Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

After reading all the fabulous reviews for this book, I was terribly disappointed. It was a lousy detective mystery and the conclusion was a limp rag. Compared to great mystery writers like Henning Mankell and James Lee Burke, Kate Atkinson is a secondary level writer. I think the author wanted to tell a detective story in a new way and attempted to construct the story with this in mind. She fell in love with her own language and her feeble attempts at humor were tedious. When I compare her writing with James Lee Burke, her writing is pathetic. My problems with the book were compounded because I listened to the book and the reader was awful. Why do readers think that an English mystery has to be read in an overly English accent. The story was confusing and the characters poorly drawn out. I couldn't wait until the book was finished.

i'm glad i'm not the only one who felt that way...i was so confused by most of it

I loathed this book. My review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

tell us how you really felt ;) lol! the only reason I kept reading it was becuase I had it listed as a challenge book and it required too much effort to find another book that fit the task...but it took me so much longer than normal to read it...

my review here:
- on the 6th of july last year

I liked this book, but it wasn't a rave, and I have picked up others by this author. It's also been several years since I read it, so I can't say much more now about it.

im not so into mysteries-which is why i really enjoyed this book with all the characters and the way they tied into each other

I read Behind the Scenes at the Museum by the author first, and that is why I then put the Jackson Brodie books into my challenge for this year. To me they were disappointing, Brodie is the stereotypical private detective, a child he does not see, a resentful divorce, and sleeping with random female clients. The build up, I did like then the resolutions to the series of plots were extremely disappointing and somewhat predictable.

I enjoyed the book, though it is very obvious that if you are looking for a strict canonical mystery when everything is explained, then my advice is to look elsewhere. In this novel not all of the mysteries become evident, or sometimes only a reader is enlightened,while characters are still blissfully ignorant. And I am absolutely fine with it. The book is a reflection of our everyday life - not all mysteries are mysteries, not all of them are solved, not all of them are significant. I like this book because the characters are so intimate and naive. There are so many authentic voices and many narrators. The book resembles a Persian carpet with its bizarre and complex patterns, and some of the patterns make sense, and some do not, but it is a pleasure to look at those patterns and imagine that they make sense. They same things are true about this novel. The lives of people form a wonderful, beautiful, macabre, and tricky pattern, and a reader is an only true insider.

Paul...Just a note about the overly english accent... as a Brit living in America, I cannot tell you how many times I have to repeat myself because I don't always use a BBC accent. I suspect the use of certain tyoes of voices is to make it easier for the listener.

Mandy wrote: "Paul...Just a note about the overly english accent... as a Brit living in America, I cannot tell you how many times I have to repeat myself because I don't always use a BBC accent. I suspect the us..."<

I am married to an American who lives in the South. And I am SO HAPPY he does not have the Southern accent. It drives me crazy;-) People call it a pleasant Southern drawl, and I call it an awful twang and nasality. The British accent is a fresh breeze here in Arkansas, plus no double negatives and ain'ts. Every time I have a chance to listen to a book read by a British reader I feel refreshed, soothed, and pleasantly perfumed. I am sorry for being judgmental, but that is how I feel.

I read on the author's website that she added a detective at a fairly late stage of writing the novel, and went for a typical one on purpose.

I enjoyed it, but it is over hyped.

I enjoyed the book as well disappointed with the end.

I agree with Zulifya. I LOVE thins book, and I'm an unashamed fan of pretty much everything Kate Atkinson has written. I think part of the problem has been marketing it is a mystery when it's not. I love the different layers that the story operates on, I love the time shifts, and the way you have to work quite hard to follow them.

By the way, the recent BBC adaptation got mixed reviews for the same reasons - it was advertised as a detective story, and it's just not.

I didn't pick it up because it was marketed as a mystery though - it sounded interesting from the blurb, unfortunately, it just didn't live up to my expectations

I agree, this was wrongly marketed as a thriller (along with that Stephen King quote claiming it to be the best mystery of the decade). They've continued this with all the books in the series. I'm a big fan of the limited third person perspective of story-telling, so you can imagine my annoyance when Jackson appears just once every 3 - 4 chapters!
There is still something to be said for Atkinson's writing style, and the first chapter is absolutely gorgeous - probably the best piece of prose I've read all year.

I guess I'll pick up the other books in the series when I want to read something real slow and slightly complex, yet beautifully written.

Amazed at this discussion. One thing that really stands out is that the voice, the accent of the work was one of the best things and yet there are some who didn't find it working! This was a 5 star book for me and I'm so thrilled to have found an author who is new to me. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of Atkinson's backlist. While I had heard some reviews of her work, it was the BBC tv series that got me started. Am I wrong that all mysteries are not the same? I remember seeing a list of the different types of mysteries and there are about 20. The categorization of Case Histories as a mystery fits but it could also fit into General Fiction. What's the difference in the long run?

Lori wrote: "Amazed at this discussion. One thing that really stands out is that the voice, the accent of the work was one of the best things and yet there are some who didn't find it working! This was a 5 star..."

I'm a huge fan of Kate Atkinson and I agree, this book has been wrongly categorised. The rest of the books in the series are different, though the common thread is Jackson and his relationship with his daughter and his life. I agree, the author's style is not for everyone, and in some of her non-Jackson books and in the last one too (Started Early, Took my Dog) her narrative is quite complex, with some serious jumps in time and perspective, but this is one of the things I love about her. And her humour, which is bleak and black and brilliant. I would highly recommend carrying on with her, she's just incredibly rewarding. (I did say I was a fan!)

Karen wrote: "I enjoyed the book as well disappointed with the end."

It took me a while to get into, but I enjoyed it very much. I like reading all the different comments.

I adored this book, but I can see how readers of traditional mysteries might be confused. It's very subtle, and not as linear as most mysteries. I *loved* Jackson, though. He cares so much about his often-difficult clients, and is one of those people who likes to take care of everyone.

Sheila wrote: "I adored this book, but I can see how readers of traditional mysteries might be confused. It's very subtle, and not as linear as most mysteries. I *loved* Jackson, though. He cares so much about hi..."

So true, so true

Our reading group read this. Or some did, only two finished it. I finished it and hated it. Too self consciously 'literary' translates with me to BORING.

crap! I hope I like it as it is on my "to read" book shelf for me...:(

So sorry you didn't like this book. It is always such a disappointment when you read such good reviews and when you finaly get the book and start reading it just doesn't do it for you. I loved this booka and have read the all in the series but we all just need to read and decide ourself about any book

Marguerite wrote: "I agree with Zulifya. I LOVE thins book, and I'm an unashamed fan of pretty much everything Kate Atkinson has written. I think part of the problem has been marketing it is a mystery when it's not. ..."

I agree completely with you. I also love everything Kate Atkinson has written--great, great writer. You do have to work when you read her-which I like. She definitely isn't the usual "mystery" writer probaby not a mystery writer at all. Complex characters,different time frames etc-all make her one of the most interesting writers of today I enjoyed the BBC series but only because I had read all of the Jackson Brodie books and knew the characters.

Marguerite wrote: "Lori wrote: "Amazed at this discussion. One thing that really stands out is that the voice, the accent of the work was one of the best things and yet there are some who didn't find it working! This..."

Marguerite wrote: "Lori wrote: "Amazed at this discussion. One thing that really stands out is that the voice, the accent of the work was one of the best things and yet there are some who didn't find it working! This..."

Marguerite wrote: "Lori wrote: "Amazed at this discussion. One thing that really stands out is that the voice, the accent of the work was one of the best things and yet there are some who didn't find it working! This..."

I love her humor too-found myself laughing out loud sometimes= especially in her earlier work-Behind the Scenes at The Museum- Hard for me to understand some of the comments posted here as I am such a big fan of Atkinson - her writing does work for me

I liked it thought it was great and different, just goes to show though different strokes.......

Me too! Won't read anything more by her and consigned my copy of the book.

I think she's a very subtle writer, so people more interested in the thriller/mystery plot should look elsewhere. What do you make of Karin Fossum, who is more interested in the corpse than the detectives? Case Histories is far from Atkinson's best, but still stands head and shoulders above most tpes of this genre. "Started Early Took The Dog" is a supremely good book, even though not very much happens.

The BBC dramatisation of "Case Studies" was pretty poor I thought.

I LOVED this book, but I read it a couple of years ago so can't speak to the details. I remember not being able to put it down and was so happy to discover a new writer. Because of that first book, I have read several of her books. Each book's style is unpredictable. I do not consider the book to be a "mystery," in the traditional sense. She's definitely not a genre writer.

In spite of the original post here, I don't understand why everyone who likes the book thinks the reason others don't is because they thought it would be a traditional mystery/detective novel. I'm here to tell you it's not the case. I often read mysteries, but they needn't be formulaic, and it doesn't mean I don't like other books by any means! I didn't like Case Histories because I found it simplistic, shallow, and at times ridiculous, with prosaic writing style and flimsy, unlikable characters. Also, I would think even readers who don't favor detective novels would want a story that didn't use outlandish occurences or silly cliches for resolution (spoilers: happenstance $2 million inheritance allows retirement to France, cut brake lines/exploding house, sudden late-age conversion to nudism/bisexuality solves lifelong identity crisis, the afore-never-mentioned stalker did it!) With countless amazing books out there, this was a waste of my time. Although I suppose it's interesting to know there's a novel I really don't like.

Betty wrote: "I LOVED this book, but I read it a couple of years ago so can't speak to the details. I remember not being able to put it down and was so happy to discover a new writer. Because of that first book,..."

I am with you Betty.

Interesting to read the variety of opinions. As a librarian I read widely because I have to in order to be able to recommend to my readers. Some books are to my taste, other's are not. It will always be the case just as we don't all wear the same clothes or eat the same food. Having a place to voice an opinion has been a recent event in my life as I am 'over the hill' and computers/email/the web emerged during my later lifetime, not as I blossomed into an opinion-filled teen. What I'm trying to say in a long-winded fashion is that if you have a limited amount of time to read or you only want to read what you will like, isn't the idea of sharing opinions of a book online the most wonderful thing. I can gauge the feeling for a book quite quickly, but at the same time feel free to try it for myself. So thank you to everyone who comments.

BTW this book didn't cut the mustard for me. The characters didn't take me along for the ride. But that's just me!

I think I liked it because it was something different and I love the way Kate Atkinson's mind works and her style of writing. I have now read and loved everything she has written and am waiting with baited breath for something new from her......

Having just read Mansfield Park, a thick book which I was unable to put down, I found this book tedious. I had to try hard to get past the first chapter then when hit by a second wave of back story upon back story in the second I'm afraid I just couldn't go on.