Archive for the ‘character-driven’ Tag
After reading The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, I wanted to read more in the series of the same name. The Man Who Died Twice is the second of five that follow the crime solving escapades of Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim, septuagenarian residents of an upscale retirement complex in rural England.
The format is the same as the introductory novel. Chapters alternate between those written in third person voice and those told from Joyce’s perspective. Joyce is the character with heart, who sees the good in people. She’s a good foil to the hardened Elizabeth, a former M15 spy. There are also two plot lines.
One involves nabbing the young thug who mugged Ibrahim; the second is more complex because it brings Elizabeth’s past into the limelight. He ex-husband, also a spy, is accused of stealing diamonds from a man with connections to various worldwide crime organizations.
There’s plenty of humor, intrigue and even a little romance. Osman’s characters are intelligent and caring. This includes the two local police officers they befriended, and often irritated, in the first book. The writing is sharp and engaging as the author provides more insight into the characters’ histories. After all, who knew Elizabeth had an ex?! That isn’t all that’s revealed about their pasts.
Of course, there’s a murder to solve, perhaps even two. This, and efforts to bring Ibrahim’s perpetrator to justice, keep the foursome busy, the police wondering and some of the bad guys unaware of what awaits them.
The Man Who Died Twice
Four Bookmarks
Pamela Dorman Books, 2021
368 pages
Louise Erdrich seamlessly weaves together a fast-paced, engaging story of young love, manipulative relationships, the environment and secrets in The Mighty Red.
This novel is rich in well-developed characters beginning with Kismet is a bright, sensitive yet impulsive high school senior with plans to leave her small town in the rural Red River Valley of North Dakota. Her best friend is Hugo, a brilliant home-schooled social outcast is in love with Kismet. Gary is the son of the wealthiest family in town and star quarterback. He’s not an enigma but carries a dark secret, and is also in love with Kismet. He’s desperate to marry her believing that she can help him forget that which haunts him.
Yes, there are adults, but the actions of some are less mature than the teens. Gary’s mother and Kismet’s father have their own (unrelated) agendas, which alternate between the comical and sad. Only Crystal, Kismet’s mother, seems to have a logical take on things, until she briefly doesn’t.
The tragic humor Erdrich interjects throughout the narrative is not limited to the relationships, but also to the over-cultivation of the land, land that once belonged to Native Americans and now makes a lucky few rich through sugarbeet farming. There’s no mistaking the irony that Crystal and Kismet are Ojibwe; with the mother driving the crops to the sugar refinery and Kismet as the farmer’s son object of desire.
As critical as the characters are to the storyline, the land is also a significant element.
The Mighty Red
Four Bookmarks
Harper, 2024
372 pages
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche gets off to a slow start in its account of Biafra’s struggle for independence from Nigeria in the 1960s. It gains momentum as the story evolves from more than a glimpse into African history into the lives of the characters experiencing the turmoil.
Sisters Olanna and Kainene are twins by birth only. Olanna is beautiful, warm and relinguishes her privileged lifestyle to live with Odenigbo, a university professor and strong supporter of the revolution against Nigeria. Kainene is distant, not as attractive and lives with Richard, a reserved Englishman. Ugwu is the young servant boy in Odenigbo’s house who becomes part of the family.
A host of other characters, with names hard to pronounce and keep straight, inhabit the narrative, but the above are the ones with whom the reader becomes attached. This is thanks to the author’s early descriptions of their lives before the conflict and how they are changed as a consequence of it.
Talk of a revolution becomes war and the efforts to establish Biafra as a free, independent nation push Olanna and Odenigbo deeper into the inconveniences and dangers of the conflict. Hunger, filth, death and despair surround them in their efforts to survive.
The past real-world events addressing race and class issues, ethnic histories and colonialism in Africa is haunting. As the novel progresses to its frenetic climax, I wanted a return to its earlier, meandering pace if only to spend more time with the characters.
Half of a Yellow Sun
Four-and-half Bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2006
433 pages
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