Zzzzzzzzzz. Oh, sorry. Must have dozed off. Author takes perfectly good plots and turns them into flat, lifeless stories. Apparently not able to bring the reader along on the adventure, so he settles for a retelling of it.
Young love frustrated by a mean old miser and cast apart by the high seas! Alas! You're not expected to take any of this too seriously; it's mostly sarcastic, witty and amusing. There's also a struggle over an inheritance and a courtroom drama out of Dickens. And a situation that gives rise to this comment:
"No girl would allow herself to be tattooed in the interest of abstract justice."
A period piece with little to recommend it. Country schoolmaster is murdered on his way to class. Someone tries to kill his brother. Everyone sails for Europe. Why? Sounds more interesting than it is.
As fresh as if it were written yesterday. A triangle involving the narrator's sister, her husband (guy's best friend) and another man (interested in wife) ends in murder most foul. The how-dunnit is very creative, especially considering this was published in 1920. Fast paced; lots of twists and turns. Good read.
The beautiful young seamstress goes missing from handsome Mr. Blake's house. He says he had never noticed her. In fact, everyone says he never shows an interest in any woman. But everyone's wrong.
The mystery equivalent of a screwball comedy, a la Grant and Hepburn. Hang on and fasten your seatbelts, this one hurtles forward at 100 mph. The end comes out of nowhere, of course. The central issue: is our amnesiac hero a master crook, or a fabulously wealthy French aristocrat? Or both? Or neither?
Severe trauma - her father's death- robs the heroine of her memory of EVERYthing. It takes four years to relearn how to think, to talk, to read. Then she decides to go after the person who shot him. But she still remembers nothing from before the death; until the dreams begin.
Allen handles the amnesia plot device well. Endng is a bit soft, but all-in-all worth a quick read.
A stunning book. Still relevant to those who find it all to easy to become over-involved with possessions. Galsworthy won the Nobel for The Forsyte Saga, and one can see why. His characters are not simply Good or Bad (not even Soames). They are real. And it is a compelling story.
This is a Jane Eyre take-off. The ending is appalling. It fails to deal with - virtually ignores - a horrible crime against two women. What was Mrs. Green thinking?
Recent comments: User reviews
Young love frustrated by a mean old miser and cast apart by the high seas! Alas! You're not expected to take any of this too seriously; it's mostly sarcastic, witty and amusing. There's also a struggle over an inheritance and a courtroom drama out of Dickens. And a situation that gives rise to this comment:
"No girl would allow herself to be tattooed in the interest of abstract justice."
Allen handles the amnesia plot device well. Endng is a bit soft, but all-in-all worth a quick read.