Thursday 15 April 2021

Book Review: The Inugami Curse (sometimes called the The Inugami Clan) by Seishi Yokomizo

I don't often read Detective Fiction, although I love a good Noir detective movie. I read this when I signed up to a coourse in Japanese Crime Fiction at City Lit in London. I have read a couple of the Pushkin Press Vertigo Imprint Crime series and enjoyed them before and had been meaning to combin my love of Japanese novels with this. So this was my first foray. 

I found it a quite dry, very analytical novel. The character of the detective is not well developed but then it is only the second in this series, but it is very clear to follow even thught it is a convoluted plot with multiple murders, and imposter characters, and the characters are linked by historical family events - the story set in post war Japan essentially begins by reading the complex will of the deceased Head of the successfull Inugami family. I suppose this is quite a traditional murder mystery in that the 'star' detective wrestle with people's manners, words and deeds, until the end when everyone left standing gathers for the reveal of the murderer. 

An quick and easy read, the main facts and times of the story line being summarised at various points and the detective has a sidekick of the policeman to play off as his internal thoughts are relaid to the reader partially through the interactions between these two people.


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Sunday 4 April 2021

Book Review: March by Geraldine Brooks

March March by Geraldine Brooks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not in principle a lover of fiction which takes a minor character from a classic and works it up, but this book does that exceptionally well. The Rev March is the largely absent father in [author:Louisa May Alcott|1315]' s [book:Little Women|1934], a book I confess never enthralled me and hasn't been reread since my schooldays, with two movie versions likewise leaving me somewhat cool about the 'perfect' family. I will also confess that because of this I had been put off reading this book when it first came out, when CR read the two books in parallel some years ago, and only picked it up now when my in-person book group is reading Australian and New Zealand Novelists this year.

 

This book surpassed all my expectations. Brooks creates an engaging portrayal of Mr March, which according to her Afterword is based around Bronson Alcott, the writer's father. Brooks says her starting point for any writing is finding and hearing the voice of her main character. I can absolutely relate to that, as in this book she most definitely creates that voice and through it brings the unknown Mr March to life as a fully formed character, albeit with his faults and imperfections, but with a solid heart taken utilising much of Bronson Alcott's teenage peddling to wealthy southern planters, and his radicalism of later years, his vegetarianism, and his transcendalist and abolitionist convictions. I could hardly put the book down as I listened to its narration by Canadian actor Richard Easton, whose lower register, mature tone and range of intonation brought Brookes' first-person story telling Mr March very much alive.

 

A quite memorable 5* read.



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