by Sara Paretsky. London; New York : Verso, 2007. ISBN-13 978-1-84467-122-9.
I don't normally do book reviews, but this was just tremendous. It's been a very, very long time since I read a book in one or two sittings, finished it and then started at the front again for a longer read.
I've loved Paretsky's stylish detective/private eye novels for a long time; I've waited anxiously for the next one to come out for the last 15 years or so - but knew nothing about the author apart from the fiercely liberal opinions she's given her character VI Warshawski. In the last couple of books, written since the events of 2001 and the US administration's reaction to them, Paretsky has nailed her colours to the mast more clearly, but in this collection and elaboration of five lectures - part (sometimes startling) autobiography, part polemic, part literary theory - she explores voice and voicelessness, and does it brilliantly. She presses all the familiar buttons - the Civil Rights movement, Roe v. Wade, the USA Patriot Act; but she brings her personal experience to bear. And she introduces some slightly surprising elements to the arguments - Laura Ingalls Wilder, Natty Bumppo, Beth March*...
You don't need to have read a Paretsky novel to enjoy this book - she's a fierce, compassionate, feminist, literate, liberal American voice at a time where such are scarce - but I can't imagine finishing this book without wanting to read one...
*and the arrest of Joshilyn Jackson, author of the wonderful Gods in Alabama and Between, Georgia...
Normal knitting coverage will be resumed shortly.
I am not a fan of crime fiction, and only know Paretsky's name from the V.I.Warshawski connection (being an admirer of Kathleen Turner from way back when she played Dolores Hfuhruhurr in "The Man With Two Brains"!) but I very much enjoyed "Ne le dis a personne" so am thinking perhaps I have an unreasonable aversion to the genre ... You have intrigued me.
ReplyDelete