Poor Kate Atkinson has a serious addiction to unnecessary quotations. Someone needs to stage an intervention, because it makes for all kinds of awkward. Par example: "Reggie wondered why it wasn’t up to her. Well, 'Neil’s' business had 'hit a sticky patch,’ Dr Hunter explained. (He’d been 'let down' and 'some things had fallen through.')".
WTF!?!?!? I mean, quotation marks are all well and good, but when they’re lodged into the sentence like that, all I can see is Secret Sarcasm Code! How am I supposed to take you seriously, Kate, when your otherwise-reasonably-awesome tale is riddled with misplaced sarcasm?
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And I will give Atkinson her dues. She can serve up a puzzle wrapped in a mystery smothered in an enigma with the best of them. The first three chapters of Good News read like three separate stories, and you spend a while in Confusion Town before you figure out that the good doctor of chapter three is the grown-up version of the-girl-who-was-not-murdered-when-the-rest-of-her-family-was of chapter one, and that the good doctor is, in fact, a lady doctor, and that Reggie Chase (despite her Riverside Jock of a name) is likewise female. And then you will continue to think things and be wrong about them for the rest of the book.
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Reggie Chase is a plucky orphan (aren’t they all? My kingdom for a shiftless, grouchy orphan) who looks after Dr Hunter’s wee baby until Dr Hunter and aforementioned wee baby go strangely missing. Dr Hunter’s husband Neil (he of the ‘sticky patch’) claims she’s gone off to tend a sick aunt, but he is an altogether shady character who is, unrelatedly, under suspicion of arson. Chief Inspector Louise Monroe and Detective Jackson Brodie (who I think I remember canoodling in Case Histories) both slip separately onto the scene and make cow’s eyes at each other before retreating behind the safety of their respective spouses. Dr Hunter continues to be missing, Brodie is in a train crash, the man who slaughtered the child-Dr-Hunter’s family is released from prison and also disappears, there are several small side-plots and much blood is spilled before the end.
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Whew! Excitement! And things rip along at an excellent pace, except for all those times when Atkinson jumps back to the beginning of a particularly enticing bit to re-tell it verbatim, but from another character’s perspective, leaving you terribly confused until you figure out what's going on and terribly bored afterwards. Speaking of confusion, here is a word to the wise: the title of the chapter is actually the first sentence. Do not ignore it, or you will be left with chapters that start out all, ‘But easy to lose.’
..
And I will give Atkinson her dues. She can serve up a puzzle wrapped in a mystery smothered in an enigma with the best of them. The first three chapters of Good News read like three separate stories, and you spend a while in Confusion Town before you figure out that the good doctor of chapter three is the grown-up version of the-girl-who-was-not-murdered-when-the-rest-of-her-family-was of chapter one, and that the good doctor is, in fact, a lady doctor, and that Reggie Chase (despite her Riverside Jock of a name) is likewise female. And then you will continue to think things and be wrong about them for the rest of the book.
.
Reggie Chase is a plucky orphan (aren’t they all? My kingdom for a shiftless, grouchy orphan) who looks after Dr Hunter’s wee baby until Dr Hunter and aforementioned wee baby go strangely missing. Dr Hunter’s husband Neil (he of the ‘sticky patch’) claims she’s gone off to tend a sick aunt, but he is an altogether shady character who is, unrelatedly, under suspicion of arson. Chief Inspector Louise Monroe and Detective Jackson Brodie (who I think I remember canoodling in Case Histories) both slip separately onto the scene and make cow’s eyes at each other before retreating behind the safety of their respective spouses. Dr Hunter continues to be missing, Brodie is in a train crash, the man who slaughtered the child-Dr-Hunter’s family is released from prison and also disappears, there are several small side-plots and much blood is spilled before the end.
.
Whew! Excitement! And things rip along at an excellent pace, except for all those times when Atkinson jumps back to the beginning of a particularly enticing bit to re-tell it verbatim, but from another character’s perspective, leaving you terribly confused until you figure out what's going on and terribly bored afterwards. Speaking of confusion, here is a word to the wise: the title of the chapter is actually the first sentence. Do not ignore it, or you will be left with chapters that start out all, ‘But easy to lose.’
So! More good than some, less bad than most! Seven caterpillars.
12 comments:
I enjoyed this one, but your review was hilarious! Thanks!
One of my professors this semester has a predilection for misplaced or inappropriate quotation marks. It can make a lot of the material extraordinarily difficult to decipher.
I loved this, so am sorry you only gave it seven caterpillars! Personally I didn't find it confusing nor the quotation marks misplaced.
Also, to be pedantic, Louise Monroe was only introduced in One Good Turn (the second book in the series). In Case Histories, jackson eventually starts a relationship with Julia which then has some ups and downs in the next two books.
All those quotations remind me of that Chris Farley skit in which he plays a motivational speaker and he doesn't "wear deoderant", etc. etc.
Heh! I wonder if someone should direct Atkinson to the "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks (http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/)
I've read two Atkinson novels, one which I really enjoyed, and one that was "Case Histories". I found it terribly dull and unsatisfying, and decided Atkinson's mystery series really wasn't for me. Your review of this next expedition for Jackson Brodie convinces me that this is indeed the case.
I don't remember her style being particularly grating when I read "Behind the Scenes at the Museum", so perhaps her dabbling in mysteries has really not been for the best.
I haven't read Atkinson yet but this book is on my TBR list. Thanks for the heads up about the quotation mrks, the confusing lines, and not to ignore chapter titles!!! I'm sure as I'm reading this I will laugh out loud when I come across the endless """""""""
Like Steph, I really liked "Case Histories" but "One Good Turn" not so much. The twists and turns in that novel bordered on the unbelievably absurd. I'm glad you liked this enough to give it seven caterpillars, but I think I'll hold out for the paperback on this one.
Hey, Raych, I know you usually don't do memes, but just in case I tagged you for a bookshelf one.
She and Cormac McCarthy need to find a middle ground. The man hates apostrophes and quotations. Completely.
Dear Raych,
I would like to point out that your blog name, "Books I Done Read" is terribly bad grammar. Please change it.
Love September
I haven't read any of Atkinson's work, but I'd like to read this one.
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