Have you ever seen the funny, slightly dark comedy Groundhog Day, in which the hilarious Bill Murray lives the same iconic day over and over again?
How about the prim and proper BBC show Downton Abbey, where a family of British aristocrats intermingle and share the drama with their colorful and full-bodied staff?
Have you read any of Agatha Christie’s novels where puddles in the alcove, open windows, and missing keys all carry their weight in significance and intrigue?
Have you played the board game Clue, in which you have nearly a dozen rooms, colorful suspects, old-fashioned weapons, and a pair of dice to solve a crime?
If you answered yes to any of the above, then you will have some understanding of Stuart Turton’s mind-bending murder mystery, The Seven and a Half Deaths of Eveyln Hardcastle. It is a healthy mix of all of those stories, with a sprinkling of The Twilight Zone, along with its own unique twists, turns, drops of blood, dark corridors, rainy nights, and distant gunshots.
Nineteen years after a mysterious murder at the Blackheath House, the family and associates are lured back to the estate on the anniversary of the death of young Thomas Hardcastle. However, this time, it’s his older sister Evelyn’s life that is in danger.
Turton has basically written a love story to Agatha Christie with this creative work. While his narrative is completely original, it smacks on every page of Christie’s genius plot turns and vivid characterizations. I felt exactly the same way I did when I read And Then There Were None, when I got to the deliciously frustrating point that I couldn’t figure out any possible way the mystery would be solved…but then it did! Turton’s tale has the same elements of desperation, intrigue, and mind-baffling clues, which all resolve in a way you could never in a million years see coming.
As a reader and lover of the traditional classics, I am always wondering which of my current, contemporary reads may be the next modern classic. Which one can stand the test of time? Which one has reached the lofts of the literary greats? Which one will be reread and recommended time and time again? Which will have characters, themes, and plot twists which will not be forgotten? I honestly believe that The Seven and Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle could be one.
Read it. Take some Ibuprofen for the slight headache you’ll develop. Then read some more.
***WARNING: The following commentary on Go Set a Watchman contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.***
Dear Miss Lee,
I, like many thousands of devoted fans of your wonderful book To Kill a Mockingbird, bought and read your “new” novel, Go Set a Watchman. I tried my best to not read much about it leading up to its official release. In our day of social media and internet news, this task was more difficult than I thought, and I did hit upon a few of the teasers and early reviews. I knew going into this novel that it would be different, that I would likely be disappointed with some aspects. I’m guessing you probably knew this too. I’m guessing with Watchman actually being a first draft for Mockingbird that you might feel this way a little bit yourself.
Miss Lee, I have many questions about your recent book. Many. But they all begin with the same word: Why. I realize that you are now on the extreme side of elderly. I realize that it is very unlikely that you will ever read this post. I realize there are probably no answers to some of these questions. But for my own peace of mind and sense of closure, I ask them anyway. Feel free, my dear and few readers, to answer them if you feel you have a plausible explanation for any or all of the following…
Why is Jem dead?
Please excuse my bluntness, Miss Lee. One of the main reasons most people wanted to read this novel is that we loved your characters, and we wanted to see what had happened to them and where they were in life in your new story. To find out, ten pages in, that Jem is in fact, six feet under stopped me in my tracks. I had to reread the passage several times. It was mentioned so off-handedly, had happened a couple of years before this novel takes place, and was not central to what was going on in the novel at that point. I almost stopped reading then and there. If I had been near a body of water, I might have chucked my copy in. No Jem? No protector and tormentor of Scout? No leader of the gang? No maker-upper of games and stories? How could this be? I quickly did my math and realized that he would have only been about thirty years old. Of course, I wanted to know what happened. Of course, I trusted you to explain more. And you did. Still…I…well…Miss Lee, you didn’t have to go there. I know you wrote this novel first. I know you didn’t anticipate how much we would all love Jem and wish we had a big brother just like him. Maybe you could have imagined him living somewhere else so that he didn’t have to be key to this plot, but…dead?! So young?! Miss Lee, this fact alone makes me want to take you and shake you by your frail eighty-nine year-old little shoulders until you do something about this. Actually I’d never do that to anyone, let alone a little, old lady who probably has a lot of the Scout spirit in her and would kick me hard in the shins, but it does make me shake my head and wonder what you were thinking… Surely you loved Jem just as much as we did. Right? Please tell me I’m right, Miss Lee!
Why doesn’t the plot go anywhere?
When I first read Mockingbird I was in the ninth grade, and it was assigned in my English class. My family had about a four hour round trip drive to make, so I reluctantly stuck my trade paperback into my purse to take with me. About thirty minutes into our drive I pulled it out and began. I think I had about five chapters due in the next several days. I groaned when I realized their length. My reading tastes back then gravitated to Seventeen Magazine and the Sweet Valley High series. However, I was almost instantaneously pulled into your mesmerizing story. The plot was perfect and so intricately supported by your well-developed characters. I was in awe. I couldn’t put it down. I finished it by the end of our trip, and to this day credit your fine novel with fostering a love of good, worthwhile literature. Even amidst the flurry of controversy, I expected something similar in Watchman. But the plot never really happens. I’m an English teacher Miss Lee, so I read literature looking for some semblance of the line graph plot structure, and your rising action was sketchy and slow at best. Your climax? I’m sorry to say this to someone I respect so much, but it was lame, Miss Lee. I think of a literature climax as the point right before the final descent of a rickety wooden rollercoaster, but Watchmen‘s compared more to a neighborhood speed bump. I was let down, and I’m not the only one. I understand on this point alone why your publishers wanted you to rewrite/reconfigure your story. The characters (minus the one you killed off…hmph!) are still there and are still engaging. I hear your amazing writing voice in Watchman, Miss Lee; I’m just not overly compelled to stay up late and finish because there’s nothing that interesting going on.
Why didn’t you bring back Dill?
Dill is not dead, but in all honesty, Miss Lee, he might as well be. It’s completely obvious that Scout (I’m sorry…I refuse to call her Jean Louise) is or could be in love with him, not Henry. It’s very clear from her pining memories of him that he is her soul mate. So, with all the other disappointment and disillusionment that Scout faces in this novel, why couldn’t we, your devoted readers, have a happy ending where Dill comes back from Europe, isn’t a bigot like everyone else we’ve grown to love, and sweeps Scout right off her loafered feet? Is that asking too much? I did appreciate the vignettes you included from their childhood. A couple of them were long and very reminiscent of your first and more endearing novel. As a reader, that is where I wanted to live…on the humid back lawn, playing pretend with Jem and Dill or creeping up into the balcony of the courthouse. But those moments were too few and too far between. It made me sad and always feeling like there was something just out of reach (that, by the way, is why I continued to read it and so quickly…thinking all the while that it just had to get better…there had to be something redemptive coming…)
Why the heck do you never mention Boo Radley?
Another reason I kept reading was for a mention of Boo. I wasn’t expecting for Scout to meet him for a soda or anything. But something. I expected something. Scout remembered everything: nuances from her elementary days, Calpurnia’s facial expressions, what Atticus read to them, the clothes of Jem’s high school girl friend. It’s completely unbelievable that the nostalgic two weeks she spends at home sparks no memories of her mysterious next door neighbor. His mention didn’t need to be epic or long or even that noteworthy, but he drove the plot of Mockingbird and shared the heroic spotlight with Atticus. He deserved at least a mention.
Why…Atticus?
Miss Lee, this is the hardest question I have to ask, and I’m getting a bit of a lump in my throat as I do, but why…WHY…did you find it necessary to throw Atticus under the bus? Most of us read fiction to get away from reality, to believe that the ideal is possible. You did this so beautifully and believably with Atticus in Mockingbird. I understand that no one is perfect. I understand that you are portraying 1950s southern culture realistically. I understand that his character was based upon your own father and the influence of your own bigoted society had upon him over the years, but Atticus?! Was that really necessary to get your point across? Couldn’t you have just used Henry, whom none of us really liked anyway? Did it have to be the real watchman of Maycomb? All of this said, I liked your resolution. I liked that both Atticus and Scout were more open-minded than what we expected. I liked that they ended with respect and love for one another, despite that they didn’t necessarily completely understand one another. That is real, and I thank you for that.
Miss Lee, I apologize that this letter that you will never read makes me sound like a whiny baby. I really, really wanted to celebrate this book. I wanted to sing its praises, skip and turn cartwheels, paint a mural, and roast a pig in its honor. I wanted to so, so, so badly…but I just can’t. I know that not every book ends up the way that we want them to. I understand the publishing circumstances of this book were way out of the ordinary, and perhaps way out of your hands as well. I get it. I’ve read reviews of this book that have stated that Watchman has ruined future readings of Mockingbird. I want you to know that I don’t feel that way. I still love Mockingbird, and I still think it is one of the finest examples of good storytelling to hit the written page, and I will still faithfully read it every few years. And I still love you. I still love that you were inspired to invent these characters that we all adore and cherish and think of as friends.
I’ve had a lot of people ask me what I thought of your new book, and it has been a hard thing to answer, especially without spoiling it for them. I have tried to convey that I believe this book is true to you, that it was a valiant first effort of yours, that you did the right thing to go back to the drawing board to create a better, glorious novel. I am not sorry that now it has been published. I am not sorry to have read it. I am only sorry that it was not as good or as meaningful as To Kill a Mockingbird. I’m sorry that I won’t want to read it over and over again. But, you know what? I feel exactly that way about almost every book I read, so if nothing else, Miss Harper Lee, you definitely know how to set a bar and set it high.
I’ve finished this one. Be still my heart. It started out a bit on the slow side, but once I was about a third the way through this, I was hooked. For one, the film was coming out, and I was foaming at the mouth to see it. (Again, be still my heart. It was sooooo good.) Number two, I enjoy Hardy’s pastoral style of writing and vivid characters. Granted, this book is not for everyone. If you are not in the crowd that enjoys classics like Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters, then you probably won’t like this one either. I had read Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbevilles years ago and loved that one as well. This one has a cheerier ending than Tess, so if that one was a downer for you, then you might like this one better.
I’m only a chapter or two into this one, but the whole concept is already resonating deeply with me. It’s all about contentment and making the best of where you find yourself currently. I don’t know about you, but I am often in need of a healthy dose of this kind of encouragement. I was given a gift card from one of my English students at the end of the year to Barnes & Noble, and I had in mind to track this book down. I was pleasantly surprised to find it in the Christian book section of the store. I in no way, shape, or form try to read just Christian material, but on a subject like this it is interesting to read it from a perspective of faith. Apparently, the author has quite a popular blog that you might be interested in checking out as well.
This was an impulse purchase from B&N when I was buying the above book. It was on one of those ever-so-tempting tables as you head to the checkout that boasts older bestsellers for only $4.95…or something like that. They had me at Charlotte Bronte…and secret…and diary. It has good reviews, so I’ll let you know once I get a chance to crack it open.
This is actually a collection of O’Conner short stories. If you have never read anything by Flannery O’Conner, you are missing out. She is so Southern and spiritual and twisted. I’ve found that you can read her stories at numerous levels. You begin a story, and you quickly find yourself having to read to the end because you have to know how it turns out. Then you can go the next step, and read it metaphorically because…goodness gracious…they all mean something else, and not in a hidden, College English 301 kind of way, but in a hit-you-up-side-of-the-head-OF COURSE kind of way. She had this way of writing about people we all know. Sometimes it feels she’s writing about you or your family. It’s actually deliciously creepy…but I like it. And then the truths she writes of, without actually writing about them, are so raw. I’m sure God is pretty proud of ole’ Flannery and her parables. Thirdly, you can read it just for the pure, unadulterated good writing. She knows how to put words together in such simple, yet such complex ways (a paradox, I know). It is so direct. It is so, so good. If you love good writing, you will love and admire Flannery O’Conner.
I have wanted to read this for years, but, in all honesty, it seemed a little daunting to me. Recently, my future son-in-law pointed out that it has thirty-one chapters in it, so if you read a chapter a day, you could read it in a month, sort of like a devotional. So, that was my plan. I’ve read two chapters, and I can tell it is not going to work like that for me. It is too rich, and I’m usually a tad distracted in my reading. For me, this is going to take a lot longer, but still I’m already finding value in savoring a few pages at a time.
Bonhoeffer, if you don’t know, was a German and a Christian at the time of WWII, and he was eventually arrested by the Nazis. If you aren’t already aware of his story, I won’t spoil it, but even if you don’t read his own books, his biographies might interest you. Years ago Focus on the Family made a radio drama on his life, and it is excellent.
I picked this book up at Goodwill a while back. I always love hearing about what other people are reading, and this book lists the favorites of 115 different writers. Some of my best book finds have been through others’ recommendations, so I am curious to what some great writers themselves recommend. Next year’s summer reading list, perhaps…?
This was another Goodwill find. I’ve read a couple of Toni Morrison novels before, and while she is an excellent writer, sometimes things get a little gritty for my taste. I’ve been compelled to try this one, however, because of the racial climate of late. I’m a person who tends to find and hit my emotional nerve through good, vivid literature rather than the latest news story. So, this is my way to stay empathetic in regard to current events. I’ll let you know how it goes…
I’m about a third through this one, and it is every bit as good and compelling as the reviews make it out to be. I’m hoping to find some time to finish this one by the end of this week. I’m at a point in the story where it is getting harder and harder to put it down, so I have to be careful about when I actually pick it up. My family wants to be fed, you know. Sheesh. My only warning is that it has some rather raw language in spots. It’s not prolifically throughout so far, but enough to make me wince a bit.
Actually, I’m only planning on the The Song of the Lark. I’ve already read O, Pioneers!, and I don’t know anything about the other one. I enjoy Willa Cather, but it’s been a while since I’ve picked her up, so I threw this one on the pile on a whim. If one gets left off this summer though, it will probably be this one. Sorry, Willa.
I was dumbfounded, literally dumbfounded, when I heard this book was being published this year. To Kill a Mockingbird is easily one of the best books I’ve ever read. I was assigned it in ninth grade English class and started it with a ho-hum attitude. I finished it in two days, exactly four weeks before it was due. I’ve probably read it five times since then. It is truly a masterpiece. So, now, decades after its publication, the sequel, which was apparently written first, is being published. I’m trying not to get too excited about it because I fear I am going to be disappointed. All sorts of questions are swirling about in my mind: Does it suck? What if I don’t like the adult Scout? Or Jem? Is Atticus in it? Is it uncomfortably controversial? Is that why it was shelved all these years? Does it suck? What about Boo? Where is he now? Does it suck? It is being released on July 14, and you can guarantee I’ll have a copy in hand on that day, and my schedule will be cleared for a few days. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn’t suck…
So, that’s my rather ambitious reading list this summer. Will I finish? Maybe. Does it matter? Nope. All that matters is that some days it’s just too darn hot to do anything else but sip La Croix sparkling water and read a good book.
