Rating: 
Summary: You could have fooled me
Review: Congratulations to Joanne Dobson for inventing a 19th century poet so convincingly, she almost had me convinced that Emmeline Foster actually lived. The details of her poor adumbrated life ring true, and her involvement with the desperate, paranoid Edgar Allan Poe had the authentic tragic ring to it. Finding out that she is only a fictional character made me feel diminished a bit, as though history had gotten suddenly a bit smaller.Karen Pelletier's struggles in academia parallel Foster's journey towards artistic creation, and Karen's relationship with her daughter and her family are well observed and wry. I didn't think the Lieutenant whose lips strike her more and more favorably over the course of the novel was all that exciting. But, at least he was there in the clinch. I'll look forward to Dobson's continuing treatment of this relationship, even if not very eagerly. Good work all around, and plenty of fun and suspense.
Rating:
Summary: You could have fooled me
Review: Congratulations to Joanne Dobson for inventing a 19th century poet so convincingly, she almost had me convinced that Emmeline Foster actually lived. The details of her poor adumbrated life ring true, and her involvement with the desperate, paranoid Edgar Allan Poe had the authentic tragic ring to it. Finding out that she is only a fictional character made me feel diminished a bit, as though history had gotten suddenly a bit smaller. Karen Pelletier's struggles in academia parallel Foster's journey towards artistic creation, and Karen's relationship with her daughter and her family are well observed and wry. I didn't think the Lieutenant whose lips strike her more and more favorably over the course of the novel was all that exciting. But, at least he was there in the clinch. I'll look forward to Dobson's continuing treatment of this relationship, even if not very eagerly. Good work all around, and plenty of fun and suspense.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Read, Not For Poe Fans
Review: Dobson has written a great book here. Her style is very readable and very likeable. Troublesome aspects for me seem to be exactly what others are praising; it seems that the only thing English professors talk about is literature and literary theory in this novel, and they are constantly vying for power and/or fame. Granted, literature specialists have their own specialties and theories, but I doubt there would be a lot of shouting matches over feminism vs. Puritanism in a department meeting. It's also somewhat odd that little Enfeld College deals with so many murders, break-ins, and so forth. Additionally, if you have any respect for Edgar Allan Poe, I suggest you stay away. Although Dobson's afterword makes note that her claims are purely fictitious, it's hard to read a book that accuses my favorite author of plagiarizing his most famous poem and committing murder to get away with it. Still, it was a likeable book and was very refreshing compared to other books I've read recently.
Rating:
Summary: raven and the nightingale review
Review: Dobson's heroine is an English professor at a small liberal arts college, and this mystery does a very good job of conveying teaching life--the classroom discussions, the way professors talk with one another about literature and about their department, and the unending work of being an English teacher with papers and tests to grade. The college is in Massachusetts and the book also makes the reader feel November and December in New England: the cold, the threatening storms, the scariness of bare branches scraping against a window in the night. The mystery itself is good; it connects the parts of the story--academic life for teachers and students, Poe, research, mysterious journals and manuscripts, and others; and it makes sense that an English teacher would "read" and analyze what is occurring and solve it. I enjoyed reading about Karen Pelletier's life as much as I liked the mystery, although on some occasions I find her a bit off-putting--she's a bit narcissistic. And the romance (which hasn't happened yet but is being prepared) is of course with a policeman: I realize a romance between a policeman and a non-detective heroine is a convenient, believable way to get the police and what they know into the book, but it is the staple of way too many mysteries.
Rating:
Summary: Looking forward to next book, too
Review: I am really enjoying this series that began with Quieter than Sleep. Much much better female protagonist than the bestselling Janet Evanovich One for the Money series!
Rating:
Summary: A Ph.D. is not a credential for guilt or innocence
Review: It is Enfield College in western New England, (one thinks of names of actual colleges, Elmira, Endicott), and Professor Pelletier is teaching Poe to freshmen. Poe was not emotionally balanced. Maybe dead women turned him on.
Karen Pelletier from Lowell, Massachusetts, a grittier place, was in her third year at Enfield. Students at Enfield felt a sense of entitlement. The professor ate dinner with a friend from the sociology department on maternity leave. Elliot Corbin, a Poe scholar, wants to be the Palaver, (yes, Palaver), Endowed Chair and the department head, Miles Jewell, dislikes him. His office is next to Karen Pelletier's.
There is a nineteenth century American literature Study Group that meets monthly. A colleague tells Karen she should be discussing Poe as a discursive function. Enfield College received a bequest for a research center, stipulating that Karen be the director of it. Karen has a special delivery package mailed to her in conjunction with her leadership of the center. Other people in the department would be happy to derail the intended women's center and use the funds for other kinds of literary studies.
Elliot Corbin becomes a homicide victim. Karen's name is found at the crime scene. Lieutenant Piotrowski gives her the news and stays for a plate of her Thanksgiving fare. The lieutenant asks Karen to help with the investigation.
Karen rewards herself with cookies and CNN to get her grading completed. The semester is tight and the pace is brutal as everything must be fit into the period between Labor Day and Christmas. It turns out that there is a missing student, Mike Vitale, who bears a striking resemblance to the dead man. The work is a lot of fun to read and seems to be a realistic portrayal of academic life.
Rating:
Summary: Quoth the Reader, "Nevermore"
Review: Joanne Dobson's mystery of academia is a passable book. It certainly wasn't unpleasant to read, but I don't feel I gained much from reading it. Most of the facts in the life of Edgar Allan Poe were known to me prior to reading this novel, but since the Poe connection was what drew me to the book, I can't help but feeling a little cheated. That's my issue, though, not yours. Main character Karen Pelletier is innocuous enough, and the book is at it's most interesting in the classroom scenes, where Dobson is able to inject some life into Pelletier's dialog. Other than that, she's just a ham-fisted academic trying to act sly when asked to question her fellow professors after the murder of a colleague. I didn't get a read on any of the other characters at Enfield College. Most were academic archetypes rather than true characters. I was neither intrigued nor interested in the petty squabbling and ca't get behind any murder motivated by achieving tenure. The love interest/cop is an okay guy, smart in a Matlock kind of way, which is to say that he seems dumb on first meeting. Unfortunately, it will be my only reading because this book just didn't grab me and make me want to read the rest of the series. On a semi-related note, it's kind of sad that some people have built certain literary figures up to the point that they are unable to see his flaws. Poe was a deeply flawed man, very whiny and of dubious character. He really did many of the things of which Dobson accuses him. That makes him no less a genius, no less fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: Quoth the Reader, "Nevermore"
Review: Joanne Dobson's mystery of academia is a passable book. It certainly wasn't unpleasant to read, but I don't feel I gained much from reading it. Most of the facts in the life of Edgar Allan Poe were known to me prior to reading this novel, but since the Poe connection was what drew me to the book, I can't help but feeling a little cheated. That's my issue, though, not yours. Main character Karen Pelletier is innocuous enough, and the book is at it's most interesting in the classroom scenes, where Dobson is able to inject some life into Pelletier's dialog. Other than that, she's just a ham-fisted academic trying to act sly when asked to question her fellow professors after the murder of a colleague. I didn't get a read on any of the other characters at Enfield College. Most were academic archetypes rather than true characters. I was neither intrigued nor interested in the petty squabbling and ca't get behind any murder motivated by achieving tenure. The love interest/cop is an okay guy, smart in a Matlock kind of way, which is to say that he seems dumb on first meeting. Unfortunately, it will be my only reading because this book just didn't grab me and make me want to read the rest of the series. On a semi-related note, it's kind of sad that some people have built certain literary figures up to the point that they are unable to see his flaws. Poe was a deeply flawed man, very whiny and of dubious character. He really did many of the things of which Dobson accuses him. That makes him no less a genius, no less fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Read, Not For Poe Fans
Review: Karen is an assistant professor of English in a small but prestigious New England college. Her colleague is a pompous blowhard with more of a reputation than he deserves, an ever-growing ego, and a lust for a prestigious position in the department, the Palaver Chair. Karen has other problems. Her daughter Amanda is trying to find out her roots. Her exboyfriend has gotten married, and she is in charge of a soon to be very important book collection. A box has arrived containing the writings and other materials of a poet Emmeline Foster, rumored to have killed herself over Edgar Allan Poe. A small volume of poetry disappears followed by the poet's journals. Then, her colleague Elliot ends up dead and the homicide detective wants her help. In her spare time maybe! I really enjoyed this novel. The characters were interesting and the mystery was difficult to solve. I sort of knew who did it, but the author's red herrings made me doubt my conclusions. I am going to look up the rest of this series.
Rating:
Summary: Good Academic Mystery
Review: Karen is an assistant professor of English in a small but prestigious New England college. Her colleague is a pompous blowhard with more of a reputation than he deserves, an ever-growing ego, and a lust for a prestigious position in the department, the Palaver Chair. Karen has other problems. Her daughter Amanda is trying to find out her roots. Her exboyfriend has gotten married, and she is in charge of a soon to be very important book collection. A box has arrived containing the writings and other materials of a poet Emmeline Foster, rumored to have killed herself over Edgar Allan Poe. A small volume of poetry disappears followed by the poet's journals. Then, her colleague Elliot ends up dead and the homicide detective wants her help. In her spare time maybe! I really enjoyed this novel. The characters were interesting and the mystery was difficult to solve. I sort of knew who did it, but the author's red herrings made me doubt my conclusions. I am going to look up the rest of this series.
|
