The Drowning People

Rating:
Summary: Laughable
Review: ... I only wish I could write half as well as that at my advanced age of 60#. Yes, Ella had problems and was most likely as crazy as her family history made her out to be. James admits he was naieve or however you spell that word. Sarah was just as crazy as her cousin but got away with her crime for almost 50 years. ... I look forward to more from Mr. Mason. .

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing book
Review: An amazing piece of work from a writer who at the age of eighteen writes with amazing clarity and intimacy. Mason's writing is verbose to the point of illustrious, filled with foreshadowing fed to the reader like so many breadcrumbs discarded along a path, leading us to one unexpected twist after another. The story unravels slowly, not at the breakneck pace of the usual page-turner, but with an expressive usage of language that is reminiscent of Bronte and Austen.

The story begins with the protagonist telling the reader that he has killed his wife of 45 years, but for all intent and purposes it is believed to be a suicide. It is the story of a man who lived his life in a prison of his own making. A moment of transparency in his carefully constructed life has led him to look back on the choices that brought him to this point.There are events buried deep within that are just too terrible to face. The unspoken compact that has held him fast and firm through life is about to come to light, and the results are yet to be determined.

I enjoyed this book immensely but I have to say it was the writing style that really caught my attention. This is not your usual cookie cutter mystery story. This is an excellent book from a writer that I'm sure you will hear more from in the future. Kelsana 6/19/02

Rating:
Summary: A delicious read...but 4, not 5 stars for implausibility
Review: I am not a big fan of English film and perhaps that's the reason I didn't really like this book. It just kept going and going and going. I found so many areas extremely boring but I always (well almost) finish a book once I start. There was not enough story for the length of the book.

Rating:
Summary: like the author's potential much better than the book
Review: I really don't understand why instead of just defending their opinion about the novel certain would-be 'reviewers' attack other reviewers who didn't like the novel, declaring them bitter 'unpublished forty year olds' jealous of this good-looking kid's success (and for the record, it was Roland Barthes who declared that 'the author is dead'. Has that guy even read Derrida or does he just like to toss around the name in the most pretentious way possible?). I myself am 27 and published but I still didn't like this book. Mason has a talent for intrigue & compelling story-telling but his attempt to re-invent Henry James/Edith Wharton for the 1990's fell flat -- the dialogue struck me as so silly, the musings of the protagonist so obvious and uninteresting (sandbagging the flow of the narrative) that I ended up skimming the second half of the novel. I do think Mason is very precocious, very talented, and I look forward to reading his stuff in the future -- but once upon a time, a 'literary phenom' meant Truman Capote or Scott F Fitgerald or even, dare I say it, Brett Easton Ellis. These guys produced first novels that impressed you apart from the ridiculously young age of their authors. I don't see 'Drowning People' as a part of that tradition, but as a major find by sales & marketing people who -- in their considerable power in the publishing industry -- saw a good-looking Oxford twenty-year-old with a really cute accent and knew they had something to sell. Mason has a great deal going for him, and he has an opportunity to develop into a powerful novelist if the pressures of his own success don't trip him up. People will be watching now to see if he can beat the fabled 'sophomore slump' -- I wish him well.

Rating:
Summary: Pleasing Prose; Worrysome Modern Ending
Review: I still can't believe this is Richard Mason's first novel. What a delight to read! I found his prose very pleasing, especially his vivid descriptions of people, places, and sensual stimuli (like smells). I also thought his story very engaging, his characters well developed, and the plot well done (though I got tired of his clues teasing since it reminded me of watching a made-for-tv drama). I was a bit disappointed that I figured out the entire plot way too early (when Ella confides to James that she stole Sarah's love away for fun), but I did enjoy the way the remorseful old James allows us to tour his varigated feelings and thoughts as he remembers the details. What worried me most about the book was its ending: James get's away with murder. It left me uneasy that the author left us with James feeling somehow heroic in his taking justice into his own hands (like too many people are doing in the news today), in meating out Sarah's punishment (even though it may have been well-deserved), without himself (his actions, his morals, his accountability) being subjected to anything more than his own private, face-saving, self-inflicted trial where he is both prosecuting and defending attorney for himself, juror of one, and judge of one. No one (other than the reader) ever finds out what he did to anyone! I prefer more the P.D. James sort of justice like in her recent A Perfect Justice. I also wonder at the irony of Sarah's death in terms of the Harcourt curse that now passes--with the title and castle--to her daughter, whom I assume also has daughters. Perhaps Mr. Mason has a sequel in mind? All in all I would recommend this book highly and everyone in my bookclub (The Routy Readers in Belmont, MA, USA) thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Mason's first work and hope he continues to write many more.

Rating:
Summary: a very worthy upper-class murder suspense
Review: Over the years I've made the acquaintance of many authors and other people in the book industry, including this author. Richard Mason is a nice, down-to-earth kind of guy who never let his success over the sale of this first novel get to his head. Altogther he got almost a million dollars for "The Drowning People" and reviews compared him to F. Scott Fitzgerald and Henry James, his responses to such exhuberant praise were modest. The comparison to Hugh Grant embarrassed him. In a similarly humble letter I received from him, he pointed out the transcience of literary fame and made me realize that fame is always a fleeting thing.

This novel, begun when he was just 18, is an ambitious, psychologically insightful, suspenseful, romantic, intriguing foray into the inner world of upper-class England. I thought there was a lot of repetitive psychology and needless description and the editors could have cut about a fourth of the book out to give free-er, faster flow to the plot, which would have strengthened the storyline. Yes, may have been a few clumsy or seemingly implausible things in the story, but overall, this was a very good novel. If John Grisham or Michael Creighton had written this book, we would be calling it a very good novel, trust me, but because it was written by this young college kid, automatically any perceived flaws in the work are magnified.

Mason's a very talented author indeed, and his contract is a two-book deal, so I hope his publishers finally put out his second novel. I look forward to it. Some of us have been waiting a very long time.

David Rehak
author of "Love and Madness"

Rating:
Summary: These sorts of things should be left in the drawer
Review: Poor Richard Mason. The talent that allows some of his very good writing and the perspicacity that generates amazing wisdom for one one so young, can also produce potential literary disasters. Very few first novels should be let out of the bottom left hand drawer of the battered wooden desk. One should read them every couple of years as a reminder of the necessity of time and time again. As for the results, sorry Kid but Scott Spencer and Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine cornered this market years ago and not on a first time basis.

Rating:
Summary: a ho-hum story brought to life by terrific prose...
Review: Richard Mason should be proud. It is hard to believe that a 20 year old university student can produce such sumptious prose in his first novel ('The Drowning People'). The words flow beautifully. Not only is it an effortless read, the prose is on par with the best of today's fiction writers. So yes, I loved this book. However the story itself isn't exactly flawless.

The story is a about a love triangle (actually, a quadrangle) set in modern London. A talented violinist falls in love with a troubled young woman with a bizarre past. The bane of this woman's existence is her identical cousin (..hmmm, sounds like 'The Patty Duke Show'). Further complicating matters is the relationship of a (very close) male friend. Sounds like a soap opera? Well, it actually works better than it sounds. A bit contrived, but thanks to the prose it is all compulsive reading.

Bottom line: a fantastic debut of a promising writer. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: worth the wait
Review: This book was at times slow moving, and the detailed descriptions were often repetative and frustrating. Despite this, I could not stop reading it. The story was haunting, and worth the wait. The slow pace seemed to fit the main character's slow revelation of what had taken place. Although I did figure out the ending before the author gave it away, I don't feel it was too obvious.

Rating:
Summary: A delicious read...but 4, not 5 stars for implausibility
Review: What a yummy read, however, it was mightily implausible. But then, who cares when the story is so melodramatic (and well-written). Actually, I did something I never do - I got the unabridged audio (Time Warner) read by Martin Jarvis. I was shocked. Unlike so many abridged audios, it was impeccably edited. I can't imagine the actual book being
better.

Congratulations to a young writer with great talent. To sustain the tension, to write such a taut, haunting novel at such a tender age, is something of a miracle.