Merger: vesting of the control of different corporations in a single one by the issue of stock of the controlling corporation without dissolution of the consolidating companies.
merge: to cause to combine or coalesce, to lose identity by absorption or immersion in something else.
Whose identity, what identity is merged with another? The financial relationship with the Vanger family was not a merger of the magazine. Has anyone lost their identity to something? Hmmmmm.
Mikael returns from prison and begins again to research Harriet's disappearance. Just about the first thing he does is to go see his girlfriend, Henrik's niece, Cecelia, looking for a little comfort, I am sure. She does not wish to continue their sexual relationship. One wonders why but there is normal emotional reality here because it is all too complicated for Cecilia. (Thank God the author is back on earth. This improbable affair with his business partner flies in the face of emotional logic. Cecilia doesn't like it.) But Cecilia does have something to hide. In the past she consistently asked him if her answers were on or off the record.
Mikael focuses most of his renewed search reliving the day that Harriet disappeared by reviewing the photographs. This is an interesting line of approach and perhaps brilliant. It’s a time machine and he is the ghost who observes. He puzzles over the phone numbers from Harriet’s diary.
The photographs in Henrik’s album were taken by the local reporter from the small newspaper. He delves into the paper’s archives. A photographer takes hundreds of photos and prints only a few because of focus and composition. He finds three things: that Harriet looks in one direction and the change in her facial expression indicates that she sees something that upsets her. What is it? Second, it is obvious that a couple in the crowd was taking pictures of the bridge accident at the same time the local reporter was photographing the incident. Their camera was turned so that they may have snapped in the direction that Harriet looked. Third, in an archive photo, out of focus but visible, he sees a figure in Harriet’s bedroom window. It is a blonde girl wearing a light dress. The only person fitting that description is the young Cecilia. Cecilia said she never entered Harriet’s room that day.
Cecilia has left the island and rather than turn over heaven and earth, Mikael tries to contact her gently and privately to ask her why she lied to him. He doesn’t tell Henrik either. Weeell, Henrik gets sick so it makes sense that Mikael would wait for him to recover. But the rest of the family becomes aware that Mikael may have discovered new evidence.
The “phone numbers” are scripture verses. Aaahhh. Very clever. In English, the convention is Lev. 20:16 but obviously in other cultures, it is 3 20 16. and that clever Harriet pushed the numbers all together. But the female names associated with the numbers? Mikael thinks that they are murder victims because the horrid murder of one girl back in the 50’s appears to be patterned after one of the scripture verses.
Three pieces of new evidence to track down. Why did Cecilia lie to him? Can he get photos from the tourist couple? Do we have a serial murderer?
Who were the religious people at this time? Harriet had found religion. Mikael finds out from the old pastor that Harriet may have dabbled in the apocryphal texts – which could mean Roman Catholicism or satanic texts. (One and the same it would seem to some very fundamental Swedish Protestants.) The passel of nasty Nazi brothers are candidates. Although, German Nazis were not Christians per say. But I guess our Trotsky author may be blurry about that since he doesn’t like religion at all. (Obvious.) And you know religious crazies are as bad as Nazis. Ergo.
Go after the easy one, I say. Confront Cecilia first.
He doesn't.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Part 2: Consequence Analyses, 2nd blog on this part of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
But Henrik Vanger is an accomplished consequence analyser.
He brings Erika Berger to Hedestad and proposes to back the magazine with significant sums and to reorganize the Board of Directors to include the Vanger family. Mikael returns as executive editor. Why does Henrik do this? He says to get Wennerstrom. Perhaps also to calm Mikael. Hmmmmm.
Henrik proposes to announce the changes at the magazine on the day that Mikael goes to prison. Ooooh. Niiice. Stick Wennerstrom in the eye.
What this will do (it will come out later) is flush out the mole in the editorial offices of the magazine. Good thing. I think Erika sees this as a possibility but we do not hear her internal voice.
In Part 2, Mikael goes through all the material that Henrik has amassed about the day that Harriet disappeared. The material focuses on that day and on the police investigation. I notice that Henrik does not follow the suspects and family through the 37 years to the present. Much discussion is expended on Henrik's brothers (and their Nazi sympathies) during the war and until 1966. We hear about their children and grandchildren only through current conversations with family. If I were Henrik, I would have watched all these people closely through the years and just noted what they were doing. To be true to real life, this is how it would have been. I suspect most readers slide by this fault but I wonder, is this a reflection of Henrik's involvement or a literary fault to be attributed to the author.
I am inclined to think it is the author's fault. I really like Henrik, this octogenarian. I'm sure Henrik is a crafty businessman. But he has won my heart over with his stance on the Nazis, his love for Harriet, and because he saved, loved and married a German Jewish girl. He has a blind spot for his family -- either disgusted by members or reliant on members. On whom does he rely that he should not? Who does he rely on? Cecilia (lover of Mikael), Martin, Anita (who is absent since the '70's). If he were to be involved in Harriet's fate, I would feel betrayed.
I continue to be critical of Mikael's sexual relationship with the married Erika. We are supposed to admire her -- business woman, confident, genteel ... Nope. Not enticed. She is a flat character. Two dimensional. Male fantasy.
This part ends with Mikael's entrance into prison for three months.
With all my criticisms of plot and character details, I still like the voice and cadence of the novel. I enjoy the tutorial on war-time Sweden, descriptions of the land, and the peek into current Swedish culture. (How much coffee do they drink in a day? I'd be flying.)
I am intrigued by the girl with the dragon tattoo -- Lisbeth.
He brings Erika Berger to Hedestad and proposes to back the magazine with significant sums and to reorganize the Board of Directors to include the Vanger family. Mikael returns as executive editor. Why does Henrik do this? He says to get Wennerstrom. Perhaps also to calm Mikael. Hmmmmm.
Henrik proposes to announce the changes at the magazine on the day that Mikael goes to prison. Ooooh. Niiice. Stick Wennerstrom in the eye.
What this will do (it will come out later) is flush out the mole in the editorial offices of the magazine. Good thing. I think Erika sees this as a possibility but we do not hear her internal voice.
In Part 2, Mikael goes through all the material that Henrik has amassed about the day that Harriet disappeared. The material focuses on that day and on the police investigation. I notice that Henrik does not follow the suspects and family through the 37 years to the present. Much discussion is expended on Henrik's brothers (and their Nazi sympathies) during the war and until 1966. We hear about their children and grandchildren only through current conversations with family. If I were Henrik, I would have watched all these people closely through the years and just noted what they were doing. To be true to real life, this is how it would have been. I suspect most readers slide by this fault but I wonder, is this a reflection of Henrik's involvement or a literary fault to be attributed to the author.
I am inclined to think it is the author's fault. I really like Henrik, this octogenarian. I'm sure Henrik is a crafty businessman. But he has won my heart over with his stance on the Nazis, his love for Harriet, and because he saved, loved and married a German Jewish girl. He has a blind spot for his family -- either disgusted by members or reliant on members. On whom does he rely that he should not? Who does he rely on? Cecilia (lover of Mikael), Martin, Anita (who is absent since the '70's). If he were to be involved in Harriet's fate, I would feel betrayed.
I continue to be critical of Mikael's sexual relationship with the married Erika. We are supposed to admire her -- business woman, confident, genteel ... Nope. Not enticed. She is a flat character. Two dimensional. Male fantasy.
This part ends with Mikael's entrance into prison for three months.
With all my criticisms of plot and character details, I still like the voice and cadence of the novel. I enjoy the tutorial on war-time Sweden, descriptions of the land, and the peek into current Swedish culture. (How much coffee do they drink in a day? I'd be flying.)
I am intrigued by the girl with the dragon tattoo -- Lisbeth.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Part 2: Consequence Analyses, 1st blog on this part of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
A consequence analysis is an examination of the sequence of interrelated events a proposed action will logically produce.
Mikael does not carry out a competent consequence analysis of his flight to the hinterland.
* He wants to get out of Wennerstrom's view and therefore save his magazine from the onslaught of bad press and a shaky financial status, orchestrated by Wennerstrom. He leaves it up to his lover/business-partner and the staff to handle the storm that will decend on them.
* He does not consider fully the impact of his investigation into Harriet's disappearance. In this closed room mystery all the players in the drama can be identified, and if the perpetrator is not dead, Mikael himself could be in danger as he gets close to the mystery.
* He does not question how Henrik is connected to Wennerstrom and what kind of information Henrik has that would be damaging to Wennersrom, but instead proceeds to enter in a contract with Henrik where one of the rewards is a good "Wennerstrom shellacing" with new -- and one would hope -- damning information.
* He does not consider the downside of starting a sexual relationship with Henrik's niece.
* He doesn't consider -- and this is his biggest failure -- what if all this information provided him by Henrik about the day Harriet disappears, what if something Henrik fully documents is not true.
He seems to not care. He is prone to laziness. Intellectual laziness is my judgement.
On the other hand, Lisbeth is quite proficient at consequence analyses since she has reaped the rewards of not caring; she is a ward of the state, vulnerable to the excesses and whims of its representatives, specifically its social workers. She is legally a minor, unable to conduct her life without intrusion.
Lisbeth gets into a fix. Lisbeth's guardian (who really cares about her) was removed because he falls ill. She gets a pervert assigned to her by social services. It's fairly disgusting. Her plan of action is astonishing. And from this we come to understand that she will exact revenge and safeguard herself even if she gets hurt in the process. Wow. I won't ruin it for you.
Mikael does not carry out a competent consequence analysis of his flight to the hinterland.
* He wants to get out of Wennerstrom's view and therefore save his magazine from the onslaught of bad press and a shaky financial status, orchestrated by Wennerstrom. He leaves it up to his lover/business-partner and the staff to handle the storm that will decend on them.
* He does not consider fully the impact of his investigation into Harriet's disappearance. In this closed room mystery all the players in the drama can be identified, and if the perpetrator is not dead, Mikael himself could be in danger as he gets close to the mystery.
* He does not question how Henrik is connected to Wennerstrom and what kind of information Henrik has that would be damaging to Wennersrom, but instead proceeds to enter in a contract with Henrik where one of the rewards is a good "Wennerstrom shellacing" with new -- and one would hope -- damning information.
* He does not consider the downside of starting a sexual relationship with Henrik's niece.
* He doesn't consider -- and this is his biggest failure -- what if all this information provided him by Henrik about the day Harriet disappears, what if something Henrik fully documents is not true.
He seems to not care. He is prone to laziness. Intellectual laziness is my judgement.
On the other hand, Lisbeth is quite proficient at consequence analyses since she has reaped the rewards of not caring; she is a ward of the state, vulnerable to the excesses and whims of its representatives, specifically its social workers. She is legally a minor, unable to conduct her life without intrusion.
Lisbeth gets into a fix. Lisbeth's guardian (who really cares about her) was removed because he falls ill. She gets a pervert assigned to her by social services. It's fairly disgusting. Her plan of action is astonishing. And from this we come to understand that she will exact revenge and safeguard herself even if she gets hurt in the process. Wow. I won't ruin it for you.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Part 1: Incentive - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Incentive: that which arouses to action, spurs on, urges on; the motive behind an action.
There will be a wide range of characters in this complex plot. Larsson assists the reader by leaving nameless lesser players in the action. Thank God becasue we have so many characters to watch. The protagonist, the antagonist, the uncle, the uncle's right-hand man, the Vanger family, the people in the village, the supporting personalities around the main characters, and all their impulses and motives.
The obvious protagonist is Mikael Blomkvist. "St. Michael, the Archangel, be our defender this day in battle. Protect us against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke [the evil one] we humbly pray..." [Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel]
Larsson sees himself in real life as a St. Michael, exposing evil and protecting children, "counteracting the growth of the extreme right and the white power-culture in schools and among young people", "exposing Swedish extreme right and racist organizations; he was an influential debater and lecturer on the subject." [from Wikipedia]. Mikael Blomkvist is a reflection of a cleaned up Stieg Larsson.
As Part 1 opens, our Protagonist Mikael has been convicted of 15 counts of aggravated libel in a Swedish court. Mikael libeled Wennerstrom, a shadowy Swedish financial figure in an Eastern Euorpean development deal. Mikael is fined a hefty sum and sentenced to three months in jail. He was set up to be taken down it is revealed. Mikael has enemies.
Do I have sympathy for Mikael? A crusading journalist, handsome, tall, a ladies man, proud. He's having an open sexual relationship with the married business partner in their weekly news magazine. (The husband of said woman doesn't care we are told. She goes from bed to bed as she wishes.) Mikael is pretty pleased with himself (Lisbeth makes this observation in the course of her investigation of the Wennerstrom affair). Mikael's resume is presented so that we should at least admire him if not like him. I am not persuaded at this point to respond either way.
We soon meet Lisbeth Salander, described on the back cover as a pierced and tattooed punk podigy. She's a very closed, icy, contained, controlled personality. A victim of child abuse, but we don't know the details yet. She works for a security organization as a Personal Investigator. (One would not enjoy having her looking into your background because she will find all your secrets. She has so many secrets herself, she knows how to find everyone else's.) I like Lisbeth very much and read with great interest when she enters the scene. Later on we find she is under guardianship of the state social worker system. I have a feeling her experiences with the system will not be pretty.
But it is not Lisbeth who has been approached to unravel the center mystery. The 82 year old, wealthy uncle of an industrial family approachs Mikael the investigative journalist to discover what happened 37 years ago in the disappearance of the then 16year old niece Harriet. Uncle Henrik has puzzled over her apparent murder, has kept copious notes and detailed photographs, and he wants to solve the mystery before he dies. She disappeared just before Michaelmas term. Henrik offers Mikael millions of kroner to solve the mystery. Here's a nice dramatic touch: every year on his birthday Henrik receives a pressed flower from ... Harriet? Someone who wants to keep him obsessed with her disappearence.
We have four characters here: Mikael, Henrik, Lisbeth and Harriet. Lisbeth and Harriet are mirrors of each other. Lisbeth has been abused and broken by her past but not crushed. She is loved and protected by two men: her employer (a wonderful Croatian) and her state appointed guardian (a thoughtful, warm-hearted lawyer). Harriet was ignored and finally abandoned by her parents to Uncle Henrik who adored her and raised her in the family compound in northern Sweden.
We see the mysteries.
Why and by whom was Mikael set up to take a fall in the Wennerstrom deal? He has enemies but what caused them to castrate him? Who betrayed him?
What happened in the disappearance of Harriet? Who murdered her? Why? There is no apparent motive. (Her murder is a "closed room mystery", as they say in the genre.)
What is Lisbeth's story of childhood abuse? How will Lisbeth impact the solving of the mystery of Harriet and the Wennerstrom mystery? How are all these nasty family members interconnected?
Is Mikael's odd "domestic" situation with married Erika a factor in his betrayal? (I always have trouble when male authors negate the natural female impulse to be at least serially sexually exclusive. Any real woman who humps two men at the same time without emotional consequences has a twisted story of emotional abuse in her past. Period. Don't argue with me. Sleeping around is a male fantasy not a female truth.)
What is Henrik's connection with Wennerstrom? Henrik uses this bait to lure Mikael into this investigation. Well, the millions of kroner help, otherwise who would leave comfortable Stockholm for the back of the beyond in Northern Sweden in wintertime?
Why does Henrik's right-hand man suddenly drop the investigation of Wennerstrom with no explanation? Lisbeth was put on the trail. Will she drop the scent now?
The book was first published under the title: Men Who Hate Women. Who are the men who hate women in this story? They are not yet revealed yet.
What are the incentives? What has caused the characters to be aroused to action? What urges them on?
There will be a wide range of characters in this complex plot. Larsson assists the reader by leaving nameless lesser players in the action. Thank God becasue we have so many characters to watch. The protagonist, the antagonist, the uncle, the uncle's right-hand man, the Vanger family, the people in the village, the supporting personalities around the main characters, and all their impulses and motives.
The obvious protagonist is Mikael Blomkvist. "St. Michael, the Archangel, be our defender this day in battle. Protect us against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke [the evil one] we humbly pray..." [Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel]
Larsson sees himself in real life as a St. Michael, exposing evil and protecting children, "counteracting the growth of the extreme right and the white power-culture in schools and among young people", "exposing Swedish extreme right and racist organizations; he was an influential debater and lecturer on the subject." [from Wikipedia]. Mikael Blomkvist is a reflection of a cleaned up Stieg Larsson.
As Part 1 opens, our Protagonist Mikael has been convicted of 15 counts of aggravated libel in a Swedish court. Mikael libeled Wennerstrom, a shadowy Swedish financial figure in an Eastern Euorpean development deal. Mikael is fined a hefty sum and sentenced to three months in jail. He was set up to be taken down it is revealed. Mikael has enemies.
Do I have sympathy for Mikael? A crusading journalist, handsome, tall, a ladies man, proud. He's having an open sexual relationship with the married business partner in their weekly news magazine. (The husband of said woman doesn't care we are told. She goes from bed to bed as she wishes.) Mikael is pretty pleased with himself (Lisbeth makes this observation in the course of her investigation of the Wennerstrom affair). Mikael's resume is presented so that we should at least admire him if not like him. I am not persuaded at this point to respond either way.
We soon meet Lisbeth Salander, described on the back cover as a pierced and tattooed punk podigy. She's a very closed, icy, contained, controlled personality. A victim of child abuse, but we don't know the details yet. She works for a security organization as a Personal Investigator. (One would not enjoy having her looking into your background because she will find all your secrets. She has so many secrets herself, she knows how to find everyone else's.) I like Lisbeth very much and read with great interest when she enters the scene. Later on we find she is under guardianship of the state social worker system. I have a feeling her experiences with the system will not be pretty.
But it is not Lisbeth who has been approached to unravel the center mystery. The 82 year old, wealthy uncle of an industrial family approachs Mikael the investigative journalist to discover what happened 37 years ago in the disappearance of the then 16year old niece Harriet. Uncle Henrik has puzzled over her apparent murder, has kept copious notes and detailed photographs, and he wants to solve the mystery before he dies. She disappeared just before Michaelmas term. Henrik offers Mikael millions of kroner to solve the mystery. Here's a nice dramatic touch: every year on his birthday Henrik receives a pressed flower from ... Harriet? Someone who wants to keep him obsessed with her disappearence.
We have four characters here: Mikael, Henrik, Lisbeth and Harriet. Lisbeth and Harriet are mirrors of each other. Lisbeth has been abused and broken by her past but not crushed. She is loved and protected by two men: her employer (a wonderful Croatian) and her state appointed guardian (a thoughtful, warm-hearted lawyer). Harriet was ignored and finally abandoned by her parents to Uncle Henrik who adored her and raised her in the family compound in northern Sweden.
We see the mysteries.
Why and by whom was Mikael set up to take a fall in the Wennerstrom deal? He has enemies but what caused them to castrate him? Who betrayed him?
What happened in the disappearance of Harriet? Who murdered her? Why? There is no apparent motive. (Her murder is a "closed room mystery", as they say in the genre.)
What is Lisbeth's story of childhood abuse? How will Lisbeth impact the solving of the mystery of Harriet and the Wennerstrom mystery? How are all these nasty family members interconnected?
Is Mikael's odd "domestic" situation with married Erika a factor in his betrayal? (I always have trouble when male authors negate the natural female impulse to be at least serially sexually exclusive. Any real woman who humps two men at the same time without emotional consequences has a twisted story of emotional abuse in her past. Period. Don't argue with me. Sleeping around is a male fantasy not a female truth.)
What is Henrik's connection with Wennerstrom? Henrik uses this bait to lure Mikael into this investigation. Well, the millions of kroner help, otherwise who would leave comfortable Stockholm for the back of the beyond in Northern Sweden in wintertime?
Why does Henrik's right-hand man suddenly drop the investigation of Wennerstrom with no explanation? Lisbeth was put on the trail. Will she drop the scent now?
The book was first published under the title: Men Who Hate Women. Who are the men who hate women in this story? They are not yet revealed yet.
What are the incentives? What has caused the characters to be aroused to action? What urges them on?
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Looking Over the Book from the Outside
Three separate women at a restaurant last night came over to the table to ask me if I liked the book! I took it along with me to steal a minute or two to read at the table. I've never seen such interest from strangers in what I am reading.
The novel is separated into Prologue, four parts, and Epilogue: "Final Audit". Each of the four parts quotes a statistic of violence against women. Part 1, Incentive, says, "Eighteen percent of the women in Sweden have at one time been threatened by a man." Part 2, Consequence Analyses, says, "Forty-six percent of the women in Sweden have been subjected to violence of a man." Part 3, Mergers, says, "Thirteen percent of the women in Sweden have been subjected to aggravated sexual assault outside of a sexual relationship." Part 4, Hostile Takeover, says "Ninety-two percent of women in Sweden who have been subjected to sexual assault have not reported the most recent violent incident to the police."
This novel was first published 2005 in Swedish under the title "Man som hatar kvinnor" -- "Men Who Hate Women".
"Larsson, witnessed the gang rape of a girl when he was 15 which led to his lifelong disgust of violence and abuse of women. The author never forgave himself for failing to help the girl, whose name was Lisbeth - like the young heroine of his books, who is herself a rape victim. This inspired the themes of sexual violence against women in his books." from Wikipedia.
"Larsson was initially a political activist for the Kommunistiska Arbetareförbundet (Communist Workers League), a photographer, and one of Sweden's leading science fiction fans. In politics he was the editor of the Swedish Trotskyist journal Fjärde internationalen. He also wrote regularly for the weekly Internationalen. He worked as a graphic designer at the largest Swedish news agency, Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå (TT) between 1977 and 1999." from Wikipedia
"Larsson's political convictions, as well as his journalistic experiences, led him to the founding of the Swedish Expo Foundation, similar to the British Searchlight Foundation, established to "counteract the growth of the extreme right and the white power-culture in schools and among young people." He also became the editor of the foundation's magazine, Expo. Larsson quickly became instrumental in documenting and exposing Swedish extreme right and racist organizations; he was an influential debater and lecturer on the subject, reportedly living for years under death threats from his political enemies." from Wikipedia
Mr. Larsson died of a heart attack.
Okaaay then. Mr. Larsson is a Trotsky man -- permanent revolution, dictatorship of the proletariat by "democratic principles rather than an unaccountable bureaucracy" (good luck with that one), very very far left even of the very far left Marxism. It is facinating to note that Mr. Larsson's political convictions are not discussed on his own website. His resume underscores his strongly held beliefs -- but I guess putting that fact up front would not sell books. Or ideology. Stealth?
Now that's quite a filter to consider in reading this novel.
The novel was translated into English by Reg Keeland. Mr. Keeland must be an accomplished translator (and Vintage Books must have accomplished editors) because the novel's prose has a lovely cadence and beautiful voice.
The novel is separated into Prologue, four parts, and Epilogue: "Final Audit". Each of the four parts quotes a statistic of violence against women. Part 1, Incentive, says, "Eighteen percent of the women in Sweden have at one time been threatened by a man." Part 2, Consequence Analyses, says, "Forty-six percent of the women in Sweden have been subjected to violence of a man." Part 3, Mergers, says, "Thirteen percent of the women in Sweden have been subjected to aggravated sexual assault outside of a sexual relationship." Part 4, Hostile Takeover, says "Ninety-two percent of women in Sweden who have been subjected to sexual assault have not reported the most recent violent incident to the police."
This novel was first published 2005 in Swedish under the title "Man som hatar kvinnor" -- "Men Who Hate Women".
"Larsson, witnessed the gang rape of a girl when he was 15 which led to his lifelong disgust of violence and abuse of women. The author never forgave himself for failing to help the girl, whose name was Lisbeth - like the young heroine of his books, who is herself a rape victim. This inspired the themes of sexual violence against women in his books." from Wikipedia.
"Larsson was initially a political activist for the Kommunistiska Arbetareförbundet (Communist Workers League), a photographer, and one of Sweden's leading science fiction fans. In politics he was the editor of the Swedish Trotskyist journal Fjärde internationalen. He also wrote regularly for the weekly Internationalen. He worked as a graphic designer at the largest Swedish news agency, Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå (TT) between 1977 and 1999." from Wikipedia
"Larsson's political convictions, as well as his journalistic experiences, led him to the founding of the Swedish Expo Foundation, similar to the British Searchlight Foundation, established to "counteract the growth of the extreme right and the white power-culture in schools and among young people." He also became the editor of the foundation's magazine, Expo. Larsson quickly became instrumental in documenting and exposing Swedish extreme right and racist organizations; he was an influential debater and lecturer on the subject, reportedly living for years under death threats from his political enemies." from Wikipedia
Mr. Larsson died of a heart attack.
Okaaay then. Mr. Larsson is a Trotsky man -- permanent revolution, dictatorship of the proletariat by "democratic principles rather than an unaccountable bureaucracy" (good luck with that one), very very far left even of the very far left Marxism. It is facinating to note that Mr. Larsson's political convictions are not discussed on his own website. His resume underscores his strongly held beliefs -- but I guess putting that fact up front would not sell books. Or ideology. Stealth?
Now that's quite a filter to consider in reading this novel.
The novel was translated into English by Reg Keeland. Mr. Keeland must be an accomplished translator (and Vintage Books must have accomplished editors) because the novel's prose has a lovely cadence and beautiful voice.
I'm Reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Last weekend in Estes Park (CO) on vacation, my husband bought me Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo so that I could relax at the end of the day with a good book. He has seen many people reading Larsson's books in airports. Knowing my preference for mystery novels, he thought I might like to try out a new author and start at the beginning of a series.
I was "up a creek without a paddle" (as my mother would say) because I had left my latest book at home in the rush to pack the car for the long weekend. (Mr. Man has it easier; he has a Kindle. I am envious.)
The cabin we rented for the weekend has books left behind by former vacationers. In the past the cabin had a collection of at least seven books from which to choose. I enjoy glancing through titles and wondering why people left them for the next occupants. This time, only three books sat on the shelf: a book of short stories about wildly horrendous (and improbable) horror, a religious tract of sickly sweet (and improbable) musings, and a history coffee-table style book about Vail, CO (pretty good).
Stieg Larsson lived in Sweden, was the editor-in-chief of the magazine Expo, and a "leading expert on antidemocratic right-wing extremist and Nazi organizations."
I am not familiar with current Swedish culture enough to guess how people there might define antidemocratic right-wing extremism, especially when paired with "Nazi organizations". I will keep Mr. Larsson's filter in mind as I proceed through his novel. For all I know, he might consider mothers who want influence in public school educational content to be right-wing extremists. Nazi organizations are a little easier to identify, what with that swastika and fake-tough clothing thing so openly displayed at their meetings.
Mr. Larsson died in 2004 after delivering manuscripts for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. He was fifty years old. Reg Keeland translated these manuscripts from Swedish into English.
It is my plan to blog as I read, so don't let me spoil the story for you, but I invite you to read along.
I was "up a creek without a paddle" (as my mother would say) because I had left my latest book at home in the rush to pack the car for the long weekend. (Mr. Man has it easier; he has a Kindle. I am envious.)
The cabin we rented for the weekend has books left behind by former vacationers. In the past the cabin had a collection of at least seven books from which to choose. I enjoy glancing through titles and wondering why people left them for the next occupants. This time, only three books sat on the shelf: a book of short stories about wildly horrendous (and improbable) horror, a religious tract of sickly sweet (and improbable) musings, and a history coffee-table style book about Vail, CO (pretty good).
Stieg Larsson lived in Sweden, was the editor-in-chief of the magazine Expo, and a "leading expert on antidemocratic right-wing extremist and Nazi organizations."
I am not familiar with current Swedish culture enough to guess how people there might define antidemocratic right-wing extremism, especially when paired with "Nazi organizations". I will keep Mr. Larsson's filter in mind as I proceed through his novel. For all I know, he might consider mothers who want influence in public school educational content to be right-wing extremists. Nazi organizations are a little easier to identify, what with that swastika and fake-tough clothing thing so openly displayed at their meetings.
Mr. Larsson died in 2004 after delivering manuscripts for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. He was fifty years old. Reg Keeland translated these manuscripts from Swedish into English.
It is my plan to blog as I read, so don't let me spoil the story for you, but I invite you to read along.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Under Cover of Darkness -- Spoiler Warning
Spoiler Warning
The story didn't hold water. No. Can't agree to the way this book developed and ended. Ghost in the machine stuff.
The alcoholic, ex-vicar is murdered. Hmmmmm. Not a plausible thing. He was never developed as a threat to anyone. He should have been a threat to someone. He had the position to be a threat but he was never allowed to be. The storyline could have had him keeping a secret about the finances of the island which threatened Maycroft. He should have been a keeper of some confessional secrets of a serious suspect. Secrets unrelated to the crime often come out in a murder investigation and can cloud the vision. The fog of war, a military man might say. Why didn't we see the vicar muddled up in a secret suddenly exposed and then he suddenly murdered? We could then be confused about all that we had previously decided. But Dalgliesh would have been clear and focused -- as he always is.
The animal research laboratory manager -- the ending was too "correctly" ambigious to be interesting. Political puritanism of the politically correct world would not allow a character with a reasoned stance about animal testing in medical experiments. And how do you feel about ... international pharmaceudicals? Maybe we could write The Constant Gardener all over again except this time with a laboratory in the Midlands.
Okay, okay and what is all this about SARS? Very "in the news" that. It was a device to get Dalgliesh out of the picture and spotlight Miskin. But Miskin's part was not developed well. Too screenplay-ish that device.
And furthermore, what is this about internationally famous mountain-climbing grandfather that puts Benton on the face of a coastal cliff just to retrieve a bloodied rock (with a piece of surgical glove attached)? No, I don't buy it. Odd. Authors of "Structuring Your Novel" Robert Meredith and John Fitzgerald say that you should not write the parts that readers skip over. I skipped over this grandson of a famous mountainclimber after years of never strapping on a harness suddenly doing a Very Serious climb thing. Looks more like a movie made for tv stunt screenplay trick to kick up the action at the end of a morality play.
Little Dan Padgett the murderer. Oh well.
And I am a little tired of Emma Lavenham/Adam Dalgliesh non-affair. She does not seem interesting to me. What does she do but talk to her lesbian girlfriend -- who, by the way, is quite a bit more interesting than Emma -- and I don't mean because she is a lesbian (so predictable now-of-days to have a gay sidekick) but because she doesn't wallow about in this never-never land of inaction, indecision and angst that Emma populates. You know, I don't think I could have Emma as a friend. I have had girlfriends who get involved with unavailable men. They begin the relationship by walking on eggshells and it does not change even if they marry. I think they like being uncomfortable about their standing with the man in question. The pain makes them feel alive. And if Dalgliesh doen't get off "I don't want to be rejected" treadmill, I will get tired of him too. Too much of the New Age Sensitive Man - Feminized Into Inaction.
Now Piers Tarrant and Kate Miskin, there could be an interesting pairing. At least I know more of Piers' personality.
Ah well. I am disappointed. Darn.
The story didn't hold water. No. Can't agree to the way this book developed and ended. Ghost in the machine stuff.
The alcoholic, ex-vicar is murdered. Hmmmmm. Not a plausible thing. He was never developed as a threat to anyone. He should have been a threat to someone. He had the position to be a threat but he was never allowed to be. The storyline could have had him keeping a secret about the finances of the island which threatened Maycroft. He should have been a keeper of some confessional secrets of a serious suspect. Secrets unrelated to the crime often come out in a murder investigation and can cloud the vision. The fog of war, a military man might say. Why didn't we see the vicar muddled up in a secret suddenly exposed and then he suddenly murdered? We could then be confused about all that we had previously decided. But Dalgliesh would have been clear and focused -- as he always is.
The animal research laboratory manager -- the ending was too "correctly" ambigious to be interesting. Political puritanism of the politically correct world would not allow a character with a reasoned stance about animal testing in medical experiments. And how do you feel about ... international pharmaceudicals? Maybe we could write The Constant Gardener all over again except this time with a laboratory in the Midlands.
Okay, okay and what is all this about SARS? Very "in the news" that. It was a device to get Dalgliesh out of the picture and spotlight Miskin. But Miskin's part was not developed well. Too screenplay-ish that device.
And furthermore, what is this about internationally famous mountain-climbing grandfather that puts Benton on the face of a coastal cliff just to retrieve a bloodied rock (with a piece of surgical glove attached)? No, I don't buy it. Odd. Authors of "Structuring Your Novel" Robert Meredith and John Fitzgerald say that you should not write the parts that readers skip over. I skipped over this grandson of a famous mountainclimber after years of never strapping on a harness suddenly doing a Very Serious climb thing. Looks more like a movie made for tv stunt screenplay trick to kick up the action at the end of a morality play.
Little Dan Padgett the murderer. Oh well.
And I am a little tired of Emma Lavenham/Adam Dalgliesh non-affair. She does not seem interesting to me. What does she do but talk to her lesbian girlfriend -- who, by the way, is quite a bit more interesting than Emma -- and I don't mean because she is a lesbian (so predictable now-of-days to have a gay sidekick) but because she doesn't wallow about in this never-never land of inaction, indecision and angst that Emma populates. You know, I don't think I could have Emma as a friend. I have had girlfriends who get involved with unavailable men. They begin the relationship by walking on eggshells and it does not change even if they marry. I think they like being uncomfortable about their standing with the man in question. The pain makes them feel alive. And if Dalgliesh doen't get off "I don't want to be rejected" treadmill, I will get tired of him too. Too much of the New Age Sensitive Man - Feminized Into Inaction.
Now Piers Tarrant and Kate Miskin, there could be an interesting pairing. At least I know more of Piers' personality.
Ah well. I am disappointed. Darn.
Voices from the Past
I would have liked to see more storyline here. Now that I have finished the book, I look back at this section and am unhappy that it was so thin. The tag line is that Oliver was murdered for something from the recent past not the distant past.
Well, there is som much that I would have liked to understand. Jago was a boatman on the wild Cornish coast. His father was murdered by Oliver's father. Now that is a strong story line and one I would have liked to see populated. But, as if this were a screenplay reduction, we see little of the heart and soul of it.
Dan's mother. We should have heard a little more on her. We barely know of her existence. And Dan's life with the fundementalist Christians -- very stale storyline. Hardcore, heartless Christians have been done over and over again. Why can't he have had Communist relatives who were distainful of his deep need to know the father who disserted his fragile and broken mother. His longing for something more personal and warm than the hardcore and hardhearted comrades in the youth group.
Emily Holcombe's life is just too sketchy. It has no substance. I would have liked to see the life of an 80 year old woman in good health and with a wickedly sharp mind. She needed to be developed as a serious suspect. And if that seems too close to Lady James, well, look at Mrs. Maxey in "Cover Her Face." That hit pretty close to the author.
Ah well.
Well, there is som much that I would have liked to understand. Jago was a boatman on the wild Cornish coast. His father was murdered by Oliver's father. Now that is a strong story line and one I would have liked to see populated. But, as if this were a screenplay reduction, we see little of the heart and soul of it.
Dan's mother. We should have heard a little more on her. We barely know of her existence. And Dan's life with the fundementalist Christians -- very stale storyline. Hardcore, heartless Christians have been done over and over again. Why can't he have had Communist relatives who were distainful of his deep need to know the father who disserted his fragile and broken mother. His longing for something more personal and warm than the hardcore and hardhearted comrades in the youth group.
Emily Holcombe's life is just too sketchy. It has no substance. I would have liked to see the life of an 80 year old woman in good health and with a wickedly sharp mind. She needed to be developed as a serious suspect. And if that seems too close to Lady James, well, look at Mrs. Maxey in "Cover Her Face." That hit pretty close to the author.
Ah well.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Ashes in the Grate
No, we don't find out what was burned in the fire grate of murder victim Nathan Oliver. It appears that it was paper -- but what was written on that paper?
Oliver's daughter, in a high and unconvincing voice: Oh someone slipped into the cottage and took both gallery copies of the novel from his desk and burned them.
Not bloody likely, lassie.
She should feel lucky that the investigators did not bore into that story like an electric drill into rotting wood. Not enough manpower to waste on that obviously contrived story.
I should say now, if you are ever interviewed in the course of an investigation, don't expect a lucky break like Miranda Oliver got. Police hate being lied to and if they have the manpower, you will be humiliated and then charged with some count of obstructing justice (if innocent of the crime) and/or pursued hotly as a suspect. But think: Major Humiliation and Exposed as a Fraud as the banner headline in your local paper.
But I get ahead of myself.
So this whole section is devoted to the investigators and the suspects. Some suspect stories we know to be false. Some we have to sift through. The investigators have been torn from the fabirc of their everyday life and we are following their thoughts on life as well.
During the first section, I found myself liking Emily Holcombe. I don't like her as well in this section. She's hiding something. And since I'm siding with the investigaors, I don't like for people to withhold information.
Who is Adrian Boyde? Weak, guilt burdened, alcoholic. A victim of Oliver's evil ruthlessness.
Who else is a victim of Oliver? Dan, Miranda, Dennis. He exerts power over them because he is in a position to do so without the chance of a direct reprimand. When he abused Adrian, Adrian's friends and people who cared about him were outraged. It is similar to your evil neighbor yelling at his own dog or the dog of another neighbor; you don't feel you have the stnding to intervene even though you have a definite opinion of the morality involved. But when evil neighbor abuses your dog, watch out.
Oliver's daughter, in a high and unconvincing voice: Oh someone slipped into the cottage and took both gallery copies of the novel from his desk and burned them.
Not bloody likely, lassie.
She should feel lucky that the investigators did not bore into that story like an electric drill into rotting wood. Not enough manpower to waste on that obviously contrived story.
I should say now, if you are ever interviewed in the course of an investigation, don't expect a lucky break like Miranda Oliver got. Police hate being lied to and if they have the manpower, you will be humiliated and then charged with some count of obstructing justice (if innocent of the crime) and/or pursued hotly as a suspect. But think: Major Humiliation and Exposed as a Fraud as the banner headline in your local paper.
But I get ahead of myself.
So this whole section is devoted to the investigators and the suspects. Some suspect stories we know to be false. Some we have to sift through. The investigators have been torn from the fabirc of their everyday life and we are following their thoughts on life as well.
During the first section, I found myself liking Emily Holcombe. I don't like her as well in this section. She's hiding something. And since I'm siding with the investigaors, I don't like for people to withhold information.
Who is Adrian Boyde? Weak, guilt burdened, alcoholic. A victim of Oliver's evil ruthlessness.
Who else is a victim of Oliver? Dan, Miranda, Dennis. He exerts power over them because he is in a position to do so without the chance of a direct reprimand. When he abused Adrian, Adrian's friends and people who cared about him were outraged. It is similar to your evil neighbor yelling at his own dog or the dog of another neighbor; you don't feel you have the stnding to intervene even though you have a definite opinion of the morality involved. But when evil neighbor abuses your dog, watch out.
Death on an Offshore Island
Yes, you walk through the Prologue and Book One and you know who will be dead by page 80.
Everyone hates Oliver.
Well, that's putting it too strong. There might be a few who don't hate him. Let's just say that when he comes up dead, many people breath a sigh of relief.
"Why I might be glad that Oliver is dead."
Daughter Miranda and Copy Editor Dennis. They were secret lovers and were discovered by Oliver the day before Oliver is found dead. Oh oh oh, Oliver was so enraged that he threatened to cut them both off entirely. "Threat" makes it sound like he would come 'round later. No, I think it was a promise to hurt them, dominate his daughter, throw Dennis out on his ear. Oliver's reaction was so out of bounds that we the readers know Oliver is unjust. Other than being a prick, I see from this vantage point no reason that Oliver should behave this way. Dennis suspected the reaction. Miranda did not. She is deeply hurt and confused. Both of these people are almost slaves to Oliver, they are so dependent on him. Bad place to be and vulnerable people often strike back.
Emily Holcombe. Oliver wants her cottage, lusts after her cottage. On the day before he is found dead, Oliver threatened to leverage his bequeath to the Island Trust in an attempt to kick Emily out. He also threatened to live on the island full time. This would be intolerable to Emily. At 80 years old and in good health, she wishes to live out her life on the island and foresees that this is a long time rather than a few short years to go. She is a powerful figure, personally powerful, confident. Powerful peoiple do not like to be bullied.
Attached to Emily's welfare is Roughtwood, her butler. From this vantage point he hasn't shown even a ruffle of distaste for Oliver but Roughtwood likes the setup as it is. Also, I always look carefully at characters with names that describe a condition or character trait. Rotting wood. Roughtwood is a quiet man and has little backstory to explain who he is -- except for a name that brings to mind a condition of decay hidden from view.
Rupert Maycroft. All the stresses of the island squeeze in on him. He suspects that he is not dong a good job of caretaking this island. He worries about his reputation and status with the trustees. He feels he is failing, or rather slipping into failure. Oliver's domination would send Maycroft off the island in disgrace -- at least Maycroft sees it that way.
Dr. Mark Yelland. We find that Oliver has written a novel, yet to be published, about an animal lab director who appears to be taken directly from Yelland's life. Ut oh. Yelland is stressed to the maximum with radical animal rights activist threats to the health and safety of his lab and his family. Wife is leaving and taking the kids because of it. A novel would just nail the coffin closed. Yelland confronts Oliver the evening at dinner before Oliver is found dead. Oliver's death will not cancel the publishing of the novel. So, why would Yelland kill Oliver? Also, note the name. Yelling. Mark Yelland is yelling but does he take action?
Jago Tamlyn. Hmmm. An unruffled character with no shown dislike of Oliver yet. Probably he doesn't hate Oliver. However. There are two ways on-and-off the island: helicopter and Jago's boat. Access holds power. Since we haven't been introduced to the helicopter pilot yet we must watch Mr. Jago. What a Cornish name. And every Cornish boatsman must be watched for illegal sources of income in this secluded and mysterious setting. An upset to the economy of the island might disrupt Jago's interests.
Access holds power! I just remembered that there is yet another way on the island: private yacht form France. Dr. Raimund Speidel came to the island on Wednesday via his private yacht from France. From France, now that is cause enough to suspect him of something underhanded and that he is a German just sets the picture straight of a person we cannot trust to be fair and just. Look at what the Germans did in Munich in '72. I can't find him in my notes. Where is the man and what is he doing?
Dr. Guy Staveley and his wife Joanna. Hmmmm. We are privy to a great deal of discussion of these two and their relationship but nothing is rising to the surface that puts them at tension with Oliver. At this vantage point there is little to set them in the "I hate Oliver" crowd. But Joanna, it seems, is privy to quite a bit of information about people. Information is power. The jacket cover mentions a second brutal killing. Also, Dr. Guy is on the island because a child died in his care. Untimely death is a rip in the fabric of society.
Adrian Boyde. Maycroft believes that he should keep Oliver and Boyde apart. Don't know why. Boyde is also a quiet man, privy to the finances of the island and the trust. Hmmmm. Knowledge is power. Powerful positions should always be watched especially when someone else will die and we don't know whom. Yet. Also Boyde went off on an alcoholic binge that sent him off the island. Joanna rescued him and brought him back to life, as it were. Why did Boyde fall off the wagon? What does Joanna know about the situation?
Poor Dan Padgett. Ah well. He was excoriated by Oliver for losing the blood specimen. Dan is a misfit, an underdog. I am always interested in the reactions of people when an arrogant, dominating person brutalizes a vulnerable person. One should look for two things: one, vulnerable people sometimes strike back like a domestic dog gone feral and two, observers of the brutality often strike against the attacker to put the world back in order.
Now let's talk about this blood specimen. What's that all about? Joanna took the blood specimen. Does she know something about Oliver's health? What pathology? Maycroft observes that Oliver's health seemed to have declined in the few days that he was on the island. Add this to the Midlands research laboratory and here is a third reference to health-and-illness. I believe that this his a clue to Oliver's behavior. He is crazed to have his way because he is ill and sees the end of his life approaching.
We see little of the housekeeper and the cook.
Everyone hates Oliver.
Well, that's putting it too strong. There might be a few who don't hate him. Let's just say that when he comes up dead, many people breath a sigh of relief.
"Why I might be glad that Oliver is dead."
Daughter Miranda and Copy Editor Dennis. They were secret lovers and were discovered by Oliver the day before Oliver is found dead. Oh oh oh, Oliver was so enraged that he threatened to cut them both off entirely. "Threat" makes it sound like he would come 'round later. No, I think it was a promise to hurt them, dominate his daughter, throw Dennis out on his ear. Oliver's reaction was so out of bounds that we the readers know Oliver is unjust. Other than being a prick, I see from this vantage point no reason that Oliver should behave this way. Dennis suspected the reaction. Miranda did not. She is deeply hurt and confused. Both of these people are almost slaves to Oliver, they are so dependent on him. Bad place to be and vulnerable people often strike back.
Emily Holcombe. Oliver wants her cottage, lusts after her cottage. On the day before he is found dead, Oliver threatened to leverage his bequeath to the Island Trust in an attempt to kick Emily out. He also threatened to live on the island full time. This would be intolerable to Emily. At 80 years old and in good health, she wishes to live out her life on the island and foresees that this is a long time rather than a few short years to go. She is a powerful figure, personally powerful, confident. Powerful peoiple do not like to be bullied.
Attached to Emily's welfare is Roughtwood, her butler. From this vantage point he hasn't shown even a ruffle of distaste for Oliver but Roughtwood likes the setup as it is. Also, I always look carefully at characters with names that describe a condition or character trait. Rotting wood. Roughtwood is a quiet man and has little backstory to explain who he is -- except for a name that brings to mind a condition of decay hidden from view.
Rupert Maycroft. All the stresses of the island squeeze in on him. He suspects that he is not dong a good job of caretaking this island. He worries about his reputation and status with the trustees. He feels he is failing, or rather slipping into failure. Oliver's domination would send Maycroft off the island in disgrace -- at least Maycroft sees it that way.
Dr. Mark Yelland. We find that Oliver has written a novel, yet to be published, about an animal lab director who appears to be taken directly from Yelland's life. Ut oh. Yelland is stressed to the maximum with radical animal rights activist threats to the health and safety of his lab and his family. Wife is leaving and taking the kids because of it. A novel would just nail the coffin closed. Yelland confronts Oliver the evening at dinner before Oliver is found dead. Oliver's death will not cancel the publishing of the novel. So, why would Yelland kill Oliver? Also, note the name. Yelling. Mark Yelland is yelling but does he take action?
Jago Tamlyn. Hmmm. An unruffled character with no shown dislike of Oliver yet. Probably he doesn't hate Oliver. However. There are two ways on-and-off the island: helicopter and Jago's boat. Access holds power. Since we haven't been introduced to the helicopter pilot yet we must watch Mr. Jago. What a Cornish name. And every Cornish boatsman must be watched for illegal sources of income in this secluded and mysterious setting. An upset to the economy of the island might disrupt Jago's interests.
Access holds power! I just remembered that there is yet another way on the island: private yacht form France. Dr. Raimund Speidel came to the island on Wednesday via his private yacht from France. From France, now that is cause enough to suspect him of something underhanded and that he is a German just sets the picture straight of a person we cannot trust to be fair and just. Look at what the Germans did in Munich in '72. I can't find him in my notes. Where is the man and what is he doing?
Dr. Guy Staveley and his wife Joanna. Hmmmm. We are privy to a great deal of discussion of these two and their relationship but nothing is rising to the surface that puts them at tension with Oliver. At this vantage point there is little to set them in the "I hate Oliver" crowd. But Joanna, it seems, is privy to quite a bit of information about people. Information is power. The jacket cover mentions a second brutal killing. Also, Dr. Guy is on the island because a child died in his care. Untimely death is a rip in the fabric of society.
Adrian Boyde. Maycroft believes that he should keep Oliver and Boyde apart. Don't know why. Boyde is also a quiet man, privy to the finances of the island and the trust. Hmmmm. Knowledge is power. Powerful positions should always be watched especially when someone else will die and we don't know whom. Yet. Also Boyde went off on an alcoholic binge that sent him off the island. Joanna rescued him and brought him back to life, as it were. Why did Boyde fall off the wagon? What does Joanna know about the situation?
Poor Dan Padgett. Ah well. He was excoriated by Oliver for losing the blood specimen. Dan is a misfit, an underdog. I am always interested in the reactions of people when an arrogant, dominating person brutalizes a vulnerable person. One should look for two things: one, vulnerable people sometimes strike back like a domestic dog gone feral and two, observers of the brutality often strike against the attacker to put the world back in order.
Now let's talk about this blood specimen. What's that all about? Joanna took the blood specimen. Does she know something about Oliver's health? What pathology? Maycroft observes that Oliver's health seemed to have declined in the few days that he was on the island. Add this to the Midlands research laboratory and here is a third reference to health-and-illness. I believe that this his a clue to Oliver's behavior. He is crazed to have his way because he is ill and sees the end of his life approaching.
We see little of the housekeeper and the cook.
Lighthouse Character List
Prologue:
Asst Commissioner Harkness
Alexander Cornistone -- Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Colin Reeves -- MI5, young
STAFF and RESIDENTS of Combe Island:
Rupert Maycroft, sect., solicitor, 58 years, tall
boatman Jago Tamlyn, convicted GBH
housekeeper Mrs. Burbridge
cook Mrs. Plunkett
Dr. Guy Shaveley, physician
Mrs. Joanna Shaveley, wife of
handyman Dan Padgett and his sickly mother Mrs. Padgett, new-ish to the island and Dan "is not an islander"
Miss Emily Holcombe, last of the family who owned Combe Island, 80 years
butler Roughtwood, 68 years
Millie Tranter, 18, waif
Adrian Boyde, financial assistant, alcoholic, clergy
VISITORS to the island at the time of the death:
arrived Monday:
Nathan Oliver, writer
Miranda Oliver, daughter
Dennis Tremlett, copy editor
arrived Wednesday:
Dr. Raimund Speidel, German diplomat, formerly dip. to China
arrived Thursday:
Dr. Mark Yelland, Midlands animal lab director
INVESTIGATORS:
Adam Dalgliesh
Insp Kate Miskin
Serg Francis Benton-Smith
Edith Glenister, forensic
Associated with the Investigators, backstory
Emma Lavenham -- Dalgliesh
Piers Tarrant -- Miskin
Beverley -- Benton
Asst Commissioner Harkness
Alexander Cornistone -- Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Colin Reeves -- MI5, young
STAFF and RESIDENTS of Combe Island:
Rupert Maycroft, sect., solicitor, 58 years, tall
boatman Jago Tamlyn, convicted GBH
housekeeper Mrs. Burbridge
cook Mrs. Plunkett
Dr. Guy Shaveley, physician
Mrs. Joanna Shaveley, wife of
handyman Dan Padgett and his sickly mother Mrs. Padgett, new-ish to the island and Dan "is not an islander"
Miss Emily Holcombe, last of the family who owned Combe Island, 80 years
butler Roughtwood, 68 years
Millie Tranter, 18, waif
Adrian Boyde, financial assistant, alcoholic, clergy
VISITORS to the island at the time of the death:
arrived Monday:
Nathan Oliver, writer
Miranda Oliver, daughter
Dennis Tremlett, copy editor
arrived Wednesday:
Dr. Raimund Speidel, German diplomat, formerly dip. to China
arrived Thursday:
Dr. Mark Yelland, Midlands animal lab director
INVESTIGATORS:
Adam Dalgliesh
Insp Kate Miskin
Serg Francis Benton-Smith
Edith Glenister, forensic
Associated with the Investigators, backstory
Emma Lavenham -- Dalgliesh
Piers Tarrant -- Miskin
Beverley -- Benton
The Lighthouse -- Locations
Combe Island off Cornwall, 20 miles sw of Lundy Island and 12 mi from the mainland. The nearest large city is Newquay so that would make this fictitious island off the western shore of Cornwall, I imagine. My map is not detailed enough to locate Lundy Island or the small village of Pentworthy.
I've been to Cornwall within the passed few years. A wild and rugged coast with startling vistas. The land back from the cliffs was furred with tough short-cropped vegetation as if the wind kept it hunkered down. This area had been a pirate's and smuggler's haven in years long past, an insulated society that even today is suspicious of outsiders. Some of Cornwall's tourist trade focuses on the stories around King Arthur and Merlin, Guinevere. My husband and I avoided that and therefore we found ourselves in areas where foreign tourists don't usually tread.
Never been to a Cornish Island and, as Lady James describes a character in the book, I am probably "not an islander" -- which is a telling observation of an outsider understood without further elaboration by islanders.
On Combe Island are:
the main house -- Combe House, it has a tower
stone cottages
Atlantic Cottage -- Emily Holcombe
Peregrin Cottage -- Nathan Oliver
Harbor Cottage -- Jago Tamlyn
Murrelet Cottage -- Dr. Mark Yelland
Dolphin Cottage --
Lighthouse -- west of Combe House, visible from the house
Harbor, quayside -- to the east of Combe House
An since I am always interested in London locations, here are the locations discussed in the Prologue:
Ins. Kate Miskin's flat above the Thames, looking sw, below Tower Bridge, overlooking Canary Wharf.
Benton-Smith's flat in nw, around Shepherd's Bush.
I've been to Cornwall within the passed few years. A wild and rugged coast with startling vistas. The land back from the cliffs was furred with tough short-cropped vegetation as if the wind kept it hunkered down. This area had been a pirate's and smuggler's haven in years long past, an insulated society that even today is suspicious of outsiders. Some of Cornwall's tourist trade focuses on the stories around King Arthur and Merlin, Guinevere. My husband and I avoided that and therefore we found ourselves in areas where foreign tourists don't usually tread.
Never been to a Cornish Island and, as Lady James describes a character in the book, I am probably "not an islander" -- which is a telling observation of an outsider understood without further elaboration by islanders.
On Combe Island are:
the main house -- Combe House, it has a tower
stone cottages
Atlantic Cottage -- Emily Holcombe
Peregrin Cottage -- Nathan Oliver
Harbor Cottage -- Jago Tamlyn
Murrelet Cottage -- Dr. Mark Yelland
Dolphin Cottage --
Lighthouse -- west of Combe House, visible from the house
Harbor, quayside -- to the east of Combe House
An since I am always interested in London locations, here are the locations discussed in the Prologue:
Ins. Kate Miskin's flat above the Thames, looking sw, below Tower Bridge, overlooking Canary Wharf.
Benton-Smith's flat in nw, around Shepherd's Bush.
Interim
Can't believe that it's been 11 months since I posted to this blog. But I am going to begin discussing PD James' Lighthouse now and let the reader finish The Murder Room.
PD James' The Murder Room was wonderful, as usual for Lady James' works. I had intended to blog by chapter on that crime novel but that plan did not seem to work with my own style. I was rushing on and on to follow a thread of clues or a character's next move.
I always have a piece of paper -- notepad leaf, discarded receipt, torn corner of a newspaper -- on which I jot down notes when reading a crime novel, list of characters, locations and time tables. This blog will be that electronic piece of paper for me.
When (or IF) I trade in a crime novel (Murder By The Book on South Pearl Street in Denver), and when I return a library book, I will often leave that piece of paper in the book for the next reader. I never give away a secret or spoil the next reader's enjoyment. But the piece of paper is a conversation between two strangers about a book that we are both reading. This is as if we had met on a bus going downtow, never to meet again as fate would have it, but spending a few minutes together. Delicious time together. Except here we slip the laws of time and space and never actually meet except through a time-traveling piece of paper.
Time and space, such an interesting concept. We should read The Elegant Universe together someday.
PD James' The Murder Room was wonderful, as usual for Lady James' works. I had intended to blog by chapter on that crime novel but that plan did not seem to work with my own style. I was rushing on and on to follow a thread of clues or a character's next move.
I always have a piece of paper -- notepad leaf, discarded receipt, torn corner of a newspaper -- on which I jot down notes when reading a crime novel, list of characters, locations and time tables. This blog will be that electronic piece of paper for me.
When (or IF) I trade in a crime novel (Murder By The Book on South Pearl Street in Denver), and when I return a library book, I will often leave that piece of paper in the book for the next reader. I never give away a secret or spoil the next reader's enjoyment. But the piece of paper is a conversation between two strangers about a book that we are both reading. This is as if we had met on a bus going downtow, never to meet again as fate would have it, but spending a few minutes together. Delicious time together. Except here we slip the laws of time and space and never actually meet except through a time-traveling piece of paper.
Time and space, such an interesting concept. We should read The Elegant Universe together someday.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Hampstead Heath and Personal Memories
I must say that I love the way Lady James describes Hampstead Heath. I can smell the air and look southward over the City as the land falls away to the Thames. I am standing on an expansive lawn. I should be untroubled. I see the English city in my mind's eye but I think of Fredericksburg, the beautiful city, nestled up to the grey Rapidan. Bare early spring trees are a low mist around the city whose buildings sparkle in the morning sun. A battle is to come in the afternoon.
And oddly enough it also has me thinking of Pacific Heights Park and the last time I stood looking over rooftops to the water.
And oddly enough it also has me thinking of Pacific Heights Park and the last time I stood looking over rooftops to the water.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Universal Grieving
The Murder Room is writtem by PD James. This is a blog as I read the book.
At the end of chapter one, we drive up to the museum along a narrow drive. (Narrow is important to the action later on in the book.)
Dalgliesh sees a young man and an elderly woman engaged in gardening. The young man is Ryan Archer we will recognize. And the older woman must be Mrs. Faraday, the elder.
We meet Mrs. Muriel Godby, librarian -- I believe. At least she is a guardian of some sort. Cold. Steely.
James Calder-Hale, curator. A poof? Urbane, to be sure. We find out later that he has some tie to the government's anti-terror bureau. He's an ex-FCO, Middle East expert, speaks Arabic and two or three dialects.
But it is interesting that Calder-Hale in a subsequent chapter does not volunteer this information about himself, when the author shows us Calder-Hale through his own internal dialogue.
A new gap murder is introduced: The Blazing Car Murder of 1930. A tramp is murdered by Alfred Arthur Rouse in an attempt to disappear from his womanizing troubles. The tramp is doused with petrol and set ablaze in Rouse's car. Unfortunately for Rouse, two young chaps walking home saw him and asked him about the blaze. "It looks as though someone is having a bonfire," he says as he leaves the scene.
This is important. We find the first murder victim (jumping ahead a week) in the E-type Jag -- a car beloved by Neville Dupayne -- burning in the garage at the museum. Tally Clutton (yet to be introduced) is almost run down by a fair haired young man in a car driving away from the blaze. The young man stops to see if she is hurt and in leaving says, "It looks as though someone is having a bonfire." Tally does not recognize the young man but says that he looks familiar.
Now I have not read so far as to know who the second victim will be in Book Two, but I predict that it will be Tally.
Dalgliesh is wandering through the museum when he comes to stand beside a young man looking at a painting, Passchendaele 2. A thin young man with a pale and delicate face. A painting of dead bodies on a WWI battlefield. Had any modern conflict produced such universal greiving? thinks Dalgliesh.
The young man says mysterously that this painting was purchased from his grandfather by Max Dupayne who got it cheap because grandfather was desparate for money.
As the chapter ends, Dalgliesh is glad to leave Conrad to his research and wonders what about this time period so fascinated Max Dupayne?
It is an excellent question. We see this time period mostly through The Murder Room and only once through this painful painting. What is it about the discouragement and malaise after WWI that fascinates? So much changed in English society. So much was lost. But Lady James has not shown us the details. She has not dwelt on it. For the time, it is merely a backdrop to murder and the intreguing statement that murder, the unique crime, is a paradigm of its age.
We find out later that Max's fascination for the museum caused him to ignore and hurt his children, most notably the middle child Neville. The other children too but they have not yet revealed how they were injured.
Cool Marcus keeps his emotions to himself.
Abrasive Caroline seems unfeeling.
At the end of chapter one, we drive up to the museum along a narrow drive. (Narrow is important to the action later on in the book.)
Dalgliesh sees a young man and an elderly woman engaged in gardening. The young man is Ryan Archer we will recognize. And the older woman must be Mrs. Faraday, the elder.
We meet Mrs. Muriel Godby, librarian -- I believe. At least she is a guardian of some sort. Cold. Steely.
James Calder-Hale, curator. A poof? Urbane, to be sure. We find out later that he has some tie to the government's anti-terror bureau. He's an ex-FCO, Middle East expert, speaks Arabic and two or three dialects.
But it is interesting that Calder-Hale in a subsequent chapter does not volunteer this information about himself, when the author shows us Calder-Hale through his own internal dialogue.
A new gap murder is introduced: The Blazing Car Murder of 1930. A tramp is murdered by Alfred Arthur Rouse in an attempt to disappear from his womanizing troubles. The tramp is doused with petrol and set ablaze in Rouse's car. Unfortunately for Rouse, two young chaps walking home saw him and asked him about the blaze. "It looks as though someone is having a bonfire," he says as he leaves the scene.
This is important. We find the first murder victim (jumping ahead a week) in the E-type Jag -- a car beloved by Neville Dupayne -- burning in the garage at the museum. Tally Clutton (yet to be introduced) is almost run down by a fair haired young man in a car driving away from the blaze. The young man stops to see if she is hurt and in leaving says, "It looks as though someone is having a bonfire." Tally does not recognize the young man but says that he looks familiar.
Now I have not read so far as to know who the second victim will be in Book Two, but I predict that it will be Tally.
Dalgliesh is wandering through the museum when he comes to stand beside a young man looking at a painting, Passchendaele 2. A thin young man with a pale and delicate face. A painting of dead bodies on a WWI battlefield. Had any modern conflict produced such universal greiving? thinks Dalgliesh.
The young man says mysterously that this painting was purchased from his grandfather by Max Dupayne who got it cheap because grandfather was desparate for money.
As the chapter ends, Dalgliesh is glad to leave Conrad to his research and wonders what about this time period so fascinated Max Dupayne?
It is an excellent question. We see this time period mostly through The Murder Room and only once through this painful painting. What is it about the discouragement and malaise after WWI that fascinates? So much changed in English society. So much was lost. But Lady James has not shown us the details. She has not dwelt on it. For the time, it is merely a backdrop to murder and the intreguing statement that murder, the unique crime, is a paradigm of its age.
We find out later that Max's fascination for the museum caused him to ignore and hurt his children, most notably the middle child Neville. The other children too but they have not yet revealed how they were injured.
Cool Marcus keeps his emotions to himself.
Abrasive Caroline seems unfeeling.
Murder, The Unique Crime, is a Paradigm of Its Age
The Murder Room by PD James. This is a blog as I read the book.
Dalgliesh's eccentric and endearing old friend runs through some murder cases chronicled at the Dupayne Museum. Conrad Ackroyd's thesis is that murder is a paradigm of its age.
Mrs. Edith Thompson in the Thompson--Bywater case; 1922, Bywater the young lover kills husband. Edith's love letters convicts her.
Dalgliesh's character is introduced by his reaction to the Thompson case. "Even as a boy the case had confirmed him as an abolitionist; had it, he wondered, exerted a subter and more persuasive influence, the conviction, never spoken but increasingly rooted in his comprehension, that strong passions had to be subject to the will, that a completely self-absorbed love could be dangerous and the price too high to pay?"
We learn through Ackroyd that Dalgliesh is seeing a young beautiful woman. Not yet introduced. I wonder if she could inspire a strong passion in Dalgliesh?
And who of the players in this murder has a completely self-absorbed love that is dangerous?
The Wallace case; 1931 wife Julia is found battered to death, husband William Herbert accused and found guilty on circumstantial evidence by a jury that did not like him because he was a cool cucumber. The jury's verdict was later overturned on the grounds that the case was not proved with the certainty necessary to justify a guilty verdict.
Pretty cold, clinical stuff in contrast to the heat of the first murder case.
Ackroyd talks of the Duayne family during the drive. The father and founder, Max (deceased); the sons Marcus, retiring from Civil Service; Neville who garages his E-type Jaguar on the property.
All the motives for murder are covered by the three "L 's": Love; Lust; Lucre: Loathing, says PD James through dalgliesh's thoughts. And the most dangerous is Love.
Hmmmm. Who loves whom? Who is in love with what?
Dalgliesh's eccentric and endearing old friend runs through some murder cases chronicled at the Dupayne Museum. Conrad Ackroyd's thesis is that murder is a paradigm of its age.
Mrs. Edith Thompson in the Thompson--Bywater case; 1922, Bywater the young lover kills husband. Edith's love letters convicts her.
Dalgliesh's character is introduced by his reaction to the Thompson case. "Even as a boy the case had confirmed him as an abolitionist; had it, he wondered, exerted a subter and more persuasive influence, the conviction, never spoken but increasingly rooted in his comprehension, that strong passions had to be subject to the will, that a completely self-absorbed love could be dangerous and the price too high to pay?"
We learn through Ackroyd that Dalgliesh is seeing a young beautiful woman. Not yet introduced. I wonder if she could inspire a strong passion in Dalgliesh?
And who of the players in this murder has a completely self-absorbed love that is dangerous?
The Wallace case; 1931 wife Julia is found battered to death, husband William Herbert accused and found guilty on circumstantial evidence by a jury that did not like him because he was a cool cucumber. The jury's verdict was later overturned on the grounds that the case was not proved with the certainty necessary to justify a guilty verdict.
Pretty cold, clinical stuff in contrast to the heat of the first murder case.
Ackroyd talks of the Duayne family during the drive. The father and founder, Max (deceased); the sons Marcus, retiring from Civil Service; Neville who garages his E-type Jaguar on the property.
All the motives for murder are covered by the three "L 's": Love; Lust; Lucre: Loathing, says PD James through dalgliesh's thoughts. And the most dangerous is Love.
Hmmmm. Who loves whom? Who is in love with what?
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
The Players
Adam Dalgliesh -- Commander, Scotland Yard
Conrad Ackrod -- eccentric editor of PaterNoster, a book review
____Nellie, wife
Max Dupayne -- founder of the museum of the interwar years
Neville Dupayne -- son
Marcus Dupayne -- son, retiring from govmt service
____Alison, wife -- sophistocated, unfaithful, urbane
Caroline Dupayne -- principle of Swathling's Finishing School for Girls, London
Tally (Tallulah) Clutton, b 1938 (64 years old) -- house keeper of Dupayne Museum, a London-phile, nice woman, lives at the museum in a cottage (which makes this mystery set in 2002)
____Jennifer (daughter) & Roger Crawford; grandchildren Clive and Samantha
Ryan Archer -- young man, gardner at Dupayne Museum
Muriel Godby -- librarian of Dupayne Museum
Emma Lavenhan -- professor, English, Cambridge; love interst of Dalgliesh
Clara Bechwith -- friend of Emma, university friend, lesbian, financial analyst, London
Lady Swathling -- founder of Swathling's Finishing School for Girls, London
James Calder-Hale -- b 1947, 55 years old, curator of Dupayne Museum, cancer reoccured & 6 months to live?, determined to finish his history of the gap years
Mrs. Faraday -- volunteer at the museum, gardening
Mrs. Angela Faraday -- PA of Neville Dupayne, lover of ND
Selwyn Faraday -- son of Mrs. Faraday the elder, developmentally disabled, husband of Angela
Major Arkwright -- Maida Vale, homosexual, sponsor of Ryan Archer
____Mrs. Perrifield -- downstairs neighbor of the Major
Stanley Carter -- mechanic, Duncan's Garage in Highgate
Mrs. Strictland -- a frightenly competent elderly volunteer. 80-something years old, birth mother of Neville.
Kate Miskin -- Detective Inspector
Piers Trannant -- Inspector
Benton-Smith -- Inspector
Conrad Ackrod -- eccentric editor of PaterNoster, a book review
____Nellie, wife
Max Dupayne -- founder of the museum of the interwar years
Neville Dupayne -- son
Marcus Dupayne -- son, retiring from govmt service
____Alison, wife -- sophistocated, unfaithful, urbane
Caroline Dupayne -- principle of Swathling's Finishing School for Girls, London
Tally (Tallulah) Clutton, b 1938 (64 years old) -- house keeper of Dupayne Museum, a London-phile, nice woman, lives at the museum in a cottage (which makes this mystery set in 2002)
____Jennifer (daughter) & Roger Crawford; grandchildren Clive and Samantha
Ryan Archer -- young man, gardner at Dupayne Museum
Muriel Godby -- librarian of Dupayne Museum
Emma Lavenhan -- professor, English, Cambridge; love interst of Dalgliesh
Clara Bechwith -- friend of Emma, university friend, lesbian, financial analyst, London
Lady Swathling -- founder of Swathling's Finishing School for Girls, London
James Calder-Hale -- b 1947, 55 years old, curator of Dupayne Museum, cancer reoccured & 6 months to live?, determined to finish his history of the gap years
Mrs. Faraday -- volunteer at the museum, gardening
Mrs. Angela Faraday -- PA of Neville Dupayne, lover of ND
Selwyn Faraday -- son of Mrs. Faraday the elder, developmentally disabled, husband of Angela
Major Arkwright -- Maida Vale, homosexual, sponsor of Ryan Archer
____Mrs. Perrifield -- downstairs neighbor of the Major
Stanley Carter -- mechanic, Duncan's Garage in Highgate
Mrs. Strictland -- a frightenly competent elderly volunteer. 80-something years old, birth mother of Neville.
Kate Miskin -- Detective Inspector
Piers Trannant -- Inspector
Benton-Smith -- Inspector
A Chance Meeting on the Curb of Dacre Street
PD James is the Author of The Murder Room.
This is a weblog as I read the book.
This begins Book One: The People and the Place that sets up the murder mystery that takes place at the Dupayne Museum, Hampstead, London.
A chance meeting coming out of the St James Park Station onto Broadway (London), on the curb of Dacre Street, Adam Dalgliesh, Commander of Scotland Yard, meets an old and eccentric friend, Conrad Ackroyd.
Lady James begins by telling us that Dalgliesh visits the Dupayne Museum one week before the first murder. "The visit was fortuitous, the decision impulsive ..." If you have read Lady James' other Adam Dalgliesh Murder Mysteries, you will recognize that an impulsive action by Dalgliesh will be interesting indeed.
When we find that the impulsive action is to drive an old friend to a museum so he can continue his reasearch on murders in the "gap years" between the wars (WWI and WWII), I think how ordinary it would be to bump into a friend and be easily talked into dropping him off. But having lived in London, I know that it is also a generous gesture because Dalgliesh lives in a flat on the Thames and Conrad wants to go to Hampstead. It is going out of his way.
I live in Wash Park in Denver, so lets say that I meet an old eccentric friend at The Market, downtown. "Take me to The Cabrini Shrine," he says. "I am seeking to uncover the spiritual history of Denver and find that this saint of the orphaned and the abandoned speaks clearly to the mystical founding soul of Denver and the beauty of its 'better angels'."
My friend has to tempt me with the presentation of his quest. And so Conrad does with Dalgliesh.
This is a weblog as I read the book.
This begins Book One: The People and the Place that sets up the murder mystery that takes place at the Dupayne Museum, Hampstead, London.
A chance meeting coming out of the St James Park Station onto Broadway (London), on the curb of Dacre Street, Adam Dalgliesh, Commander of Scotland Yard, meets an old and eccentric friend, Conrad Ackroyd.
Lady James begins by telling us that Dalgliesh visits the Dupayne Museum one week before the first murder. "The visit was fortuitous, the decision impulsive ..." If you have read Lady James' other Adam Dalgliesh Murder Mysteries, you will recognize that an impulsive action by Dalgliesh will be interesting indeed.
When we find that the impulsive action is to drive an old friend to a museum so he can continue his reasearch on murders in the "gap years" between the wars (WWI and WWII), I think how ordinary it would be to bump into a friend and be easily talked into dropping him off. But having lived in London, I know that it is also a generous gesture because Dalgliesh lives in a flat on the Thames and Conrad wants to go to Hampstead. It is going out of his way.
I live in Wash Park in Denver, so lets say that I meet an old eccentric friend at The Market, downtown. "Take me to The Cabrini Shrine," he says. "I am seeking to uncover the spiritual history of Denver and find that this saint of the orphaned and the abandoned speaks clearly to the mystical founding soul of Denver and the beauty of its 'better angels'."
My friend has to tempt me with the presentation of his quest. And so Conrad does with Dalgliesh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)