The Hampstead Mystery by Arthur J. Rees
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Slow, thinly characterized, dubious ‘psychological’ deductions, descriptions and motivations ascribed. Numerous patronizingly stereotypical portraits of working-class characters and women. Not genuinely awful, but not of the first rank and certainly very much of its time. One point five stars really.
Still Kicking by Judith Arnold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Loved it! For a respectable small-town schoolmarm and widow, Lainie is pretty ruthless and willing to fight her corner and give ’em hell, when necessary. And Lainie + Stavik, her blue-collar rough-n-ready lover, = hot! I’m not much into soccer, but I still liked the rounding her love of the game gave to Lainie’s character – a woman with passions beyond the purely sexual or romantic, a full life and a physical earthiness and strength lent by her enthusiasm for the sport. Lainie’s emotions are realistically represented, and while her DIY detective activities may be less credible, they’re still a lot of fun. (And I can easily believe how smart and brave she is in persisting with them.)
A really great beginning to a series, easily 4 stars.
The Mystery of the Blue Dolphins by Sandra Baublitz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Loved it! Fun additional surprise at the end, and a very sweet and cosy mystery leading up to it, for those of us who prefer more vicarages and becardiganed spinsters, and less gore, in our crime stories.
I will quibble a little and say that more detailed character development and history for Clarissa – and Paudius Pernivious – would be great, but no doubt that will be taken care of in other Paw tales.
The Hampstead Mystery by Arthur J. Rees
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Slow, thinly characterized, dubious ‘psychological’ deductions, descriptions and motivations ascribed. Numerous patronizingly stereotypical portraits of working-class characters and women. Not genuinely awful, but not of the first rank and certainly very much of its time. One point five stars really.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have loved this book for years now, but… honestly, what a cad Rochester is. I know it’s not precisely an original observation, but still. Jane deserved better. And only a blinkered Charlotte, with exactly the narrowly circumscribed inculcated nineteenth century notion of a woman’s lot she ascribes to Jane, could possibly think that ending a happy one.
And yet, it’s still one of barely a handful of books in my lifetime that have reduced me to feeling off my head while reading it, light-headed and nutty and unsteady as if I’d had a drink or two. What can you do? A massively annoying permanent classic.
alexankarrbooks 