Have you ever read some positive reviews of a book and then after you read the book, you came away with less than positive feelings about the book? This happened to me two books in a row.
I tend to enjoy mysteries about books and libraries so I was predisposed to like Eva Jurczyk’s first novel, The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Book Page, the magazine hyping new books that our Library gives away free, gave Eva Jurczyk’s book a positive review so I ordered it.
Jurczyk’s librarian, Liesl Weiss, is called upon to fill in after her boss, the Acquisitions Librarian of a large (unnamed) university, suffers a stroke. Liesl, content to work as an assistant to an internationally renown Rare Books expert, finds herself thrust into a mystery: the Library’s most prized (and expensive!) manuscript is missing!
You would think this situation would make for a riveting mystery…but you would be wrong. I figured out who stole the manuscript within a few pages and then had to slog through 300 more pages to find out I was right. Jurczyk, who is a librarian, gets the operation of an academic Library right, but she needs to work on her Setting Up a Mystery skills. GRADE: C
Tade Thompson’s Far From the Light of Heaven is a Science Fiction mystery. I like the mashup of SF and Mystery…when it works. Thompson creates a situation where a colony starship named Ragtime with 1000 sleeping people on it reaches the Lago system. When Michelle Campion, the First Mate, wakes from her sleep, she finds 31 dead colonists on her ship…and her AI Captain uncooperative–and possibly hostile.
You might think that was a pretty powerful setup for a SF mystery (a bit of Christie’s And Then There Were None)…but once again you (like me) would be wrong. Campion sends out a distress signal and the planet Ragtime is orbiting, Bloodroot, sends up an investigator, Rasheed Fin and an android named Salvo. Fin and Salvo start by sorting out the body parts of the 31 dead colonists who have been butchered.
Fin and Salvo discover some of the body parts are missing. But Far From the Light of Heaven then veers into politics and corporate matters. You would think the suspense of a group of people fighting for their lives as their starship dies would be enough. But no. There are too many complications, too many flashbacks, too many random characters. And, no surprises. GRADE: C
I read the Tade Thompson book and thought it started out okay, but I got bored with it about halfway through. Like your black nail polish and wrist tattoo George.
Steve, you’re right about books that start out great…and taper off to nothing. FAR FROM THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN was like that. I thought that book photo might grab your attention!
I see you have become George the Non-Tempter.
Jerry, once again you eloquently capture the essence of the situation: books that look good…but aren’t. I’m also try to be George the Truth-Teller when I’m not busy tempting people.
This happens to me a lot. And it not always plot problems. Sometimes the voice or the writing style puts me off.
Patti, same here. Many books I start to read only make it to page 50. If a book hasn’t engaged me by page 50, I stop reading it. And, the book rarely makes it onto the blog. I finished reading THE DEPARTMENT OF RARE BOOKS AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS By Eva Jurczyk and FAR FROM THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN By Tade Thompson but it was a slog.
It’s not that I don’t read or don’t trust reviews–I do read them–but I trust writers much more than reviewers. This is probably a sign of old age, but most of the books I read are by writers I’ve read and liked in the past, so if I get stuck with a turkey I mostly blame myself, and sometimes I’ll drop an old favorite off my must read list.
Michael, I have a favorite list of writers, too. In fact, one of them will show up in a post tomorrow on this blog. But, I’m always open to new writers so I read reviews and sometimes a positive review will send me off to find a copy of the book. But, as you see from these two novels, the positive reviews can be misleading.
I have to say I admire anyone who can slog through a bad book yet alone a couple in a row. Two stars for your forehead. I don’t have the patience or faith to stick with a problematic book and tend to cut my loses by page 100. “Far From the Light of Heaven” sounds like it would have been the kind of moderately entertaining mass market time-killer a hack would have knocked out in the sixties or early seventies. The premise, especially the android sidekick, sounds like an episode of that awful old “Buck Rogers” TV series.
I would have avoided “The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections” like the plague. Books about book stores and libraries always reek of preciousness to me. It’s admirable that you take recommendations from your library but I personally have found that I can’t trust librarians or booksellers (again, the preciousness thing.) I do much better with a thoughtfully written book review or my own dumb luck. Best of luck next time.
Yes, we need truth tellers! The same thing has happened to me many times. I find with “hot books” that “everyone (sic) is talking about,” the best thing to do is just immediately cross it off my list, as the chance I will like it, while there, is pretty small. Think GONE GIRL or THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW or so many othersm. DA VINCI CODE. COLD MOUNTAIN. THE NAME OF THE ROSE. Just not for me.
The SF setup of the second book would definitely have drawn me in too, so I’m glad I know not to bother! Besides, too many books, too little time.
Also, yes, I have a LONG list of authors whose books I will read as soon as they are available, so to crash the list, a new book/author needs to stand out.
Jeff, you’re so right about that list of authors whose books demand reading as soon as they’re available. Yet, I’m still open to new writers. But many times I’m faked out by positive reviews of mediocre books.
Jeff, I can’t argue about the other books you mentioned but I don’t think I’ve ever come across anyone else who didn’t like GONE GIRL.
Michael, I’m like Jeff: I read GONE GIRL, I saw the movie, and I then wondered…what’s all the fuss about? GONE GIR is a little silly and became the Hot Book (and movie) everyone wanted to read and see.
I didn’t like it. It seemed to me to be a mystery-thriller aimed at people who hadn’t read many of either. When I think what the brilliant Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine would have done with that basic set-up….
But I’d rather have to read GONE GIRL a hundred times that try to slog through GIRL ON A TRAIN again. And please don’t get me started on Ruth Ware who has been dubbed “the 21st-century Agatha Christie,” but seems to me to write a lot of folderol focusing on cell phone service, texting, and people using someone else’s phone for nefarious purposes. No thanks. I’ll just read EVIL UNDER THE SUN again for the umpteenth time.
And stay off my lawn!
Deb, I read one Ruth Ware book and someone would have to pay me a large amount of money to read another one.
Gillian Flynn is the Bret Easton Ellison of the 2000s…shallow, flashy, characters with little believable motivation. Or, if one prefers, she’s the New Jeffery Deaver, only even more undeservedly popular, and we haven’t even gotten rid of him yet. While I’m glad to have a point of agreement with Rick…I like THE NAME OF THE ROSE, as well.
And, of course, GG (a bad game) Thoroughly Embraced the Girly Title. At least the unwitting progenitor of those gave his first novel in the sequence a much better title in MEN WHO HATE WOMEN.
Ha! Automatic typing strikes again. Ellis. (Thanks to the Capt. for the heads-up.)
I read reviews of both these books, and based on those reviews, decided I didn’t want to read them. I expected honesty from the reviewers and got it, but they were reviewers I trust (John O’Neil, Lisa Hosline). I often read the reviews on The Rap Sheet blog, and I need to be careful there.
I read a review of A FATAL CROSSING on The Quick and the Read blog via Rap Sheet, and was convinced not only to try it, but to buy a new hardcover of it. I finished it yesterday and it was pretty lousy, silly main character, so-so writing and a twist at the end that ruined the book for me. I should have skipped it and saved the money!
Jeff: I liked The Name of the Rose, but I only read it after I’d seen the film.
Rick, I rarely buy books like THE DEPARTMENT OF RARE BOOKS AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS By Eva Jurczyk and FAR FROM THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN By Tade Thompson anymore. I order them from the Library. I only buy SURE THINGS like the book I’ll be posting a review of tomorrow.
Unfortunately, none of the library systems here had it.
Rick, our Library website has an option to suggest a book purchase. I use that option almost every week. And, 95% of the time, the Library buys the books I suggest.
I also liked The Name of the Rose and Gone Girl was okay. The Da Vinci Code I couldn’t get past the first 20 pages. The writing was terrible.
Ditto.
My wife tried one book by Danielle Steel because the plot appealed to her. After all, she’s had a zillion books published so how bad could it be?
Very, very bad, apparently. I don’t think she got past chapter one.
For the hell of it, you can almost blame some of Steel’s career on Harlan Ellison. They dated for a bit, and she quizzed him endlessly about how to go about being a pro writer. The lessons took. I have yet to read her work, but I haven’t been too tempted, either.
The examples of getting very slowly into highly praised books and coming to a complete stop (aside from DUNE) that come to mind first are Alice Sebold’s THE LOVELY BONES, and in a much more obscure case Karen Jackel’s LIVING AND LEARNING (to be very careful when picking up overlooked books of the past).
Bret Easton Ellison? Harlan’s brother?
I wouldn’t have been tempted by either book so no loss for me!
Bob, I try to avoid reading books that will disappoint me…but these two novels made it past my Goalie.