Going Rogue

I come from Rhode Island, somebody had to. Okay I blatantly stole that from Bill Bryson in The Lost Continent, however it is, in a way, true. I have been asked more times than I care to admit if Rhode Island is the long island off New York. Seriously. If you ever needed a scathing indictment of the American education system, there it is. People don't even know that where I come from is a state most of the time, so when I see a book someone has actually written about it I have to read it.

Now I must confess that I have read other books either totally or partially set in Rhode Island that frankly are not written by anyone with a true knowledge of the place. They might have read about it or be cross referencing from other stories, but its clear they don't know the nature of the beast. Bruce DeSilva, a former writer for the Providence Journal (known by locals as the ProJo) is very familiar with the best. 

Rogue Island is a noir with a down on his luck journalist Liam Mulligan, at its center. He knows every street in the city  of Providence, and almost every person on it. He comes from Rhode Island and isn't afraid to let his freak flag fly. Investigating an ugly and dirty series of arsons in his home neighborhood of Mount Hope the story is full of wonderfully gritty realism. The framework of a traditional noir is there, the plot and the dialogue, however its crossed with a more modern streetwise flavor reminiscent of Scorsese or Tarentino. Every review I have read of this book is a hit. Fans of the genre will love it regardless of its setting, and those who live in the setting will love it even more. Its a slightly warped love letter, but then again all the best love stories are.

Pearls of Wisdom

So working in a new school you need to find your way around. Granted there are only a few really necessary things you need to locate : a working toilet, a refrigerator, a microwave, the supply closet, and the copy machine. While scoping out the copy machine I scanned the inevitable collection of crap that tends to accumulate over the years in such a communal space. Scrap paper, really old magazines, catalogues for those terrible at home parties (Tastefully Simple, Pampered Chef, etc.), angry notices about how to change the toner, and a bookshelf. Such bookshelves are a treasure, because they are the home of the lost book. Some are discards from the school library that have been salvaged, some are donated, others simply are picked up from the hallway floor and make a home their. I love these kinds of bookshelves, and it is where I found Pearl Cove.

I had read one other Elizabeth Lowell novel, or rather closer to a novella called Outlaw. Not being much for cowboys I wasn't blown away by it, and found the repressed sexuality as a result of date rape a little heavy, incongruously heavy for the subject matter. I must confess however that I really like Pearl Cove. First aside from either the romance story between Hannah and Archer or the mystery of who murdered Len, Hannah's husband and Archer's half-brother or the thriller-style race to find the missing Black Trinity necklace...I just found it an interesting book to read in terms of back story.  

Romances are notorious for being cookie cutter, falling into neat categories; Regency, Western, Paranormal, Medieval... the list goes on and on. Trends come in and out of fashion, however when you're writing something as mundane as boy-meets-girl and they have sex and fall in love, what sets it apart are the details. I'm never one to put a book down because of historical or factual inaccuracies (regardless of how much they irritate me) however it definitely colors my opinion of the work as a whole. Going in I knew nothing about pearl farming or the pearl trade and I have to say I was very impressed with the amount of research that Elizabeth Lowell must have done, because it was so real and so exact that it almost eclipsed the other elements of the story. Bottom line, it was fascinating to read, because she got the details right, or at least damn close. 

Having not read the other Donovan family stories I can't say how Pearl Cove compares, however it seems like a solid set of ideas for a series, even if the Donovans aren't quite as cool as Jo Beverly's Mallorens. There is a certain spy school, trained assassin element that at time is a little far fetched but Lowell doesn't overplay that hand too much. The romance runs hot an cold, but it is eventually satisfying and there is a rough-and-tumble, thunder down under appeal to the sex. The line "if you want sex or protection press six" is also a real winner in my estimation. In the end Pearl Cove is a sailboat book, its not about the destination, its about the journey to get there. The way the story develops along the way is this books greatest strength, and character development, while slow is eventually pretty solid. I'm tempted to have another go at Elizabeth Lowell, I'll have to do some more shopping in the copy room.

No Symbol, Just Lost

I have always had very mixed feelings about Dan Brown's books. I was a sophomore in high school when The Da Vinci Code became a sensation, however I resited reading it for a long time. I'm not always the first to jump on the bandwagon with popular books, and usually come in after the fact. When I read The Da Vinci Code I honestly didn't see what the big deal was. I was a Catholic school girl, and I had heard a lot of the conspiracy theory before. It was a thriller, pure and simple, okay but nothing special. Eventually I got around to reading Angels and Demons, out of order I know. In this case I hated it, I thought it was so extreme and farfetched that I barely got through it. People have told me that I would have liked it better if I read it before The DaVinci Code, not so sure about that.

When the long awaited (six years long awaited) third Robert Langdon novel came out in Spetember of 2009 I intented to get around to reading it once the rush died down, that way I would have no problem getting my hands on a copy (my library alone has six copies sitting on the shelf now). I honestly forgot all about reading it, to be honest it wasn't high on my list, until Kerrie the Reading teacher at work asked me if I had read it. After the conversation settled to the back of my mind I happened to be looking for something else at the library and there it was on the shelf, right at eye level. I think someone was trying to tell me something. Not God, though. I'm pretty sure God has forsaken all Dan Brown books (what you don't believe me? Just ask the religious right).

As always there was a good concept, lots of red herrings, and some real whack job characters. Having no expectations really helped a lot, I went in for a mindless read with some roller coaster turns, lots of random yet interesting facts about arcane secret societies and history in general and came out not too disappointed. I actually didn't see the big twist coming at the end, its nice when an author can surprise me. 

The writing, as always with Dan Brown was pretty bad, and if there is an author with more awkward sentence structure out there, I have yet to read them. I feel like about 1/4 of the scenes were recycled from earlier books with a new location and new girl, but other wise were just about word for word. There was something I had read, that Dan Brown has ideas for at least ten more Robert Langdon books he wants to write, this kept circling around and around as I read. Not that I have anything against Robert Langdon, he is a mildly interesting, highly unlikely hero (despite all of the heartthrob scenes that Brown tries to write with Langdon in swim trunks at the Harvard pool). I love a guy in a tweed blazer with elbow patches more than the average girl, its just I don't try to elevate a guy in a tweed blazer with elbow patches to be anything more than what he is. James Bond I can believe as a ladies man who goes through gorgeous women like Kleenex, but Robert Langdon.... that and Brown writes each girl as so emotionally and perfectly matched to Langdon, then she disappears like his grammatical ability at the end of each book. Could there really be ten more women out there like that? Doubtful, and if there are I'm not sure how much I really want to read about them.

That criticism aside, the romance in The Lost Symbol was the most believable so far, age appropriate and well matched in terms of who they are and what they do. Not that it matters, Dr. Solomon will be gone with the wind like all the others !?! (a very Dan Brown-sqe punctuation) One of the reviewers from the ALA (American Library Association) pointed out that Brown did himself a disservice setting the book in Washington, because of the natural comparison to the National Treasure movies. I can see his point, however The Lost Symbol is clearly much darker, and (I can't believe I'm about to say this) more believable. I wish it had been summer, or I had a long plane ride, because this is precisely the kind of book you like to take along. Manageable chapters, a fast pace, and lots of fun. Had you noticed that Dan Brown (and we can presume Robert Langdon, sex god and Harvard symboligist) like italics? How could you not?