Lagiocanda

Transcends the genre

Revisado: 03-09-24

An nuanced and sensitive portrayal of class and crime in mid-19th century England and the strictures on women. Oh--and an absorbing novel, extremely well written.

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Excellent period mystery!

Revisado: 03-01-24

An excellent novel in every way: literary, intelligent, with engrossing characters, historical interest, and an unusual plot line. Perry's writing transcends the genre and Davina Porter is incomparable.

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Implausible

Revisado: 02-12-24

The protagonist lacks all self-respect and constantly debases herself. Another important character appears to have no observational skills or perception whatsoever. I guess I just prefer books in which women don't act like idiots. Having said all that, I did listen (somewhat masochistically) because I wanted to see how on earth it all turns out, so the author was doing some things right, even though I ground my teeth the whole time with frustration at the protagonist's constant second guessing of herself about screamingly obvious elements.

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Get a grip, already, Alexis.

Revisado: 10-01-23

The protagonist is an annoying twit, the narrator is screechy, and the plot has gaping holes.

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Good idea; mediocre book

Revisado: 09-07-23

Are people really thrown by the existence of women ministers these days? Are ministers really allowed to touch newly discovered homicide victims because they are moved to do so? Many questions arise, not the least of which is how accurately basic police procedure is depicted in this novel. Anyway, the story may be better than I so far think it is, several hours in, but I can no longer stand listening to the honeyed tones of the minister's caricature of a Southern accent. The basic narration is fine; had the actor stuck closer to her normal voice and not overacted every character the listening experience, if not the book, would be much better.

Note: The review headlined "Terrible" below by one "Charlotte" gives away a major--maybe THE major--plot point. Don't reviewers know not to do that?

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L-o-n-g drawn out implausibilities

Revisado: 06-10-22

A morally reprehensible protagonist; one entirely superfluous plot line and one red herring among a total of (I think) about five subplots; repeated reliance on the technique of arbitrarily withholding information from the reader; an ending that is meant--I"m pretty sure seriously on the part of the writer-- to evoke sympathy for said morally reprehensible and unredeemed protagonist. What's not to like?

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Nice try, but . . .

Revisado: 05-25-22

The story begins with an interesting enough premise--a separating couple attempt to continue to live together as co-parents until the guy finds someone else. The someone else and her horrible child pose a threat to the original couple's kid. Aside from serviceable but mediocre writing and poor character development, it is simply too exasperating to watch adults behave like complete idiots, utterly unself-aware and, worse, oblivious to the suffering of their own child. And the ending is just ridiculous.

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Implausible plot; stomach turning child abuse.

Revisado: 04-21-22

Ugh. I, too, could not finish this novel for many of the same reasons stated by other reviewers. The scenes drag on; characterization is poor; the writing is mediocre; the plot implausible. I hate books in which female protagonists are ninnies who behave in bizarre ways. And, yes, the narration is annoying. What clinched it for me, though, was when finally I got tired of one too many repugnant scenes of child abuse, the last one (the last one I listened to) topped off with an off-screen scene of animal abuse. Truly, it's a mystery how books by this author are best sellers.

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Much More Than a Mystery

Revisado: 05-09-21

Wow! What a great book! There is certainly a compelling and suspenseful mystery driving the plot here, and--barring one or two mildly implausible coincidences-- plot twists both shocking and utterly fitting, revelations clicking into place as the crime(s) is/are solved. But beyond all that is a compelling literary novel with a raft of full-fledged characters in all their complexities of admirable and reprehensible traits negotiating the moral dilemmas inherent in the immigration problem. Mystery novels don't often bring me to tears: this one did three or four times. This is a deeply humane rendering of what seems an intractable problem of our time, showing, as it does, both what law enforcement and undocumented immigrants are up against.

Pay no attention to the mean-spirited negative reviews falsely accusing the author of stereotyping both the immigrants and the police (and note that the reviews making that claim were written before their authors even bothered reading past the beginning of the book). The performance is top notch, too. Armando Durán's voice and delivery remind me of the venerable George Guidall, elder statesmen of audio book readers and familiar to all of us who love audiobooks.

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Well crafted, absorbing and suspenseful

Revisado: 01-30-21

Yrsa Sigurardottir has written an absorbing, well plotted, well crafted work with plenty of character development, Icelandic atmospherics and suspense. The narrator is fantastic. If she mispronounces names, as one reviewer has pointed out, and you know the language, I'm sure it's maddening. I don't know from Icelandic, so was mostly just agog at how adeptly she managed quick changes from voicing a 7 year old girl to a forty year old man, and how she differentiated all the myriad characters. Readers who just want to get down to brass tacks and see what happens next and what happens next may object to the occasional slow pace of the novel. I myself appreciated the rendering of psychological states and the characters' inner lives. Great book!

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