a fun break between summer school reading. As light as I'm making it sound, though, it's not a dumb book--and any aspiring writer should snatch this baby up to experience what REALLY GOOD VOICE/STYLE can do for you.
Definitely recommended! :)
I read in a professional review somewhere that this book feels "up to the minute fresh," and that is really an excellent way to put it. Blogging, forums, Dubbya's incompetencies, the polar bears on LOST--just little touches like those make the day and place so identifiable and make the story so much more real. If someone in the year 2058 wanted to know what real, day-to-day pop culture and life felt like in the years 2004 - 2008 (at least for liberal, net-savvy and literary intellectuals), this would be the perfect book for him. Since I (and so many of you, my friends) fall into the above category, I think you'll be really tickled by this story and find it a fun read, at the very least.
The story isn't all that profound (although the premise is fun--what happens when someone steals your characters, both literally (there is a break-in at the author's house and a rabid fan steals a little model of one of her characters), and figuratively (through fan works, fandom and a reader's personal interpretation and mental "exchange" with the characters as they read), but the author's writing style is just AMAZING! SO witty, so sharp and wry and fun, fun, fun--I haven't laughed out loud (there you go, that's in there too) that much while reading a book in years! (not since reading "Good Omens" by Tickle-me-Terry Pratchitt!)
The setting is really fun, too--an old, Victorian style mansion (once owned by the last surviving member of the Donner Party @_@) in Santa Cruz, CA (which somehow manages to feel both California beachy and rustic/down-to-earth like one of those New England fishing towns where authors go to write). Just a lovely, interesting and fun book for a fun break between summer school reading. As light as I'm making it sound, though, it's not a dumb book--and any aspiring writer should snatch this baby up to experience what REALLY GOOD VOICE/STYLE can do for you.
Definitely recommended! :)
December 8, 2014
What a letdown! The description sounded so interesting - A young woman, Rima, who is suffering after the deaths, one after another, of her immediate family members, is invited to move in with her godmother who happens to be a world famous mystery writer. The writer lives in a beachfront estate in Santa Cruz, California, called "Wit's End" which was built years ago by a surviving member of the Donner party who is said to haunt the grounds. The writer is a little eccentric - she builds dioramas of the murders she plans to describe in her books, and, since the death of Rima's father, she has not written a new book, but she still maintains a vigil as to what is written about her on the internet. The writer and the father were journalists in Santa Cruz when they were in their 20s, and both had connections to a local cult formed in the 1930s by a crackpot white supremacist who claims to have had the secret to immortality. The writer included Rima's father in one of her novels set in a similar type of cult after which they never spoke again. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, Rima decides take the writer's invitation and to figure out exactly what happened between the writer and her father.
Sounds promising, huh? Well, no. I have enjoyed Fowler's other books, so I know she can write, but this book is just too darn precious for its own sake. Every character is just wack-a-doodle, or entirely random. Rima, who has nothing to do all day, takes weeks to read a lousy packet of letters anyone else would have finished in an hour. Each diorama is described in great detail although (spoiler aler... oh , never mind) they have nothing to do with the plot. The 'mystery' is eventually solved, but in such a humdrum manner, and with such ho-hum results, that you wonder why Fowler even bothered. Oh, and if I had to read one more description of the sound of the dachshunds' toenails on the wooden floor, I would have definitely lost my wits.....
Sounds promising, huh? Well, no. I have enjoyed Fowler's other books, so I know she can write, but this book is just too darn precious for its own sake. Every character is just wack-a-doodle, or entirely random. Rima, who has nothing to do all day, takes weeks to read a lousy packet of letters anyone else would have finished in an hour. Each diorama is described in great detail although (spoiler aler... oh , never mind) they have nothing to do with the plot. The 'mystery' is eventually solved, but in such a humdrum manner, and with such ho-hum results, that you wonder why Fowler even bothered. Oh, and if I had to read one more description of the sound of the dachshunds' toenails on the wooden floor, I would have definitely lost my wits.....
April 1, 2013
4.5 stars
I think, unfortunately, that this book is misreprented by the tag line on the cover and the publisher description; both those seem to promise an overarching mystery, a sinister encroachment of the both the past and of an author's fans.
What it actually is - and succeeds quite well at - is the first person narrative of a woman without roots trying to find some purpose. Rima struggles with grief, tries to figure out the puzzle of her father's life, tries both to connect and to avoid connection.
Plus, Fowler's writing is just excellent - poetic and natural and quite funny. I love the descriptions of all the dollhouse death scenes. Compulsive reading.
Also - that cover is heinous, and feels straight out of the cyber-fear fiction of the late 90's.
I think, unfortunately, that this book is misreprented by the tag line on the cover and the publisher description; both those seem to promise an overarching mystery, a sinister encroachment of the both the past and of an author's fans.
What it actually is - and succeeds quite well at - is the first person narrative of a woman without roots trying to find some purpose. Rima struggles with grief, tries to figure out the puzzle of her father's life, tries both to connect and to avoid connection.
Plus, Fowler's writing is just excellent - poetic and natural and quite funny. I love the descriptions of all the dollhouse death scenes. Compulsive reading.
Also - that cover is heinous, and feels straight out of the cyber-fear fiction of the late 90's.
August 5, 2010
The best part of this novel is the author's wit. Fowler, as many reviewers note, really does have a wonderful voice. Her character insights, asides, ruminations--all are engaging and interesting. The whole of Wit's End, however, is not as good as the sum of its parts. With so many odd and fascinating side stories: grief, loss, obsessive fan adoration, theft of artistic ownership, cults, mystery novels, mysterious letters, mysteries within mysteries... not to mention complicated and fascinating characters, even down to the dogs in the story--Wit's End was a page turner. But I kept turning back pages due to confusion and the sense I'd just simply 'missed' something.
I did have some difficulty tracking 'real' characters and their fictional counterparts--some of this was intentional I'm sure. Yet ultimately I was left puzzled by what I'd read. Was it enjoyable? Yes. But the plotting seemed loose, characters who began with such strong descriptions seemed to fizzle a bit by the end, as did a few of the story lines.
I enjoyed the author's humor and thoughtful 'inner voice' descriptions enough to want to try another of her novels--but wonder if I'm simply charmed by her writing style, the dynamic characters she creates--as well as the potential for a terrific tale--and am willing to overlook how well she combines these elements into a fully functional, stand-alone story.
I did have some difficulty tracking 'real' characters and their fictional counterparts--some of this was intentional I'm sure. Yet ultimately I was left puzzled by what I'd read. Was it enjoyable? Yes. But the plotting seemed loose, characters who began with such strong descriptions seemed to fizzle a bit by the end, as did a few of the story lines.
I enjoyed the author's humor and thoughtful 'inner voice' descriptions enough to want to try another of her novels--but wonder if I'm simply charmed by her writing style, the dynamic characters she creates--as well as the potential for a terrific tale--and am willing to overlook how well she combines these elements into a fully functional, stand-alone story.
May 21, 2008
Preface: I won this through a Readinggroupguides.com contest. I have read The Jane Austen Book Club, which was also set in the Norcal area, so I'm right at home with that.
Update: Just because you get a book for free does not mean you should read it. There was no point or direction to this book. The storyline was very scattered, none of the characters were developed enough to like or emphathize with them, and it was peppered with unnecessary profanity and moral issues that came from left field. The teaser on the front jacket about fans stealing your characters has nothing to do with the book (unless it means "Thomas Grand" which I highly doubt). Don't bother with this one.
Update: Just because you get a book for free does not mean you should read it. There was no point or direction to this book. The storyline was very scattered, none of the characters were developed enough to like or emphathize with them, and it was peppered with unnecessary profanity and moral issues that came from left field. The teaser on the front jacket about fans stealing your characters has nothing to do with the book (unless it means "Thomas Grand" which I highly doubt). Don't bother with this one.
June 20, 2015
I barely know what happened in this book. It's haphazard and directionless. I was unsure of what mystery we were trying to solve, and the resolution didn't clear it up. There were baffling extraneous stories and details that made me wonder if this book ever made it into the hands of an editor. Disappointing because I really enjoyed her novel "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves".
February 14, 2010
Reading this book made me wonder why Jonathan Lethem, Junot Diaz and the other fan boys get all the credit for playing with genre. Karen Joy Fowler's meta-mystery, about a woman trying to decipher the relationships between her family and a famous murder mystery writer, has just as many layers and asks just as many big philosophical questions. Set in a Santa Cruz populated by cults and clowns and 12-stepper housekeepers, the book is as colorful as any traditional mystery. By adding plot lines that take place online (but which have real-world repercussions), Fowler gets nearly sci fi while playing with ideas about doubling, wish fulfillment and even the future of publishing. But it's probably her wit and warmth toward her characters that I like the most.
May 13, 2008
The author of The Jane Austen Book Club has struck again--delightfully. This book is not a mystery but it IS about a mystery writer, her goddaughter, and some mysterious past events. There are multiple story lines in this book,
including highly imaginative plots for the books written by Addison (though, despite attempts throughout the book by many, not a clue about what the new book is about until the very, very, very end). It's a tad confusing at times
since Addison has a tendency to use "real" peoples names for her book characters and similarbutdifferent situations happen to both. I found it an utterly engrossing, charming, chaotic book with a lot of beginnings and no true ending. Every single character in this book is quirky and intriguing.
Mystery readers willing to laugh about themselves will really dig this book--I know I did. Everyone else will love these delightful character(including a couple of snuffling and snarky miniature dachshunds--gotta love a book that includes critters as important members of the cast).
including highly imaginative plots for the books written by Addison (though, despite attempts throughout the book by many, not a clue about what the new book is about until the very, very, very end). It's a tad confusing at times
since Addison has a tendency to use "real" peoples names for her book characters and similarbutdifferent situations happen to both. I found it an utterly engrossing, charming, chaotic book with a lot of beginnings and no true ending. Every single character in this book is quirky and intriguing.
Mystery readers willing to laugh about themselves will really dig this book--I know I did. Everyone else will love these delightful character(including a couple of snuffling and snarky miniature dachshunds--gotta love a book that includes critters as important members of the cast).
August 18, 2015
I like meta-books, books about books and writers and readers and how stories influence our lives. As someone who spends what, I admit, is probably an inordinate amount of time reading, reading about books is important and informative. Wit’s End is metafiction about mystery. Rima’s godmother, Addison Early, is a successful Agatha Christie—like mystery writer. Rima comes to stay with Addison at Wit’s End, Addison’s little refuge from the world in Santa Cruz. Cut off from the rest of the world by the loss of those closest to her, Rima is adrift. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, she latches on to stray elements from Addison’s past, determined to unearth some sort of mystery to solve.
This idea that the detectives in mystery novels have it easy because the author does the hard work of supplying the mystery is perhaps Karen Joy Fowler’s most sublime observation in the entire book. I had never thought of it that way before, but it’s true. Detectives get all the breaks: neat, orderly clues; clear-cut motivations; a nice timeline of events. Real life is much messier than that, and in many cases, as Rima discovers, the nature of the mystery is not clear.
Alas, little else about Wit’s End held my attention. Rima herself is a cipher of a character. We never really get close to her. Fowler shares morsels of backstory with a parsimony that I would envy in a science-fiction author. I got the sense that she was never really close to anyone except her late brother. With him they were a dyad; now she is a monad and unsure of how to live.
None of the other characters are all that intriguing either. Fowler tries. She alludes to Tilda’s checkered past of homelessness and alcoholism and the struggles reconnecting with her estranged adult son. Addison is supposed to be a kind of ageing grand dame, resplendent in her achievements but worried by the ticking clock on the mantle. Martin is supposed to be … I don’t know, what passes for a cad these days?
Yet all this amounts to is a series of set pieces, and static ones at that. None of the characters change much (not even Rima). I kept expecting Addison to get tetchy when Rima continued to prod Addison’s past and look into Holy City. I kept expecting a fight, or at least an argument—nothing. Aside from that very real, very rewarding moment between Rima and Martin, the emotions in this book are flat. Even when Rima winds out trapped in a house with her “stalker,” Fowler manages to puncture the tension building in the room and replace it with an underwhelming, albeit humourous, resolution.
In its attempts to be a character-driven story centred on Rima, Wit’s End fizzles out into a boring book where nothing happens. The promise that this book’s cover copy makes—that this would be about how Addison’s fans have taken over her characters and plotlines—never materializes. There are references to fanfic (especially slashfic) and Wikipedia pages and blog comments, but it’s all ancillary. That would have made for a more interesting story. Still, this is not merely a case of a book misrepresented by its description.
I enjoyed the way Fowler uses Addison to share one type of writer’s perspective on readers. But that’s about it. The characters in this book are dull; the plot is largely a collection of unrelated events; as a protagonist, Rima is about as interesting as paint that has very nearly dried. Fowler can do much better, and you, as a reader, can do much better.
This idea that the detectives in mystery novels have it easy because the author does the hard work of supplying the mystery is perhaps Karen Joy Fowler’s most sublime observation in the entire book. I had never thought of it that way before, but it’s true. Detectives get all the breaks: neat, orderly clues; clear-cut motivations; a nice timeline of events. Real life is much messier than that, and in many cases, as Rima discovers, the nature of the mystery is not clear.
Alas, little else about Wit’s End held my attention. Rima herself is a cipher of a character. We never really get close to her. Fowler shares morsels of backstory with a parsimony that I would envy in a science-fiction author. I got the sense that she was never really close to anyone except her late brother. With him they were a dyad; now she is a monad and unsure of how to live.
None of the other characters are all that intriguing either. Fowler tries. She alludes to Tilda’s checkered past of homelessness and alcoholism and the struggles reconnecting with her estranged adult son. Addison is supposed to be a kind of ageing grand dame, resplendent in her achievements but worried by the ticking clock on the mantle. Martin is supposed to be … I don’t know, what passes for a cad these days?
Yet all this amounts to is a series of set pieces, and static ones at that. None of the characters change much (not even Rima). I kept expecting Addison to get tetchy when Rima continued to prod Addison’s past and look into Holy City. I kept expecting a fight, or at least an argument—nothing. Aside from that very real, very rewarding moment between Rima and Martin, the emotions in this book are flat. Even when Rima winds out trapped in a house with her “stalker,” Fowler manages to puncture the tension building in the room and replace it with an underwhelming, albeit humourous, resolution.
In its attempts to be a character-driven story centred on Rima, Wit’s End fizzles out into a boring book where nothing happens. The promise that this book’s cover copy makes—that this would be about how Addison’s fans have taken over her characters and plotlines—never materializes. There are references to fanfic (especially slashfic) and Wikipedia pages and blog comments, but it’s all ancillary. That would have made for a more interesting story. Still, this is not merely a case of a book misrepresented by its description.
I enjoyed the way Fowler uses Addison to share one type of writer’s perspective on readers. But that’s about it. The characters in this book are dull; the plot is largely a collection of unrelated events; as a protagonist, Rima is about as interesting as paint that has very nearly dried. Fowler can do much better, and you, as a reader, can do much better.
Want to read
August 9, 2019People really seem to hate this one. I'm feeling daring, adding this to my TBR shelf. Good luck, future me.
July 27, 2009
I'm giving this one three stars, although 2 1/2 would be more accurate. Though Fowler is tremendously good at setting and details, as well as introducing quirky characters, that didn't make up for the "plot", such that there is.
We start with the protagonist, Rima Lanisell, arriving at the Santa Cruz, CA home of her godmother Addison Early, famous (think: Stephen King famous) author of a serious of mystery/thrillers featuring the character Maxwell Lane, and antagonist Bim Lanisell (Bin Laden?), same name as Rima's deceased father, Pulitzer winning journalist and long ago friend of Addison's; Rima's mother and younger brother Oliver are dead, too, so she's all alone now.
After introduction of most of the secondary players, the "action" whizzes like a pinball machine, in a random, non-linear manner, among:
Rima's flashbacks to her father and brother (mom not that important); present day in Santa Cruz; Rima's dream/fantasy sequences with Maxwell Lane; Addison's flashbacks to her childhood; etc.
For me, many of the details failed to make sense, even at the end - such as an abrupt tangent on Addison's having been abducted as a girl (though not abused), and deus-ex-machina retrieval by her father shortly thereafter. Just one long steam of consciousness, in theory held together by the theme of "identity and belonging", though that didn't work too well IMHO. The last part of the novel contained the only identifiable plot device: Rima's attempt to solve a burglary at Addison's for which she was (at least partly) responsible.
There's also a lot of political diatribe from Addison, which I found heavy-handed, even though I agreed with much of it.
In summary - if you find yourself confused early on, it doesn't get any better. Fowler can write alright, but her "plotting" isn't for everyone (most?).
Bernadette Dunne's outstanding narration played a key role in getting me through to the end of the audiobook.
We start with the protagonist, Rima Lanisell, arriving at the Santa Cruz, CA home of her godmother Addison Early, famous (think: Stephen King famous) author of a serious of mystery/thrillers featuring the character Maxwell Lane, and antagonist Bim Lanisell (Bin Laden?), same name as Rima's deceased father, Pulitzer winning journalist and long ago friend of Addison's; Rima's mother and younger brother Oliver are dead, too, so she's all alone now.
After introduction of most of the secondary players, the "action" whizzes like a pinball machine, in a random, non-linear manner, among:
Rima's flashbacks to her father and brother (mom not that important); present day in Santa Cruz; Rima's dream/fantasy sequences with Maxwell Lane; Addison's flashbacks to her childhood; etc.
For me, many of the details failed to make sense, even at the end - such as an abrupt tangent on Addison's having been abducted as a girl (though not abused), and deus-ex-machina retrieval by her father shortly thereafter. Just one long steam of consciousness, in theory held together by the theme of "identity and belonging", though that didn't work too well IMHO. The last part of the novel contained the only identifiable plot device: Rima's attempt to solve a burglary at Addison's for which she was (at least partly) responsible.
There's also a lot of political diatribe from Addison, which I found heavy-handed, even though I agreed with much of it.
In summary - if you find yourself confused early on, it doesn't get any better. Fowler can write alright, but her "plotting" isn't for everyone (most?).
Bernadette Dunne's outstanding narration played a key role in getting me through to the end of the audiobook.
September 12, 2011
I rated this a 5 as a reaction to all the low ratings, I think It's witty, fey and clever with two dachshunds -- Berkeley and Stanford -- that almost had me laughing out loud.
I think the low ratings came from people who were expecting a standard cookie-cutter whodunit instead of charm. I'd heard of Holy City near Santa Cruz before -- when we lived in California -- and had spent time along the coast so appreciate descriptions of fog and the seaside.
Our heroine, Rima, is thrice bereaved and visits her godmother (whom she barely knows) who is a best-selling Author With Secrets at said author's home called Wit's End.
Rima's father, Bim, is both her late father and a character in one of auntie's mysteries. Maxwell Lane, a fictional gumshoe, is also a character in this novel and Rima both fantasizes about him and has conversations with him.
This, I can see, would be a problem for your literal-minded reader. But after hearing that Wit's End was once owned by a survivor of the Donner Party, the author as a young woman decides that birthday parties must be dangerous and is wary of attending any. That's just one of the numerous amusing little tidbits and wonderful turns of phrase. Doesn't advance the mystery at all, but made me smile.
Thanks, Lynnsky, for recommending this one.
I think the low ratings came from people who were expecting a standard cookie-cutter whodunit instead of charm. I'd heard of Holy City near Santa Cruz before -- when we lived in California -- and had spent time along the coast so appreciate descriptions of fog and the seaside.
Our heroine, Rima, is thrice bereaved and visits her godmother (whom she barely knows) who is a best-selling Author With Secrets at said author's home called Wit's End.
Rima's father, Bim, is both her late father and a character in one of auntie's mysteries. Maxwell Lane, a fictional gumshoe, is also a character in this novel and Rima both fantasizes about him and has conversations with him.
This, I can see, would be a problem for your literal-minded reader. But after hearing that Wit's End was once owned by a survivor of the Donner Party, the author as a young woman decides that birthday parties must be dangerous and is wary of attending any. That's just one of the numerous amusing little tidbits and wonderful turns of phrase. Doesn't advance the mystery at all, but made me smile.
Thanks, Lynnsky, for recommending this one.
June 6, 2009
I really liked it... yet there is no discernible reason that I did. There is no concrete aspect that I loved. I didn't love the characters, I didn't love the beginning, middle and end of the story (oh, because there wasn't one!) But I loved it as a whole all the same.
It was very... current. In a way that I've never experienced in a novel. There were constant cultural references that were very now... polar bears on LOST for example, crazy fan-fic and website forums of fans.
I never understood the mystery, the back definitely called it a mystery, and none of the characters or their conflict seemed resolved... I don't know. If I keep trying to figure out why I liked it, I think I'm going to talk myself into being annoyed with it and like it no longer.
So I'm stopping, and instead will never pick it up again, but remember really liking it.
It was very... current. In a way that I've never experienced in a novel. There were constant cultural references that were very now... polar bears on LOST for example, crazy fan-fic and website forums of fans.
I never understood the mystery, the back definitely called it a mystery, and none of the characters or their conflict seemed resolved... I don't know. If I keep trying to figure out why I liked it, I think I'm going to talk myself into being annoyed with it and like it no longer.
So I'm stopping, and instead will never pick it up again, but remember really liking it.
January 13, 2020
I liked this book but either it thought it was more deep than it was or I am an idiot. equally likely scenarios if I’m honest.
March 26, 2019
First of all, this was the paperback edition, which is important because the protagonist's name is different in this edition. And this is her correct name. (Be careful when you sell naming rights.)
Your mind needs to be relaxed and receptive while reading this book because the narration shifts back and forth in time as well as in the matter of factual happenings. There is also the matter of fictional vs real people.
Rima Lansill has had both her parents and her beloved brother Oliver die, all at separate times but leaving her now without any immediate family. It takes a little while before we realize that when her brother died in a drunken car crash Rima turned to drink. She has never really been sure of herself and who she is right down to her name which Oliver twists around for her: Mari? Imar? Mair? Irma? Her temporary haven is her godmother's house Wit's End in northern California, right on the beach. She begins to see that her godmother, A B Early, has some secrets and it is quite possible that Rima's father is involved in things.
It finally became obvious that Oliver's name was inevitable when Rima mutters at one point, "Another fine mess you've got us in, Oliver."
The book read as confusingly as real life often is. Rima and Addison both eliminate certain facts from their memories and Martin refuses to let things go. Outside people know certain things, but do they really? Whose account is truest and how much do you need to know in order to get on with life. It is the getting on with life that is the hardest for both Rima and Martin but by the end I think both of them are ready to do that.
I really enjoyed the "dollhouse" models that Addison uses to create the murder scenes she uses in her mystery novels. It's an original idea that might even help an author as it does Addison.
Your mind needs to be relaxed and receptive while reading this book because the narration shifts back and forth in time as well as in the matter of factual happenings. There is also the matter of fictional vs real people.
Rima Lansill has had both her parents and her beloved brother Oliver die, all at separate times but leaving her now without any immediate family. It takes a little while before we realize that when her brother died in a drunken car crash Rima turned to drink. She has never really been sure of herself and who she is right down to her name which Oliver twists around for her: Mari? Imar? Mair? Irma? Her temporary haven is her godmother's house Wit's End in northern California, right on the beach. She begins to see that her godmother, A B Early, has some secrets and it is quite possible that Rima's father is involved in things.
It finally became obvious that Oliver's name was inevitable when Rima mutters at one point, "Another fine mess you've got us in, Oliver."
The book read as confusingly as real life often is. Rima and Addison both eliminate certain facts from their memories and Martin refuses to let things go. Outside people know certain things, but do they really? Whose account is truest and how much do you need to know in order to get on with life. It is the getting on with life that is the hardest for both Rima and Martin but by the end I think both of them are ready to do that.
I really enjoyed the "dollhouse" models that Addison uses to create the murder scenes she uses in her mystery novels. It's an original idea that might even help an author as it does Addison.
May 30, 2008
Too much Wikipedia, not enough story. I thought that all of the "themes" were a great set-up: the dollhouses, the Maxwell Lane stories, etc. "Ice City" the mental place with an imagined geography, inside a fictional world, was the best thing I got out of it. But Ice City was a very small part. Did I miss something bigger because I listened to it?
Also, I just have something against people spending too much time on their computers in novels (unless its SF). I asked myself about this, and telephones are okay, even cellphones, but people googling or spending time in chat rooms just seems too banal-- even though I really like banal novels in which nothing really happens (The Makioka Sisters, anyone?.) It's like having to read about someone watching Seinfeld.
Also, I just have something against people spending too much time on their computers in novels (unless its SF). I asked myself about this, and telephones are okay, even cellphones, but people googling or spending time in chat rooms just seems too banal-- even though I really like banal novels in which nothing really happens (The Makioka Sisters, anyone?.) It's like having to read about someone watching Seinfeld.
May 22, 2014
I found this book wandering, confusing, and lacking in purpose and cohesiveness. It seems like it is trying to be clever but it does this by obscuring things and making them intentionally confusing. Rather than unfolding like an onion or even being revealed like a jigsaw puzzle, it makes things muddy then stirs them and eventually replaces them with something clearer. Very unsatisfying.
July 29, 2009
This book is fun. I think it succeeds on the fun level more than on the serious level--even though it takes up some VERY serious themes in the lives of characters at times, I stayed detached from them overall. Or they stayed detached from me.
It's the concept that's really fun & fascinating.
It's the concept that's really fun & fascinating.
January 16, 2023
A fun but somewhat inscrutable book, with intriguing characters and a limp plot. Addison Early would have been an unscratchable itch to live with, but her vastly entertaining opinions would almost make her almost liveable. Her little crime scenes were wonderfully reminiscent of Frances Glessner Lee’s work (worth looking into for those interested in the early years of crime detection.) Rima Lanisell was a great character, thoughtful and introspective, leading me to think she’d be solving some deep mystery surrounding the cult and the identity of a few mysterious figures. However I felt like I’d been left hanging (like one of the teeny murder victims) and there was either nothing to solve, or nothing worth solving.The alternate title for this book seems to be The Case of the Imaginary Detective, which leads me to think that the mystery element was imaginary too. However there were some lovely passages and memorable lines.
The house was called Wit’s End.…it had been the final home of some woman who had survived the Donner party. Rima heard her father say that once to her mother, she was five at the time, and for months she’d anguished over this deadly party the Donners had given. Was it the punch? She became frightened of birthdays, a fear that had never completely gone away.
It was a bright day, and the ocean was a glassy green. Rima had never seen E. Coli looking more beautiful.And the best line of all:
White supremacists… were the living refutations of their own theories.
December 13, 2013
The Jane Austen Book Club could not have been better designed or timed. Karen Joy Fowler's fourth novel appeared in 2004 at the intersection of two massive forces in American publishing: women's book clubs and the Austen revival. With its sharp wit and clever allusions to Emma et al., the story rotated through a year's worth of meetings involving six members of a book club in California. If the plot was a little slow and tenuous, well, nobody minded because Fowler's portrayal of reading-group dynamics was pitch-perfect, and the sprinkling of Austenia made the whole thing sparkle.
Her new novel, Wit's End, promises the same kind of bookish delight, and, again, it aims at an enormous segment of the reading market: mystery lovers, who will seize upon this novel like Hercule Poirot upon a bloody candlestick. It's packed with parodic references to the genre's classic conceits and clich¿s, and there's a nod to Austen's own satire of mysteries, Northanger Abbey. But Fowler's real subject this time is the relationship between contemporary writers and their rabid fans.
Our heroine is a 29-year-old middle-school teacher in Ohio named Rima, who has a habit of losing things. Among the missing items, Fowler lists "countless watches, rings, sunglasses, socks, and pens. The keys to the house, the post office box, the car. The car. A book report on Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone plus the library's copy of the book plus her library card. Her mother's dangly turquoise earrings, the phone number of a guy she met playing pool and really, really did want to see again. One passport, one winter coat, four cell phones. One long-term boyfriend. One basically functional family."
That sly wit, slipping easily between silly and tragic, is Fowler's best quality. Rima's mother died almost 15 years ago, her brother was killed in a car accident, and recently her father passed away. Now alone, lonely and grief-stricken, Rima accepts an invitation to stay with her wealthy godmother in Santa Cruz, Calif. She doesn't know the woman well, but she knows of her. Everyone does. Addison Early is "The Grande Dame of Murder," one of the world's most successful mystery writers. In her 60s and suffering from a long bout of writer's block, she lives in a gorgeous Victorian beach house called "Wit's End" that was once owned by a survivor of the Donner Party. The rooms are filled with Addison's famous dollhouses, each a replica of a murder scene that she constructed to plan a different novel, e.g., " The Box-Top Murders, poison in the breakfast cereal; One of Us, rattler in the medicine chest; and The Widow Reed, weed whacker in the hedges."
Her famous detective character, Maxwell Lane, lives in the popular imagination with the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe. He's the subject of Addison's numerous novels, eight movies and three TV series. But Fowler is most interested in Maxwell's active, independent existence in the minds of fanatical readers, the kind of aggressive adoration that's grown exponentially since the advent of the Internet. Addison wages a never-ending battle against intrusions on her privacy, including a series of Wiki-wars conducted on the popular Web encyclopedia, with deletions and additions cycling on ad infinitum. Every possible aspect of Maxwell's life is analyzed on Web sites devoted to the novels, and he's the leading man (sometimes gay, sometimes straight) in an ever-growing collection of stories written by fans for other fans -- a relatively new, legally questionable online genre called fan fiction.
Everything about this mystery-soaked set-up promises high entertainment (and high sales), but the biggest riddle of all is why Wit's End is ultimately so unengaging. Some of the problem stems from the fact that the novel has such a muted plot. Soon after Rima arrives to stay with her godmother, a belligerent Maxwell fan barges into the kitchen and darts off with the tiny corpse from one of the dollhouses. Rima determines to solve this miniature crime, but no one else in the book is very interested and, frankly, no one outside of it is likely to be either. Even Rima acknowledges that there's little mystery here. "Solving the case would give her something to do," she thinks, but then wonders, "What case?"
Soon, she moves on to discovering the nature of her late father's relationship with Addison. This investigation leads her to a defunct cult in which something dastardly may or may not have taken place 50 years ago. Although there's plenty of sensational material here -- charismatic sex-fiend! suicide! murder! -- these events remain distant, not so much mysterious as merely vague, and despite the accumulation of little clues, we're never given much reason to care. Late in the book, Rima seems to acknowledge as much when she admits again, "There was no case."
Of course, The Jane Austen Book Club didn't have much plot momentum either, but it overcame that deficiency by sinking deep into the lives of its book club members. In Wit's End, however, except for Rima, the characters are coated with some kind of impenetrable membrane. Addison is obsessive about her privacy. She tells stories that, "no matter how intimate the content, kept Addison behind glass." Tilda "was Addison's housekeeper unless she was something more," a possibility never seriously explored in the novel. And that only leaves the dog-walker, Scorch, who is less interesting than Addison's miniature dachshunds.
This comedy of manners isn't without charm; Fowler's subtle humor glides across these pages and enlivens them no matter how dilatory the plot. And her exploration of the creepy relationship between popular authors and their fans in the Internet Age feels up-to-the-minute fresh. But nevertheless a crime has been committed: Long before the end, the novel's life is snuffed out.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
Her new novel, Wit's End, promises the same kind of bookish delight, and, again, it aims at an enormous segment of the reading market: mystery lovers, who will seize upon this novel like Hercule Poirot upon a bloody candlestick. It's packed with parodic references to the genre's classic conceits and clich¿s, and there's a nod to Austen's own satire of mysteries, Northanger Abbey. But Fowler's real subject this time is the relationship between contemporary writers and their rabid fans.
Our heroine is a 29-year-old middle-school teacher in Ohio named Rima, who has a habit of losing things. Among the missing items, Fowler lists "countless watches, rings, sunglasses, socks, and pens. The keys to the house, the post office box, the car. The car. A book report on Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone plus the library's copy of the book plus her library card. Her mother's dangly turquoise earrings, the phone number of a guy she met playing pool and really, really did want to see again. One passport, one winter coat, four cell phones. One long-term boyfriend. One basically functional family."
That sly wit, slipping easily between silly and tragic, is Fowler's best quality. Rima's mother died almost 15 years ago, her brother was killed in a car accident, and recently her father passed away. Now alone, lonely and grief-stricken, Rima accepts an invitation to stay with her wealthy godmother in Santa Cruz, Calif. She doesn't know the woman well, but she knows of her. Everyone does. Addison Early is "The Grande Dame of Murder," one of the world's most successful mystery writers. In her 60s and suffering from a long bout of writer's block, she lives in a gorgeous Victorian beach house called "Wit's End" that was once owned by a survivor of the Donner Party. The rooms are filled with Addison's famous dollhouses, each a replica of a murder scene that she constructed to plan a different novel, e.g., " The Box-Top Murders, poison in the breakfast cereal; One of Us, rattler in the medicine chest; and The Widow Reed, weed whacker in the hedges."
Her famous detective character, Maxwell Lane, lives in the popular imagination with the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Nero Wolfe. He's the subject of Addison's numerous novels, eight movies and three TV series. But Fowler is most interested in Maxwell's active, independent existence in the minds of fanatical readers, the kind of aggressive adoration that's grown exponentially since the advent of the Internet. Addison wages a never-ending battle against intrusions on her privacy, including a series of Wiki-wars conducted on the popular Web encyclopedia, with deletions and additions cycling on ad infinitum. Every possible aspect of Maxwell's life is analyzed on Web sites devoted to the novels, and he's the leading man (sometimes gay, sometimes straight) in an ever-growing collection of stories written by fans for other fans -- a relatively new, legally questionable online genre called fan fiction.
Everything about this mystery-soaked set-up promises high entertainment (and high sales), but the biggest riddle of all is why Wit's End is ultimately so unengaging. Some of the problem stems from the fact that the novel has such a muted plot. Soon after Rima arrives to stay with her godmother, a belligerent Maxwell fan barges into the kitchen and darts off with the tiny corpse from one of the dollhouses. Rima determines to solve this miniature crime, but no one else in the book is very interested and, frankly, no one outside of it is likely to be either. Even Rima acknowledges that there's little mystery here. "Solving the case would give her something to do," she thinks, but then wonders, "What case?"
Soon, she moves on to discovering the nature of her late father's relationship with Addison. This investigation leads her to a defunct cult in which something dastardly may or may not have taken place 50 years ago. Although there's plenty of sensational material here -- charismatic sex-fiend! suicide! murder! -- these events remain distant, not so much mysterious as merely vague, and despite the accumulation of little clues, we're never given much reason to care. Late in the book, Rima seems to acknowledge as much when she admits again, "There was no case."
Of course, The Jane Austen Book Club didn't have much plot momentum either, but it overcame that deficiency by sinking deep into the lives of its book club members. In Wit's End, however, except for Rima, the characters are coated with some kind of impenetrable membrane. Addison is obsessive about her privacy. She tells stories that, "no matter how intimate the content, kept Addison behind glass." Tilda "was Addison's housekeeper unless she was something more," a possibility never seriously explored in the novel. And that only leaves the dog-walker, Scorch, who is less interesting than Addison's miniature dachshunds.
This comedy of manners isn't without charm; Fowler's subtle humor glides across these pages and enlivens them no matter how dilatory the plot. And her exploration of the creepy relationship between popular authors and their fans in the Internet Age feels up-to-the-minute fresh. But nevertheless a crime has been committed: Long before the end, the novel's life is snuffed out.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
June 1, 2025
This one didn’t compare to the others I’ve read by Fowler. There were parts I liked, but more that I didn’t. I think the details of the early-2000s technology were distracting, too (MySpace?!). It’s clear the author (like most of us) didn’t see how fast technology would move, and definitely didn’t see what social media would do. It makes the book seem dated - although in another 20 years it might just seem like a period novel. Overall, I appreciated the book’s cleverness, but didn’t love the read.
February 22, 2024
I didn’t get this book at all.
October 19, 2020
A lovely weird little story about the intersection of fiction and reality.
December 2, 2021
Having met a relative of the real life Frances Glessner Lee on several occasions (and told her that she must read "Wit's End") I had to re-read. The definitive biography of Lee has not yet been written but she basically birthed forensic science. She would create intricate dioramas of actual crime scenes and completely changed investigation approach. Well this always takes me to "Wit's End" and the writer who creates dioramas for her mysteries. This is a book that has to be re-read because there is always more to find in it. It's a puzzle within a puzzle plus wit, wit, wit!
abandoned
June 27, 2023Too bored to go on at 100 pages
December 31, 2015
It's hard to say exactly what kept me reading this. I did like the main character, Rima, a lonely and emotionally fragile woman who visits her grandmother the house of her godmother, named "Wit's End," in Santa Cruz California. The godmother, Addison, is a famous mystery writer.
I admired the book's intent, which was to blend the fictional and the real by bringing Addison's characters into the present-day action. Ultimately, however, I found all the twists and turns of the plot too difficult to follow, I didn't feel a particularly strong connection to the characters--though I did enjoy Addison's dachshunds, Berkeley and Stanford--and the book lacked dramatic tension. The strongest scenes were those set in nature in and around Santa Cruz.
I admired the book's intent, which was to blend the fictional and the real by bringing Addison's characters into the present-day action. Ultimately, however, I found all the twists and turns of the plot too difficult to follow, I didn't feel a particularly strong connection to the characters--though I did enjoy Addison's dachshunds, Berkeley and Stanford--and the book lacked dramatic tension. The strongest scenes were those set in nature in and around Santa Cruz.
Read
February 5, 2009Critical reception of Wit's End ran the full gamut. Like The Jane Austen Book Club, the novel should appeal to lovers of mystery books and to readers who enjoy pondering the relationship between characters, their creators, and their fan bases. Yet while these critics couldn't put the book down, others panned it. Pop culture references, such as the Internet Wiki-wars (where fans analyze Maxwell Lane's life), perhaps make up for what some critics described as relatively insipid characters and mysteries. (The cranky Addison might be the exception.) Wit's End may promise more than it delivers, but its central concern
June 13, 2011
It wasn't bad. But I didn't get it at all. There seemed to be no point to the story. The ending just left me scratching my head wondering what I had just read. Not in a good thought provoking way. But in a what was the point, kind of way. The whole point of the book seemed to be the main character trying to prove that her father couldn't have been the murderer in a work of fiction. Her godmother, a famous mystery writer in the book, used her father as the basis of a vilain in one of her books. Who would care about that? Apparently she regularly used people in her life as characters. So it's not like she singled him out and made him a bad guy.
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