Houses of Stone

Rating:
Summary: Quirky Gothic
Review: Barbara Michaels (Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Mertz) pens two kinds of thrillers: plodding, humorless and unsympathetic, or sparkling with wit and liveliness. This is one of the latter, and displays that Ms. Michaels is also an intelligent literary person (and that Nate Hawthorne was a nauseating chauvinist)

English professor Karen Holloway once found a privately printed book of poetry from the eighteenth/nineteenth century, by "Ismene." After the poetry becomes a roaring success, she is summoned by a friend named Simon, who shows her a battered old manuscript -- also by Ismene. Karen is desperate to have the Gothic thriller, which follows the beautiful Ismene and her empty-headed sister Clara as they arrive at their cousin's enormous mansion. A brooding doctor, stormy weather, hidden house and a ghastly figure complete the Gothic sense.

Karen encounters a little drama of her own -- due to the success of Ismene's poetry, a bunch of other writers are trying to get their hands on the manuscript. The locals are acting more than a little odd also, either unhelpful or deliberately searching...

And as Karen deciphers the old story, she begins to wonder about it. Is it just a story that the talented Ismene created, or is it a memoir of terror and deception from long ago? Ismene's unfinished manuscript and a haunting line of poetry may hold the key.

Though the label "feminist" on Karen may turn off some readers, she's not really a feminazi -- rather, she has to deal with the very real sexism of her male colleagues, who scorn such authors as Jane Austen and George Eliot. (And it's shown that this is not new -- each chapter opens with a quote about women and literature, such as the pig Nathaniel Hawthorne's suggestion that women who write should have "their faces deepley scarified with an oyster shell.") Her colleagues don't have a problem with the money Ismene's novel would give them, though. Karen's feminism is fairly low-key, though there is one hilarious scene where she deliberately makes a shocking speech to isolated small-townsfolk. I liked how she found a kindred spirit in the long-dead Ismene, who was a fierce feminist and abolitionist of the times.

Supporting characters are even more sparkling. Tough-on-the-outside, marshmallowy-on-the-inside Peggy holds Karen up throughout her adventure, and charming old-world Simon is a delight. Bill Meyer, on the other hand, will honestly leave you wondering whether to sympathize or not.

Someone who has read extensive Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels books will know of her particular faves, such as Louisa May Alcott and the Brontes. Comparisons are made to Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, going over such now-cliche items as the Tall Dark Brooding Man, the Frightened Heroine, the Big House/Castle on the Cliff/Moors, the Dark Secret, and so forth. Ms. Michaels utilizes these herself (well, not the Frightened Heroine.... Nervous Heroine would be better) with wry twists and observations about their appropriate nature.

A particularly enjoyable note is that portions of Ismene's book are interspersed. They have appropriately overdescriptive prose and hyperdramatic dialogue (both staples of the times) and are very evocative in emotions and imagination. The only problem is that the ending is quite rushed and becomes a bit incomprehensible, especially as characters only briefly referred to suddenly seem pivotal. There is, fortunately, a geneological map at the beginning, so be sure to look there.

This book is a gem, both for fans of mystery and of Gothic lit. "Houses of Stone" does for Gothic novels what "Die For Love" did for romance!

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Enjoying her Amelia Peabody books written as Elizabeth Peters, I was really disappointed by this book. Slow plot, transparent characters and a very whiny unpleasant main character. I gave up half way through the audiobook. Just didn't care and was tired of hearing the character get on an out-of-place feminist soapbox (unless this was placed in 1977 and I missed that). Even in the South, we've advanced farther than anyone in this book.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Enjoying her Amelia Peabody books written as Elizabeth Peters, I was really disappointed by this book. Slow plot, transparent characters and a very whiny unpleasant main character. I gave up half way through the audiobook. Just didn't care and was tired of hearing the character get on an out-of-place feminist soapbox (unless this was placed in 1977 and I missed that). Even in the South, we've advanced farther than anyone in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Padded Gibberish
Review: I found this book in the gym, so I took a chance on it. I wasn't expecting great literature, but I was looking for an entertaining and perhaps scary story. What was sent up instead was literary pretensions, unappealing characters and virtually no plot. The feminist stuff was annoying. Karen Holloway was boring and insufferable and not believable. Simon and her friend were a joke. Their patter and forced laughter was without wit. The plot of looking for Ismene in the lost manuscript was ludicrous and the ending was forced and false. This is one of the lousiest books I have ever read. You Barbara Michaels fans can have her. I don't get it.

Rating:
Summary: Nice and Comfortable
Review: I guess one has to be a certain type of person to appreciateMichaels (or Peters). You have to be a COZY person--a person who comeshome exhausted on Fridays, and doesn't want to read deep allegorical nonsense. One doesn't pick up a novel like "Houses of Stone," expecting to be aroused to dizzing intellectual highs. You pick it up to relax, to make friends with some interesting, delicious, scholarly people. You pick it up because it's like coming home. Readers who enjoyed this novel should also read "Shattered Silk" by the same author.

Rating:
Summary: Appeals to the heart and the head!
Review: I love this book. I enjoyed every minute with the lead character and thought her friends were the perfect foils to bring out her character quirks. The plot is fantastic--gothic horror, modern romance, feminist ideas, dueling lovers, best girlfriends--it's all here! I was in suspense to the very end, and I liked the ending. I've read this book twice so far and have recommended it to friends. Also, each chapter is headed by a pithy saying that you'll want to quote to certain men in your life. I wish Barbara Michaels would write a sequel (hint hint).

Rating:
Summary: Remarkable
Review: Professor Karen Halloway has been given the rare oppurtunity to own an obscure literary work of signifcant value to the literary community. With the help of a few of her closest collegues she struggles to discover all she can before her compitition does. Two fellow literature experts, are equally convinced of the work's value and attempt desperate measures to gain access to the manuscript. This novel is full of twists and turns that keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat. Subtle romance is also a big plus. I couldn't wait to discover what the ending held in store.

Rating:
Summary: Very clever, cosy, and great fun
Review: What a delight! This is a Gothic romance on at least three levels. It's like being invited to an intimate tea party with Ms Mertz (Ms Michaels' real name) together with a select group of literary types who love Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters and enjoy Ms Michaels' work, at which tea party she shares her trade secrets, explains her love for the genre and plays a clever parlour game with her guests.

At the most basic level, in the book the heroine is an English literature academic who discovers an unpublished manuscript of a Gothic romance written round about the beginning of the 18th century. Chunks of painfully but authentically purple prose are conjured up by Ms Michaels for our delectation, in the approved Gothic romance style, complete with a decrepit ancestral mansion, heroine in psychological distress and physical danger, a Deadly Family Secret, and two male protagonists either of whom could be the hero or the villain. More than a story, there is a real mystery as to who the writer is and how her novel related to real events.

Meanwhile, the heroine, while demonstrating the art of researching a gothic novel and expounding on the genre (e.g. as representing women's oppression and powerlessness in a male dominated world), is herself trapped in one. She is in physical danger, she has just escaped a suffocating marriage and is still ensure of precisely how she wishes to operate in a male dominated world, and she has to work out which of two men is the hero and which is the villain. There's even a Family Secret lurking. This is the level which usually constitutes a Barbara M, and this is handled with above average dexterity - snappy scenes, real characters and good pace. Cleverly, the characters are put through a classic Gothic plot even as they analyse Gothic and other plots; and Ms Michaels milks this shamelessly and delightfully. For instance: "Whatever his motives, he was trying hard, and humility wasn't easy for a man of his arrogance. Or was pride a more accurate word? Karen smothered a smile. Bill's pride and her prejudice against him - another classic plot!" The reader can't help but smile.

Finally, this book is a game with the reader, in which Ms Michaels cames clean with her agenda and issues a challenge. I quote: "She had almost finished two-thirds of it now, and her familiarity with the conventions of the Gothic novel had inspired several hunches - educated guesses rather - as to how the book would end. In one sense she hoped she was right, for that would prove how clever she was; in another sense she hoped [the author] would prove cleverer than she, scorning the old Gothic traditions in favour of a more original solution." She has brilliantly articulated the reader's dilemma of wanting to best the author, and yet hoping the author is cleverer. A protagonist says : "[The author] has set up the plot, and unless she cheats by introducing a new character or a vital clue at the last minute, an intelligent reader ought to be able to predict what will happen." Too true. Ms Michaels' plot resolutions usually seem obvious on hindsight, but they are seldom obvious when you are in the middle of them. For the record, I lost this game. I guessed the wrong hero because I was prejudiced by one man's resemblance to a prominent hero of Elizabeth Peters' (another Ms Mertz pseudonym) and assumed she would not go against her own grain. I should know better than to underestimate Ms Mertz and think that she would be bound by her own conventions. Congratulations, Ms Mertz, and thanks for the fun, and the peep into your world.

Rating:
Summary: a mixed bag
Review: While interesting enough to keep me reading, overall the book wasn't what I might have expected. Loaned to me, I had not read any of her previous work. The characters were too artificial, until I decided that perhaps the whole thing was a parody of the gothic novels it revolved around. But in the end, I decided it was just poorly written - especially with major questions unanswered such as the noise in the clearing, and its function as the major deus ex machina of the book

Rating:
Summary: Out of the ordinary
Review: Yet another fablous specimen of fiction from Ms. Michals. A delightful mix of mystery-suspense-romance. If you like this try Elizabeth Peters Amealia Peabody mysterys.