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reading (Mrs. Jeffries Pinches the Post)
Jun. 25th, 2011 10:14 amI finished "Mrs. Jeffries Pinches the Post" yesterday. It's a Victorian mystery, in a Disney kind of way. This is Victorian England without any division between the classes. The household servants can take days off to wander about because it really only takes a few minutes work a day to keep a household functional and clean. Afterall, it's not like these people had an inherently hard life.
The writing is sad. Characters hurry across the street by strolling. The author loses track of what they said a paragraph before and the editor just let it slide, so you have the same character downing his glass of whiskey when it gets to the table, then finishing the drink as he stands to leave. If an author can't be bothered to pay attention to the characters' actions, why should we?
The clues in this mystery are obvious even to someone as dense as I am. The lengths the characters had to go to avoid seeing them was painful at points. The final action sequence falls apart under the 'why would the characters do that' test.
This book would be alright for a young reader, but if you wanted to point a young reader to a Victorian mystery the Sherlock Holmes adventures would provide more delight and encourage better vocabulary and writing habits.
In short, life is short, there are lots of good books to read. Go find one of them.
24. Emily Brightwell "Mrs. Jeffries Pinches the Post"
The writing is sad. Characters hurry across the street by strolling. The author loses track of what they said a paragraph before and the editor just let it slide, so you have the same character downing his glass of whiskey when it gets to the table, then finishing the drink as he stands to leave. If an author can't be bothered to pay attention to the characters' actions, why should we?
The clues in this mystery are obvious even to someone as dense as I am. The lengths the characters had to go to avoid seeing them was painful at points. The final action sequence falls apart under the 'why would the characters do that' test.
This book would be alright for a young reader, but if you wanted to point a young reader to a Victorian mystery the Sherlock Holmes adventures would provide more delight and encourage better vocabulary and writing habits.
In short, life is short, there are lots of good books to read. Go find one of them.
24. Emily Brightwell "Mrs. Jeffries Pinches the Post"
