A few weeks back at a family afternoon tea in honour of the ninetieth birthday of my mother in law, an avid lifelong reader, she suddenly announced to all that she had now read my second novel Roadrage for the second time and thought it was truly excellent. I felt genuinely touched and must admit to a feeling of pride swelling in my chest. The points she has made about the book after each reading were interesting and insightful; and says she particularly enjoyed the dialogue I'd created for my characters. My wife and I were rather bemused by our slightly puritanical reluctance to let her have a copy of the book initially - for her own good, of course, just in case its dark plot-lines upset her too much! Ha -flippin'-ha! After ninety years, a World War, eight children and having read literally thousands of books - at least one a day - I doubt there's much in any book that's going to shock her.
Anyway, it was jolly nice to get Mary's praise in the week of her birthday and it's definitely something I'll treasure. I have no doubt that someone will come along sometime and say less flattering things - inevitably!
Anyway, it was jolly nice to get Mary's praise in the week of her birthday and it's definitely something I'll treasure. I have no doubt that someone will come along sometime and say less flattering things - inevitably!
I have just read my very first Barbara Vine novel, A Dark Adapted Eye, and I took a quick peek at some of the reader reviews that have been posted for the book on Goodreads. They are fascinating and insightful, again driving it home to me that a reader's experience with a novel, though in some part down to mood and situation, is often a matter of whether or not the book (assuming the work itself is basically sound!) finds the audience the author hoped to reach.
I understand A Dark Adapted Eye was Barbara Vine's (who of course wrote the Inspector Wexford series as Ruth Rendell) first outing. This is a hauntingly dark, psychological crime novel, a story about the repercussions of a murder upon a family, and its secrets. It is extremely well plotted and the writing itself is unquestionably very skilful. At times I felt that Vine's habit of providing the reader with minute detail about a room's wallpaper, a hat that is worn, or the description of the cover of a book once spotted lying on a shelf, can get a little tedious - but this is probably just me! The book is well worth reading and the family history and roll-call of names the reader has to become acquainted with is worth the effort.
I understand A Dark Adapted Eye was Barbara Vine's (who of course wrote the Inspector Wexford series as Ruth Rendell) first outing. This is a hauntingly dark, psychological crime novel, a story about the repercussions of a murder upon a family, and its secrets. It is extremely well plotted and the writing itself is unquestionably very skilful. At times I felt that Vine's habit of providing the reader with minute detail about a room's wallpaper, a hat that is worn, or the description of the cover of a book once spotted lying on a shelf, can get a little tedious - but this is probably just me! The book is well worth reading and the family history and roll-call of names the reader has to become acquainted with is worth the effort.
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