Rolla Public Library's Online Book Club discussion

Still Life by Louise Penny looks like just another mystery. But it's a book club choice from "Midcontinent Public Library" and so there must be something special about it. It's set in Montreal, so that's intriguing.

I liked it. I like the bistro/antique shop. I like learning about how some view anglo/franco relations in Quebec. I like the descriptions of Jane's art and if it were real I would like to see it. I like the poetry quotations thrown around, and Matthew's strategy of memorizing poems to help him through fretfulness, insomnia, nightmares. I like Gamanche's advice to be always ready to say I'm sorry, I don't know, I need help.

I like that the mystery might be solvable. I'm not sure it is, because I was nowhere close to guessing it. I mean, I knew which suspects were red herrings and where the best clues would come from, but I had no idea of the final solution.

I kinda like the diverse characters. They're a bit superficial, yes, and the reviewers who think of them as 'tokens' aren't wrong. But they're not completely flat or stereotyped and are more interesting than those in most light fiction. The trainee, Nichol, is esp. interesting and worth discussing... what is up with her?

The philosophy & earnestness is interesting, too. Not *L*iterature by any means, but more worth thinking about than most book club reads that I've struggled with to date.

I'm surprising myself; I'm putting the sequel on my to-read lists.

Well written with interesting characters that also give a glimpse into rural Canada. I liked the narration.