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Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross
Published by Knopf, an imprint of Random House
When David Pepin’s wife is found dead from her peanut allergy, he is immediately suspected of her murder. After all, he was in the room with her when she sat down and ate a plate full of peanuts, knowing full well she was allergic to them, and who would believe that she did it herself to commit suicide? As the investigation progresses, Ross plays with repetition and interweaving of story lines to keep the reader guessing as to what is real, what is not, and how exactly everything will fit together.
“Mr. Peanut” has been getting a lot of love lately, but you’re not going to find any of that here.
Don’t get me wrong, I admired the way that Ross wove his story together. It cannot have been easy to keep all of the threads working together and making something that resembled sense. He is either very gifted or has a fabulous editor (or both, most likely). The creativity of the entire thing was great, really. Part of the problem was one of expectations. As I mentioned, I had been hearing people absolutely rave about this book, calling it a spectacular mindf*ck (essentially, something that twists and turns and comes back to absolutely blow your mind, because you never saw any of it coming). Perhaps it would have been, had I not been expecting to be blown away. As it was, I could admire the cleverness, but nothing particularly shocked me. Not that I necessarily foresaw what was going to happen, but when such things did happen, my response was always more “ah, yes, that makes sense” than “WOW!”
I also had a big problem with the relationships and the way that women were depicted. Many people have called “Mr. Peanut” anti-marriage for the dysfunctional relationships and the way all of the men either contemplate or are accused of killing their wives. He has argued that it is actually pro-marriage and showing that you have to work at it, which I can buy, although that is nothing that ever crossed my mind while reading. I’m not sure what redeeming message was behind the characterizations of the wives, however. The third wife was not so bad, but the first two are the worst stereotype of women in relationships, essentially telling their husbands over and over “if you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you!” when the hapless men inquired as to what was wrong. Their husbands seemed to be working at the relationships while the women were content just to be annoyed and not do anything about it, and, honestly, it really turned me off of the book.
Between the expectation gap and the female characters, I felt pretty profoundly ‘meh’ about “Mr. Peanut.” Yes, Ross’s structuring of the story was top-notch, but it wasn’t quite enough for me - and itself was mitigated by the heavy-handed references to mobius strips that made me feel less valued as a reader, as if I need it to be spelled out for me. I would advise giving this one a pass, but also being on the lookout for future projects from Adam Ross.
Buy this book from: Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.* Amazon.*
This review was done with a book borrowed from the library.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer, narrated by Maureen O’Brien
Published in audio by BBC Audiobooks America
Synopsis:
Siblings Peter, Margaret, and Celia, and Celia’s husband Charles have just inherited a ramshackle old house from their uncle. It is a bit primitive, without electricity or phone, but what is really worrying, to the women in particular, are the stories of a ghostly and dangerous monk who haunts the house and the grounds. Peter and Charles are less convinced about the existence of ghosts, so when odd things begin happening, they are sure that there is a logical explanation for the whole thing, and set out to discover what it is.
Thoughts on the story:
I love Heyer’s mysteries so much, even if they are quite general quite predictable. In a mixed blessing, this one had decided less silly characters than the other Heyer mysteries I have read (“Death in the Stocks” really took the cake for insipid yet fun characters, although they also made an appearance in “They Found Him Dead“). This one was a bit different than the others, since there was less of a strong police presence investigating the crime and more a focus on the effected family trying to figure out what, exactly, was going on. And, to my surprise, the ending of “Footsteps in the Dark” was not nearly as predictable as the other two. I was completely wrong in my guess as to whom the Monk was, although I figured out the true occupation of another character quite a long time before Heyer’s reveal.
Thoughts on the audio production:
I’m so-so on Maureen O’Brien as narrator in this production. On one hand, her voice was just as I might have imagined the one belonging to one of Heyer’s stories. On the other hand, she spoke far too quickly in the beginning, so much so that I considered using my iPod to slow down the speed of the audiobook. I’m still not sure whether she slowed down or I simply acclimated to it, but I had a difficult time catching what she said initially. Now, this does fit the feel of Heyer, but it also impeded the listening process, so on the whole I think it was a negative. Also, one of the secondary characters were French, and her French accent was absolutely painful, really the stereotypical bad French accent.
Overall:
Not mind blowing in story or narration, but still quite enjoyable. Heyer mysteries are a great palate cleanser, I really need to get a backlog of them both in print and audio.
Buy this book from:
BBC Audiobooks America
This review was done with a book received from the library.
The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, narrated by Carolyn McCormick
Published in print by Scholastic Press
Published in audio by Scholastic Audio
This is just going to be a commentary on the audio editions. I have previously reviewed the print versions of both “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire.” The following thoughts are completely spoiler-free.
When I first started listening to audio versions of “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire,” I was very disconcerted. There is pretty much no way at all that Carolyn McCormick’s voice could pass for that of a teenage girl. Don’t get me wrong, she has a gorgeous voice and I would love to listen to her read literary fiction, but it seemed very odd in the first person narrative of a teenager (incidentally, this is the second Scholastic Audio casting in a row in which I thought at least one narrator sounded far too old for their character - perhaps there is a dearth of narrators who can pass for teens?).
Although I had a hard time with such a mature voice narrating Katniss’s inner-most thoughts and giving voice to her words, McCormick did a fabulous job with the voices of other characters. Between “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire,” McCormick appears to have been given direction to actually do a voice for Katniss, instead of narrating in her own voice. Although it was still odd to hear Katniss’s thoughts in McCormick’s voice, it did help me believe her words as those of the teenager a bit better.
McCormick did a fabulous job with most of the voices, and imbued “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire” audios with the danger and drama of the books, so over all I would say these are highly recommended, even if her Katniss really had to grow on me. I can’t wait to get the audio of “Mockingjay” for a reread.
I borrowed both of these audiobooks from the library.
American Music by Jane Mendelsohn
Published by Knopf, an imprint of Random House
Milo is a severely wounded war vet. Honor is a physical therapist coming to the rehabilitation hospital working with Milo, massaging his back - and only his back, because he refuses to lay on his back. Except something odd is happening whenever Honor touches Milo. Somehow, memories of the past are welling out of Milo’s body when Honor works on him. Not memories of his past, but of seemingly unconnected people, primarily from the last 100 years.
Mendelsohn’s writing is absolutely gorgeous and completely lyrical. That being said, it took me quite awhile to get into the book. Although beautiful, the way the writing is crafted - particularly the lack of quotation marks and, occasionally, other punctuation - served to separate me from the characters and kept me from getting a good feel for them for a good 100 pages. Flashing back to the past didn’t help that, although it did provide the interest in the novel.
I loved the way the stories ended up coming together, for awhile there I wasn’t sure it was going to happen. I must say, I am still slightly unsure how the harem of the Ottoman Empire really connected to the other stories. It just didn’t seem to come together in quite the same way, although I have my suspicions of what we are meant to take from it, but all of the other stories connected to one another in just one way, and this didn’t quite fit the mold.
If you’re a fan of gorgeous writing, don’t hesitate to pick up “American Music.” If you tend to need a good measure of plot and character, stick with “American Music.” You may not be sure about it at the beginning, but the story will grow on you, and it is worth it by the end. Recommended.
Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.* Amazon.*
This review was done with a book borrowed from the library
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
The City & the City by China Mieville, narrated by John Lee
Published in audio by Random House Audio
Published in print by Del Ray, an imprint of Random House
Synopsis:
When a young woman is found murdered in Beszel, a city-state somewhere in Eastern Europe, detective Inspector Tyador Borlu finds himself pulled into a mystery with sticky inter-and trans-national implications, forcing him into the ‘neighboring’ city-state of Ul Qoma, in order to solve the crime before he becomes the next victim.
Thoughts on the story:
I absolutely adore the world that Mieville created in “The City & The City.” An outside observer would say that Ul Qoma and Beszel were one and the same city, but the residents and governments of the two city-states would soundly disagree. Since the two were meant to be different countries, although they were geographically intertwined, residents of one city could not interact with - or even admit to seeing - residents, buildings, vehicles, etc. of the other city without first crossing the border and visiting the other city. This made for a fascinating aspect of the story with all of the un-seeing that everyone was forced to do, and allowed the addition of various radical groups vying either for unification or more complete separation of the two entities. The disparities between the two cities was also very interesting, with Ul Qoma booming and Beszel flailing, but attempting to lure in new investment. It was, of course, the murder investigation that drove the story, but, although it was well done, I just wanted the chance to live in and explore this world.
Thoughts on the audio production:
John Lee has earned himself a place on my ‘narrators to follow’ mental list with his narration of “The City & The City”. As confusing a plot as Mieville put together, the audio could have easily been a disaster, but Lee narrated confidently and clearly, treating the oddities of Beszel and Ul Qoma as common place. Additionally, I am forever indebted to him for an idea how how to pronounce the names of people and places in “The City & The City.” If I had attempted the print version, I think that I would have spent an inordinate amount of time attempting pronunciations in my head.
Overall:
I love, love, loved the story, and loved the audio. Highly recommended.
Buy this book from:
Audible: Audio (download) Books on Tape: Audio (cds)
Powells: Print*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound: Print*
Amazon: Print*
This review was done with a book borrowed from the library.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
Sandy
Michelle
Rebecca Rasmussen
Beth F
Stephanie
Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross
The City & the City by China Mieville, narrated by John Lee
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