GEMINI
Dorothy Dunnett
Borzoi Books/Random House
(Historical Fiction)
Genius entrepreneur Nicholas
de Fleury returns to Scotland to repair the damage he has done,
in this eighth and final book of Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo
series. Assailed by blood feuds, and conscripted into the politics
of a small country torn apart by a volatile royal family and the
border wars with England, the charismatic Nicholas turns his formidable
talents to fostering a climate which will support a healthy business
community. Yet even after both his deadly feuds seem to be settled,
the attacks on himself and his family continue from an unexplained
source.
Why has Nicholas come so close to death so many
times throughout his entire life? Why was he rejected so devastatingly
by both his parents' families? Who is Nicholas really? Finally we
learn all these things as Dorothy Dunnett finishes off her complex
tapestry of character and intrigue, which spans twenty years of
Nicholas' development from apprentice dyer to adviser of kings.
In the previous books of this series Nicholas
has carried his business enterprises almost everywhere Europeans
could go in the late fifteenth century. GEMINI is the first book
in which Nicholas settles into one country, and instead we explore
the enigmatic Nicholas himself. One by one his secrets come out
to his family and friends, who have long suffered from inquisitiveness,
and to his readers. Some of these secrets make the reader react
in totally unexpected ways, as new light is shed on long-time associates.
Skillfully building eight books' worth of suspense to a peak, Dame
Dunnett concludes GEMINI in a shattering climax with the mixed triumphs
and tragedies that any such climax would have in real life.
After reading GEMINI, I read a non-fiction overview
of the period covered in this book. The author did an impressive
job of weaving the stories of her characters into the events of
the time. Historically accurate and humanly fleshed out, the court
and council of King James III are far easier to keep track of in
GEMINI, than they are in the public record of rebellions and changing
coats agitating the Scottish public life of 1477 to 1483. Dunnett
provides a backstory in which responsible men are attempting unseen
to steer king and country into peaceful prosperity. Her characters'
motivations and undercover diplomatic maneuvers graft seamlessly
onto what we can find in the limited records of the time. Her explanations
of the turmoil in the royal family are especially convincing.
The author chose a good moment in history to end
her story. Among the repeated upheavals that overtook Scotland in
the years that followed, it would have been hard for a novelist
to give anyone a satisfying ending - except, of course, eventually
King James IV. Knowing Nicholas as well as we do by the end of GEMINI,
it makes a fascinating game to figure out what he would have been
doing during those years, and devise a way he could have emerged
from the next two decades with both success and honor.
Dorothy Dunnett has an astonishing gift for the
illuminating phrase. By choosing exactly the right word at the right
time, she lets the sunlight in on people and situations so we see
them in crystal clarity. Sometimes everything we need to know is
included in one finely crafted sentence; but she also has a clever
trick of sneaking up on the reader with a single fact that clarifies
what seemed to be incidental information from a few pages before.
This is an "aha!" experience if you have been paying attention,
and it is sometimes very funny.
In another life, Dame Dunnett might have delighted
in a career designing pinball machines. She relishes writing scenes
where her characters seem to interact in a chaos of ricochet. Gradually
the patterns become clear, forming logical progressions that would
have to be called mathematical if they weren't so rowdily energetic.
In these scenes the reader experiences an atmosphere with all the
laughter, excitement and pumping adrenaline of a roaring football
crowd, followed at last by a satisfying understanding.
Don't fear to read GEMINI if you haven't read
the rest of the series. Each book can be read as a stand-alone,
with the necessary background provided in the text and a synopsis
at the beginning. What is more to be feared is that this is a very
intelligent author, who expects the reader to exercise the brain
muscles to keep up with her. I highly recommend you take up the
Dunnett challenge, as her two historical fiction series The Lymond
Chronicles and House of Niccolo prove that she is one of the premier
writing talents of today.
We don't usually know
when we call up an e-book why the author chose to publish in e-book
form. Maybe the manuscript was rejected by too many hardcopy publishers,
or it's big-name author might be trying to avoid being type/genre-cast.
A couple of techies could have set up as a publishing company so
they could publish all their friends. The author may be avoiding
hard print, as a political statement about the stranglehold a few
hard print publishers have had on today's form and content.
A little advice about buying an e-book. Most publishers
offer you a sample excerpt of the e-book - take it. Read a review
of the book that wasn't written by a friend of the author. If you
know someone who has read the book, find out what they think. The
e-book world is still a wild and woolly one; it's best to travel
in caravan.
In PARADIS SQUARE Peter VanBrunt is accused of
a murder he didn't do. Who does he think of to help him? Edgar Allan
Poe. Why? Poe is an old academy chum who owes him money. The detective
in charge agrees to share his investigation with Poe. Why? He admires
Poe's detective stories. Sergeant Jonathan Goode tracks Poe down
in a beer dive, pulls him out of a stupor, and puts his proposition.
Readily acknowledging the obligations of a gentleman, Poe agrees.
Do we believe it? Yes, we do.
It is the beginning of an engaging and undisciplined
rummage through the slums of 1847 New York City. The mystery centers
around an unfortunate family whose descent from the middle class
to slum poverty resulted when the man of their house died. A corn
seller girl is violently murdered in a park where she is anticipating
a marriage proposal from Poe's friend Peter VanBrunt. Poe and Goode,
and friends from the slums where Mary lived, believe they must stop
a serial killer. We learn much about the New York City gangs; and
the corrupt politics of the time are essential to the story.
The emotional dynamic comes from the relationship
between the burly, modest Jonathan Goode and the brilliant, tortured
Edgar Allan Poe. It is refreshing to spend time in the company of
these honorable gentlemen. Throughout most of the book, we get to
know the characters only through what they say and do. It makes
the style distractingly spare at times, but there is emotion between
the lines. As the characters warm up to each other they bare more
of their souls, and we get to know them well. There is one thing
that is usually missing from this book, and that is the reader's
you-are-there experience created when an author accurately conveys
the physical sensations of his characters.
Author E.M. Schorb has a long resume of published
poetry and the awards won for it. When a poet makes the transition
to prose, the first question we want answered is, can he write prose,
or does the story drown in words? The answer this time is, definitely
he can write prose. He leaves the right things unsaid. He is at
least as successful writing pencil line sketches as he is doing
gold inlay.
PARADISE SQUARE pulled me away from the book I
was supposed to be reviewing, which is a measure of its drawing
power. It is a nominee at the Frankfurt eBook Awards for Best Fiction
Work Originally Published In eBook Form. Bear in mind that one of
its competitors in that category is Colleen McCullough's MORGAN'S
RUN, proving the quality of PARADISE SQUARE is legitimate.
If I were to guess why PARADISE SQUARE was published
in e-book form, I would say that someone perceived a glut in the
market of the historical-figure-as-detective genre. (Possibly the
author was stubborn about his unorthodox chapter structure, too.)
In case there is a glut in the market, this is one detective who
should survive.
Joy Calderwood
THE PIP ANTHOLOGY OF WORLD
POETRY OF THE 20th, Volume 1
Green Integer
(Poetry Anthology)
Anthologies serve a variety
of different purposes. Some are for use as textbooks, others are
meant to represent a certain group of poets based on chronology,
geography or style. Douglas Messerli has edited the first in what
is scheduled to be an ongoing series of anthologies from what he
calls the Project for Innovative Poetry (PIP). The purpose of this
collection, as Messerli states in his preface, is "to bring to public
attention. . .the work of major international poets. . .and to send
readers to the original or translated texts." With this in mind,
Messerli may meet with a small amount of success, but his own strong
editorial biases, not to mention the lack of distribution for small
press poetry anthologies, make it highly unlikely that this book
will sway many new readers.
Webster's New Riverside University Dictionary
defines "innovate" as "to start or introduce something new : be
creative." Few people would claim that the writing of poetry is
not a creative act. And throughout the 20th century, different groups
of poets offered something new to the growing wealth of words. Clear,
often written-about stylistic additions to the canon were made by
the Moderns, the Beats, the Confessional poets, and to a lesser
degree, late-20th-century Contemporary writers. Messerli seems to
be working toward a less easily definable oeuvre ? the development
of so-called language poetry ? in which the dance of letters and
words across the page counts for more than the collective meaning
one can puzzle out. Those not already inclined to solving puzzles
in verse may not make it past Rafael Alberti, the very first author
represented.
In the age-old argument of process versus product,
process is allowed the upper hand here. Unfortunately, since the
reader was not part of the composition process (and please, all
of you post-modern theorists who were about to spout off on the
reader being as much a part of this process as the writer, just
sit down and hold that thought), most of the obscure and confounding
work Messerli has brought together has little to offer. The bulk
of the poems included in this 200-page tome failed to engage me
emotionally at all. In fact, few of the poems proved clear enough
to even engage me intellectually. In order for me to participate
in the understanding and appreciation of a poem (to join in the
process), I have to be able to recognize in that piece something
of myself ? the way I think or the way I feel. That sense of recognition
is aided by clarity of meaning. And while this, as in all reviews,
is based on personal opinion, this collection definitely skews toward
work which sacrifices clarity for what I can only guess Messerli
considers innovation.
There are gems here too, though. Ingeborg Bachmann
strings together powerfully evocative images closely enough to offer
openings to the reader in each piece. Gunter Eich's wonderful poem
"Inventory", and the apparent simplicity of his diction, conveys
strong emotion very subtly. And strong work from Angel Gonzalez
and Osip Mandelshtam is also included. The biographical sketch of
each writer, and the very complete bibliography for each, is excellent.
But most of the work just does not engage me. And even if you publish
the poems, even if you give the book away, if the work does not
draw readers in emotionally or intellectually, then it will have
no impact. The real challenge is to combine true innovation with
solid impact. Perhaps in Volume 2...
