Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 31, 2021 8:33:21 GMT -8
I've started a new detective novel: Thief of Souls. It's book #1 of the Inspector Lu Fei Series. There are only 2 in the series so far. Given that Thief of Souls was published in May of 2021 and Wild Prey in May of 2022, there could be others forthcoming. Whether I will want to read any of them or not...it's too early to tell. The book is set in a rural province in modern-day China. (It's 20 below at the moment...very rural.) The police have apparently been considered corrupt for centuries. Lu Fei seems to be an exception. His penchant for integrity gets him in trouble up and down the chain of command. Or so I've read in the reviews. Lu Fei likes to drink and has a sense of humor. I'm very early in this one, but so far it does not have the stench of plain-vanilla. What kind of overall view the author will give of China (PC or realistic) is not yet known. The short blurb on Amazon reads: I'll create a new thread for this book if I make it through the first 75 pages or so. I read the Kindle sample of A Death in Vienna and it felt like covering old ground. Max just proposed to Clara, blah blah blah. The murder mystery thus far doesn't look that interesting. But I could get back to that in the future. |
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Post by kungfuzu on Dec 31, 2021 10:29:35 GMT -8
There are certainly more such shop windows in Vienna than the USA. In fact, one of the first things I noticed about Germany and Austria was the existence of sweet shops called Konditorei. We have no such analogues in the USA. When I first encountered them, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. In those days, the only limit on my intake of sweets was funds. Gaining weight was not a consideration, as it didn't happen. I particularly loved the chocolate covered pineapple, which was something like this.  |
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 31, 2021 10:36:36 GMT -8
 Holy Willa Wonka, Batman. That's amazing. I would sing Konditorei to rhyme with this song: |
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Post by kungfuzu on Dec 31, 2021 11:13:28 GMT -8
I finished the book last night/this morning. I am of two minds here. One, the story is less cluttered in a sense. Rheinhardt is not fluttering around here and there as he is in the other book I read. The story seems somehow more focused. Two, I could do without the Freudian crap and women's rights nonsense. Frankly, I am not ever very interested in Liebermann's juvenile interactions with the English woman toward the end of the book. I know it had to happen, after all the author would appear to be obsessed with sex, but I am just not that interested.
I do appreciate the fact that the author was a little more discriminating as regards Rheinhardt's and Liebermann's Cafe visits.
And a word in defense of Rheinhardt's and Liebermann's eating habits. In 1903 people in cities walked a lot. Inside the Ringstrasse, there was no tram. One had to walk or take a cab to get around in that area. On the Ring and in other districts, one could take a tram, but trams only stop every so often, so one generally has to walk some distance to get to one's destination. Because of all this walking, people were generally much fitter than they are today.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 31, 2021 12:15:20 GMT -8
It was an interesting situation in that he had to be a little careful because she was an ex-patient and because of the circumstance of why she became a patient in the first place. But as noted very early-on in my review of one of the books, I wasn't all that smitten with the "Girl Power" aspect of her character. I thought the book had a lot of good scenes in it, include several with the Director in it. You got a taste for Liebermann's character when the Director wanted to reward him with more than just a pair of opera tickets for the services he performed. But Lieberman, in what seemed a gesture of respect, asked for no more. And whose chest would not have been bursting its buttons when, in one of the last scenes, Max and Amelia run into the Director and his wife at some outdoor fair. The Director then asks the couple if they would like to join him for dinner. That had to be tremendously satisfying for Max, not only to be asked but as a way to impress his (now) fiancé (as least I think they were planning to get married). The Director was (in the book's portrayal) a very demanding man. And yet he wasn't corrupt. He had his reasons for being tough. The music was the point (a refreshing point of focus). As is inherent to human kind, we so often find the "bad guy" in the one who tries to elicit more than just mediocrity out of others. I think Tallis gave Mahler a fair hearing although I have no other info on Mahler. But he did sound like he had a bit of a temper. No doubt one of those pastries could fuel you for five times around the ring. But certainly it makes sense that walking is a calorie-burning activity.
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Oh, and I hope I'm remembering the right book, but I love the scene where the since-dispensed Clara shows up unannounced on Max's doorstep. It's a cringe-worthy moment as Clara tries to coerce Max back into a relationship by basically throwing herself at him. And although I didn't appreciate what seemed like an anachronism of speech, it was funny when (after Clara left in a huff) Max said: "That went well."
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Post by kungfuzu on Dec 31, 2021 12:22:55 GMT -8
Perhaps there was some respect in the gesture, but my feeling is that Liebermann did not accept official payment, as had he done so he would have been nothing more than another tradesman. By refusing money and accepting tickets, he put himself on an equal'personal level with Mahler. He was simply doing another of his class a favor which the director acknowledged. A certain personal connection was established. Nothing so crass as actual money could come into the transaction.
I agree with you on both accounts. The "that went well" phrase stood out like a sore thumb to me.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 31, 2021 12:31:35 GMT -8
We now turn to the culinary fare of Inspector Lu:
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 31, 2021 12:34:18 GMT -8
Yeah, that's probably a good way to look at it.
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Post by kungfuzu on Dec 31, 2021 12:42:35 GMT -8
Neither of which I am a fan of. My wife likes soy milk and red bean paste which is one of the main components of Chinese desserts.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 31, 2021 12:47:34 GMT -8
Has there been a friendly superior police officer in all of fiction? I can't offhand think of one. Detective Lu is meeting with his superior before the CIB boys come in from the outside to take over the murder investigation. Chief Liang has little regard for Deputy Director Song (from CIB):
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 31, 2021 15:26:41 GMT -8
I thought Mr. Flu would appreciate this passage from Thief of Souls:
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Post by kungfuzu on Dec 31, 2021 18:24:56 GMT -8
Yes, obsequiousness and it's mate duplicity are deeply woven through Chinese culture.
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Post by artraveler on Dec 31, 2021 20:09:03 GMT -8
In a little less than two hours 2021 will end in the central time zone. Let us all continue to have good health, friendship, and as much peace as possible in the next year.
L’Chaim—To Life
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 1, 2022 9:11:12 GMT -8
Happy New Year, friends. May 2022 be a good year for all. If we're still subject to the Covid and Woke Nazis, I ran across this supposedly Chinese expression in Thief of Souls:
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Post by kungfuzu on Jan 1, 2022 12:05:07 GMT -8
Happy 2022! Hope and pray that it is better, for us all, than 2021.
Never heard it and don't know what it means.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 1, 2022 13:36:17 GMT -8
I think it means "If you can't have caviar, enjoy the ground beef." And there's every reason to believe we'll have lots of hamburger this year. But I like hamburger so there.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 7, 2022 10:13:01 GMT -8
I'm about 22% into A Death in Vienna. I went ahead and bought it. It just never showed up in the online library.
We are introduced early-on to Miss Lydgate. She really has suffered some sort of trauma. Dr. Liebermann is treating her as a patient.
Not much pastry introduced thus far...if at all. One interesting plot point (very minor spoiler) is that someone has been shot in the heart but no bullet was found internally (and no exit wound). A not-very-interesting plot point is that the body was discovered in a locked room, no other way out, no secret doors, blah blah blah. A much overused device in murder mysteries.
But the bullet thing is easy enough to figure out, especially if you've read some Sherlock Holmes. You may already be thinking "bullet made of ice" or something like that. We'll see.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 10, 2022 8:21:49 GMT -8
I'm 61% through A Death in Vienna. No new desserts to speak of. They've had apple strudel and a peach dessert that we've seen before. A few musical selections are mentioned...mostly Schubert and Beethoven. But not many even of these. This first book is nowhere near as atmospheric as later books.
And the plot is nothing to write home about. Sort of dull. A woman who holds séances is killed. We keep jumping between interviews of those who regularly attended her séances. Rinse and repeat. Inevitably (and predictably) one of her regulars is killed because he made it known that he had some information that others might want to know.
Still, there's enough other stuff to keep it going. Max takes Clara and her sister to the museum. That was an interesting interlude. We see the first glimmers of doubt by Max (who gets engaged to Clara).
Max meets with Freud and we see into that relationship a bit. Max fights his boss, Professor Gruner, who is a sadistic nut regarding his affinity for electroshock treatment. Max refuses to use it on Amelia Lydgate. And we learn in this book just what trauma that Fraulein Lydgate has suffered. A mix of things going on. Just enough to keep propelling you forward.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jan 10, 2022 9:07:28 GMT -8
After reading your critiques, I remember reading this book as well. As I recall, it was ok, but did not set the world on fire. I can't recall who done it.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jan 10, 2022 9:12:02 GMT -8
Max just met with Freud and told him about Lydgate. Max rolls his eyes when Freud suggests her strange behavior could be the result of repressed sexual feelings for the old dirt bag who tried to molest her.
The reality is, at this point I haven't the slightest care who did it.
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