A French Book Reading Resource

[MorkTheFiddle]

The late Sue Grafton usually (I say usually cuz I've read only half her mysteries), gives hints insufficient, Jjanet Evanovich' Stephanie Plum corrals her prey almost always by luck, & the late Robert Parker's Spencer traked down his collars using a large dollop of violence. But I like all 3. Gettin all the clues these days alas rarely happens IMHO.

[Carmody]

But isn't that unfair; don't you feel cheated?

[MorkTheFiddle]

Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett wrote the first "mystery" novels I remember reading. Neither wrote "classic" mysteries nor provided enough clues to solve murders. Ross McDonald wrote the next series that I binged on. McDonald was described as illuminating the nouveau riche of Southern California, but his 'mysteries' were not classic who-dun-its. On then to John MacDonald, whose Travis McGee thrillers involved crime but not clues. Better to call all these thrillers rather than mysteries, and MacDonald's more action novels. Chandler, Hammett and McDonald feed the reader socio-historical situations, and the process of solving the crimes does not take center stage. Consequently, the plots of the "classic" who-dun-its never provided my chief interest in their novels.
Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich slide into this tradition, rather than the Agatha Christie mold (whom I've never read). So I don't miss not getting all the necessary clues. With Evanovich the clues are mostly irrelevant, and her main virtue is her sense of humor. Grafton reminds me a lot of Ross McDonald, and her heroine circulates mostly among the rich folk of California. If Grafton has a downfall, for me, it is sometimes too much description. If she has a real virtue, she remembers to tells us the smells of her locales, which many writers tend to forget. Budding writers are advised to include a pet in their first pages. Evanovich provides a hamster, and her heroine's boyfriend has a big hairy mutt called Bob (and maybe overdoes it with Bob). In some ways, too, her heroine is a parody of Grafton's.
As far as detective novels in target languages, I have read too few to make any comments. One in Spanish, one in French by the woman writer whose first name is Fred.
So the answer to your question is no, I don't feel cheated.

[Carmody]

Thank you very much for your very comprehensive answer; greatly appreciated. No one ever took the time to explain it all to me.

My wife has read a long list of Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich books, so I need to talk to her more about what it is I am missing.

Have you ever read a Simenon book? I tried and gave up on it.

[jeffers]

Le suspendu de Conakry is a detective/murder mystery by Jean-Christophe Rufin.

If you want to improve your vocabulary and read a detective/murder mysteries this might be a book for you. However I am not a reader of this genre so I hesitate to criticize too harshly. My big reluctance with this genre comes from the fact that the solving of the crime is never possible with the facts that the author supplies during the story. I believe it should all be possible through deductive reasoning and that to have a plot resolution made possible with extensive additional, extraneous facts is somehow not playing fair. Oh well, no one agrees with me.

Anyway, this story has a crime that in the final chapter has one Very lengthy explanation that goes on and on in a very anticlimactic way that I certainly found tedious.

I will of course, as always, now read this a second time and see what I have missed; who knows I may like it.

Read it if you will.
C1-C2
7/10

NB: I read the books my neighbor gives me free of charge, so I should not quibble with quality.

You could make the same complaint with any genre of fiction: the author holds things back until the right time to reveal them. If they didn't, the book would read like a wikipedia article. Take the example of La petite fille de monsieur Linh; there is an important fact that everybody in the story knows about from the beginning except for the reader. A well-written book plays a balancing act between revealing and hiding: too much of the former and the story is pedestrian, too much of the latter and the story isn't compelling.

That being said, the "sudden reveal" twist at the end of a book is a risky thing. I have read one Musso, La fille de Brooklyn and I found the ending to be frankly disappointing. I was also slightly bothered by the ending of La petite fille de monsieur Linh, but the story was so beautiful that I will read it again.

[MorkTheFiddle]

Simenon
Years and years ago I read a Simenon novel and IIRC I liked it, but I cannot remember what it was nor if I read it in French, but probably not. Lately I tried to read Pietr-le-Letton, especially because I have an audiobook to go with it, but I got nowhere and gave up. It just did not engage me.

Musso
La fille de Brooklyn I did not read, but I did read Central Park, and I think I listened to it, too, but thought it most pedestrian and don't want to try anything else by Musso. (So I guess I have read more than one mystery novel in French.)

La petite fille de monsieur Linh
I am not at all familiar with this. Next on my list, perhaps. Archive.org has it, but only for borrowing. https://archive.org/details/lapetitefilledem0000clau_n7r4

[Carmody]

MorkTheFiddle » Wed Apr 05, 2023 6:43 am
Simenon
Years and years ago I read a Simenon novel and IIRC I liked it, but I cannot remember what it was nor if I read it in French, but probably not. Lately I tried to read Pietr-le-Letton, especially because I have an audiobook to go with it, but I got nowhere and gave up. It just did not engage me.

Well, I tried reading it a couple months back and found it too plodding for words. But what do I know; really, he is world famous Simenon and I am just a reader.

[Carmody]

jeffers
You could make the same complaint with any genre of fiction: the author holds things back until the right time to reveal them. If they didn't, the book would read like a wikipedia article. Take the example of La petite fille de monsieur Linh; there is an important fact that everybody in the story knows about from the beginning except for the reader. A well-written book plays a balancing act between revealing and hiding: too much of the former and the story is pedestrian, too much of the latter and the story isn't compelling.

Well as you know La petite fille de monsieur Linhis not a mystery. The twist at the end was good but if you read the book through a second time, you can see clear hints throughout and by a process of deduction not be surprised by the big reveal at the end. The ending is a surprise but it is the slow development of the journey that is so special and makes the poignancy of the story so powerful.

Also it took real guts to write his M. Linh even though he is surrounded by the likes of Michel Houellebecq et. al who espouse melancholy throughout their writings and continually get all the big prizes. I am also not saying melancholy and misery is wrong but folks to embrace just the the gravitas of life and the the horrible on the one side and not be able to celebrate the positive and the joy then that is frankly clinically myopic and unhealthy.

I forget the Frenchman in our group who wrote in our comments and said that Voltaire is the last of the really happy French authors. Have you read Candide? It is fun and challenging and a joy. And I totally agree with him.

For ages now I have politely requested people to suggest upbeat 20th century French fiction authors that are not melancholic. So far no one has taken me up on the challenge. I don't like being right about this but no one has suggested I am wrong.

The nice thing about fiction is that it really is a Rorschach test and means whatever you want it to. This is just my take on it...

[DaveAgain]

For ages now I have politely requested people to suggest upbeat 20th century French fiction authors that are not melancholy. So far no one has taken me up on the challenge. I don't like being right about this but no one has suggested I am wrong.

The nice thing about fiction is that it really is a Rorschach test and means whatever you want it to. This is just my take on it...

Pierre Pevel's Le Paris des merveilles series is quite funny.

Senscritique.com have a list of Top des livres les plus drôles, that includes French and translated works.

Babelio.com lets you search by "tag" "literature francaise" + "humour" etc.

[jeffers]

Well as you know La petite fille de monsieur Linhis not a mystery.

The genre is irrelevant, my point is that any genre of fiction requires the author to withhold information from the reader in order to make a story.

For ages now I have politely requested people to suggest upbeat 20th century French fiction authors that are not melancholic. So far no one has taken me up on the challenge. I don't like being right about this but no one has suggested I am wrong.

I'm sure I've mentioned René Goscinny once or twice. Pierre Gripari is another fun author. Okay, they both write children's books, but they're children's books aimed at adults.

Un sac de billes by Joseph Joffo has an overall upbeat tone, despite the setting (two Jewish brothers trying to avoid being captured by Germans in France during the war).

I've read two books by Antoine Laurain, Le chapeau de Mitterrand and La femme au carnet rouge, and I enjoyed them both very much. I would recommend starting with Le chapeau de Mitterrand. Which is a good reminder to myself that I have been planning to re-read it "soon".