A Weekend at Blenheim: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Could'nt put it down
Review: "Weekend at Blenheim" reminded me very much of the works by Henry James (without James's tedious prose) and Edith Wharton (without Wharton's wit and elegance). The basic plot premise -- an innocent young American caught up in the machinations of the rich and the powerful) will remind every one of James's and Wharton's works. And while I did enjoy "Weekend in Blenheim," I have to own that it did unwind at a rather slow and somewhat deadened rate, and this sometimes made me skim the pages (esp the first few chapters), till I got to the more meatier bits

Through the good offices of his father-in-law, architect John Vanbrugh, has been commissioned by the Duchess of Marlborough (the American born Consuelo Vanderbilt) to redo her rooms. Vanbrugh is of course flattered and excited: this could be the commission that turns his career around completely. But the atmosphere at Blenheim is anything but conducive to brilliant redesigning ideas -- while the duchess is everything that is charming and gracious, the duke appears to be rude and abrasive. And Vanbrugh soon finds himself in the middle of a power struggle between the duke and duchess involving John Singer Sargents's missing sketch book, and a series of letters that Vanbrugh finds in the duchess's rooms that puts the entire legitimacy of the Marlborough house into question. And then one of the maid's is brutally murdered. Did her death have anything to do with the letters, missing sketch book and the power struggle going on between the duke and duchess? The duke tries to sweep the maid's murder under the carpet by throwing the blame on another servant. Vanbrugh is appalled, and does not at all buy into so pat a solution. And he is determined to discover who actually murdered the maid and why. Suddenly this commission instead of making Vanbrugh's career seems to have taken a rather deadly aspect instead.

While I am a bit of an anglophile, I'm not a blind fan either. And I've never particularly liked Winston Churchill in spite of his brilliant work during WWII. But I did find myself feeling a little leery about all the things that Morrisey attributes to the duke, duchess, Churchill, etc. Much of it bordered on the slanderous (esp when it touched on the murder and the tragedy that ensues). Another difficulty with this novel was that it was a rather hard to take Vanbrugh (our erstwhile hero) to heart. From almost from the first page, where he describes his unhappily pregnant wife in almost peevish tones, I found him to be a rather unsympathetic individual. This impression did not change very much in the ensuing chapters. Vanbrugh's wife, Margaret, however becomes more interesting a character as the book reaches it's climax. But certain bits of information about how much Margaret actually knows and understands and her motives for acting in a certain way, remain obscure to the very end, and left me feeling a little shortchanged. However, it spite of these few quirks, I must admit once the novel took off, I was hooked. The second half of the novel, from the murder of the unfortunate housemaid onwards was an engrossing and compelling read -- so atmospheric that you can actually feel the violence and anger that propels certain characters to act as they do.

In spite of certain reservations I had, I'd have to say that this novel is a must read. I was hooked not so much by the mystery of who killed the maid and why, but by the ambiance as well as the rather unlikeable characters and their actions and motivations.

Rating:
Summary: Dont listen to Publishers Weekly
Review: I think for a first novel this is a terrific book. I can criticize the writing, especially since the author is an editor who works in publishing in New York. But dont let that stop you from reading the book! Here's what another editor in New York publishing (right down the street, Mr. Morrissey) thinks:

The description was wonderful. Far from skipping over it as I do with other writers, I read it two or three times so as not to miss any detail. Either the author spent a lot of time at Blenheim or he did a great job on the research. Not everybody can recreate the scene for readers without making it sound like hard work. It's a gift. Maybe some of the dialogue wont exactly set the world on fire, but I think here one has to cut the author some slack. It's not easy to reproduce conversation from a hundred years ago, and make it sound the way people actually talked. On top of that, he is writing about both British and American characters, who would speak differently. The chase scenes through the palace and all that action on the roof should keep people turning pages right to the end. Some reviewers complained about the characters. I'd like to make the point that sometimes people in a book, especially a narrator, are there to facilitate the story. The "character" everything revolves around can be a place or an inanimate object. I think this book is really about Blenheim and the effect it has on the people in the story. It gets rive stars from me and went a long way to make my weekend.

Rating:
Summary: I'm glad I didn't listen to the carping -- I loved it.
Review: I was rather prepared to dislike this book after reading Publisher's Weekly put-downs and Amazon's sheep-like follow-ups but soldiered on to see what all the fuss was about -- and loved A Weekend at Blenheim! I thought the premise (that the dukedom itself might be in question) delightful, the suspense artful, the characters delightfully deceitful (and so typical of the British upperclass) and overall, the book one of the most entertaining and enthralling I've come upon in a long time.

I'm so glad I didn't let carping like PW's "overengineered" and "improbable" stop me. (DUH -- this is fiction!) And this holier-than-thou statement: "More than a few readers may find it in dubious taste that Morrisey ascribes some monstrous behavior to the Duke and Duchess who, after all, were real people" overlooks the fact that the monstrous behavior referred to (affairs and rudeness to others) were a documented part of their lives as it was the lives of others of their class.

The book is a page-turner; with real-life characters doing fictional but all-too-real things. The story is fabulous, beautifully timed, calculatingly told and a thoroughly delightful read. The slightly formal language of the book is that of Edwardian England, which adds a certain charm to the reading experience. Phooey on the nay-sayers. This one's a keeper!

Rating:
Summary: Real Page Turner
Review: Just want to say that Sunnye Tiedemann's review was right on the mark. I, too, couldn't decide whether to buy the book having read the review from Publishers Weekly, but it was inexpensive so I took a chance on a writer I had not read before. It was a very good book. The characters, for the most part, were real historical figures and the plot was believeable. Having been to Blenheim myself I could visualize the land around it.

It is good thing not to take as gospel some of the reviews that are written by the professionals. Go with your gut feeling and take a chance, especially if it doesn't cost too much. You might be in for a wonderful surprise.

Rating:
Summary: Real Page Turner
Review: Just want to say that Sunnye Tiedemann's review was right on the mark. I, too, couldn't decide whether to buy the book having read the review from Publishers Weekly, but it was inexpensive so I took a chance on a writer I had not read before. It was a very good book. The characters, for the most part, were real historical figures and the plot was believeable. Having been to Blenheim myself I could visualize the land around it.

It is good thing not to take as gospel some of the reviews that are written by the professionals. Go with your gut feeling and take a chance, especially if it doesn't cost too much. You might be in for a wonderful surprise.

Rating:
Summary: A Near Miss
Review: The plot is interesting. The setting is interesting. The characters were not remotely interesting or the dialogue. I doubt very much if some unknown "architect" is going to spend the weekend in the country with the Duke and Duchess. I doubt the Duke runs around the castle chasing his guests. Silly story.

Rating:
Summary: good first novel
Review: With its famous setting and characters, A Weekend at Blenheim captures the imagination within a few pages. This is a mystery that keeps the reader guessing to the end, an easy, entertaining read with an intricate and intriguing plot. Not great literature, but imaginative, fun, and well-written.