Wednesday 22 October 2014

Review: The Chimney Sweeper's Boy by Barbara Vine.


Book: The Chimney Sweeper's Boy

Author: Barbara Vine

Pages: 438

Read On: Paperback

How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days

Plot Summary: Writing as Barbara Vine, Britain's preeminent mystery novelist Ruth Rendell crafts literary suspense of the highest order. With this richly textured and utterly absorbing page-tumer, Vine adds to her growing reputation as one of the great writers of our time.
Bestselling and critically acclaimed novelist Gerald Candless dies suddenly, and leaves behind a wife and two doting daughters. To sort through her grief, his daughter Sarah puts aside her university studies and agrees to write a biography of her famous father. But as she begins her research and pulls back the veil of his past, her life is slowly torn apart: a terrible logic begins to unfold that explains her mother's remoteness, her father's need to continually reinvent himself -- and sheds shocking light on a long-forgotten London murder. 

General Thoughts: I've read only one other Ruth Rendell book before this one and I wasn't massively impressed by it. It was not the best psychological thriller I had ever read. But this book sounded really nice and I am a huge fan about dysfunctional families and the like, so I had to give it a whirl. 

Truth be told I have had this book on my bookshelf for over two years and the only reason I picked it up now was because the blurb on the back of the book claimed this was a suspenseful psychological thriller. Hmmm...it was not. But read on for more thoughts. 

Things I Liked: 

1. The writing was really good. The book flowed smoothly and the writing was polished and lovely. 

2. The plot and the subject matter was pretty amazing. A devoted father who turns out to be a different person altogether. I love family stories and mysteries surrounding family members. 

3. The book did a great job of taking us right inside this family and it's rather screwed up dynamics. 

4. The characters were fantastically written and very memorable, this is even more remarkable because there are quite a few characters in this book. Big or small, each character is crafted very well. 

5. I really liked Ursula's characters, her life, her strange married life and her life as an ignored mother was both sad, heart-breaking and incredibly interesting to read. I was equal parts rooting for her and frustrated by her almost passive acceptance of her life situation. 

6. The little investigation into the past of Gerald Candless was also interesting and it lead from one point to another really well and in the course of this investigation we meet some very nice characters and told their stories too. 

7. The sisters, meaning the beloved daughters of Gerald Candless- Sarah and Hope, were some of the worst people I've read in some time. Spoilt, entitled, snobs and so horrible to their mothers. It was hard to believe at times that these were full-grown women and not teenagers! 

Things I Didn't Like: 

1. I was really enjoying this book and then around the half-way mark I wished it would hurry on a bit. 

2. As much as I liked Ursula, I did wonder why she stayed in a marriage, a family where is wasn't wanted at all? Why not leave? Why would she, or anyone put up with such type of abuse? 

3. Sarah and Hope were just horrible and such insufferable snobs, but the worst thing about them was their attitude towards their mother. They are plain unkind and indifferent to their mother and it made me so mad! 

4. The worst person in this book was without a doubt Gerald Candless. He was a jerk. An abusive dick. The way in which he pretty much ensnares his wife and treats her during the course of his marriage and writes about her in his fiction was deplorable. 

5. A lot of answers are given when the mystery is solved and we find out who Gerald Candless was, I still felt it didn't serve as an excuse for his behaviour. Nothing is an excuse for being abusive and cold to your spouse. NOTHING. It slightly bothers me that, we, as readers, are perhaps meant to feel sorry for poor old Gerald for being gay *SLIGHT SPOILER* in a time where is wasn't acceptable to be gay. That just can't be an excuse for being a jerk. 

6. The big reveal, the very reason why Gerald gave up his former life and changed his very life was a bit..underwhelming. I didn't really think it was a reason to abandon a family he loved so much. Especially, later, he could have gone back at any time but chose not to. 

7. One of the bigger elements of the mystery were incredible easy to guess. Even if this was your first ever mystery book you'd guess it. 

Rating: 3.5/5 

I really enjoyed this book, but I did have some problems with it. 




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