Vanity Dies Hard

Rating:
Summary: Confusion
Review: Alice begged a ride from her brother to visit Nesta Drage in Orphingham, (Constable had painted the river). Alice is unable to find her. She goes to ask someone named Daphne about her. It seems that Alice has married Andrew who is considerably younger than she is. They do not have children for reason of her age. Alice is a sort of heiress and so there is a suggestion that Andrew did well monetarily in the match, although Alice's better nature wants to insist upon the existence of love. She finds out there is a redirection notice on Nesta's address of Saulsby. It seems that new address is 193 Dorcas Street, Paddington.

Andrew tells her she is an innocent and he'd rather she not pursue Nesta at the new place. Alice becomes sick with a virus. Her brother Hugo refuses to accompany her to London. Hugo feels that Nesta is manic-depressive. At the address in Paddington, the Endymion Hotel, Nesta has not been seen for three months. A so-called Mr. Drage, Nesta was supposed to have been a widow, had just come to collect her mail it is learned. Andrew calls Alice, Bell. He commiserates with her.

A for-hire car firm asks Alice about Nesta Drage. Alice pays the bill for her. Nesta has left a wooden trunk with Daphne and her father. Daphne and Alice open the trunk and find there nearly all of Nesta's belongings. Alice goes to the police. The official says he will not list Nesta as a missing person yet, but he will keep her circumstances in mind.

Her doctor, Harry, lets it slip to Alice, that somehow Andrew and Nesta were involved with each other. Andrew claims that Nesta was repulsive to him. Alice discovers that Saulsby is an address used in Trollope-- it is made-up. Andrew is a fervid Trollope reader.

Rating:
Summary: Unusual - possibly not for all tastes
Review: For fans of Rendell who admire her books, the way she turns the genre on its head, this is another brilliant example of Rendell's ingenuity. For new reader who like the conventional boundaries of the genre, this may not be quite so satisfying a book...

Suffice to say, it is well-written, engaging, with a set of interesting and well-developed character. Too, here Rendell really her theme (i.e. vanity, what it can lead to, what it can cause, how it expresses itself in people) and runs with it! This is a marvellous exploration of vanity, she probes deeply into each of her characters with this interesting theme in mind.

With Vanity Dies Hard, she really confounds expectations. She turns everything we expect, everything we and the charachters assume, on its head, so that we can be sure nothing in the world of Rendell is certain...And it all makes such beautiful sense. This novel of hysteria and vanity is a unique gem from RR

Rating:
Summary: Not her best; somewhat engaging; dissapointing ending
Review: I read this book while on a plane ride and it was engaging and a great companion. However, the ending was extremely disapointing. I imagined Ms. Rendell writing this book on a deadline from her publisher or something. Not her best work. However, been a fact that she is a Master at what she does, her worst still good enough.

Rating:
Summary: Surprising, not disapointing
Review: I'VE JUST FINISHED READING THIS BOOK AND I'M DISSAPOINTED WITH THE ENDING. MS. RENDELL IS TOO DESCRIPTIVE IN ALL OF HER BOOKS AND IN THIS ONE PARTICULARLY. MY VOCABULARY IS JUST NOT EXTENSIVE ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING, AND I HAVE A PRETTY GOOD ONE. HER AMATEUR PSYCHOLOGY IS SOMEWHAT TIRING. HER ENDINGS ARE A LITTLE TOO COMPLICATED WHEREAS AGATHA CHRISTIE'S ARE NOT EVER THIS COMPLICATED. IN SOME WAYS I THINK SHE TRIES TOO HARD AND HAS SOMETHING TO PROVE AND THAT IS TIRING. HER WORKING CLASS BACKGROUND COMES OUT VERY CLEARLY IN HER NOVELS AS THEY ALWAYS SEEM TO INVOLVE CLASS , MONEY AND EXCESSIVE DETAIL OF MATERIAL THINGS.

Rating:
Summary: Surprising, not disapointing
Review: This is one of Rendell's more interesting novels, and she seems to be having a lot of fun with the conventions of the genre : in another of her novels she tells us who murdered who, when, where, how and even why in the first paragraph. Here she once again twists the rules of the mystery novel, but in another way of course and any real analysis of that twist of the rules would destroy the fun of the first read, sorry. But I have reread this novel a couple of times, with a great deal of enjoyment at how well she twists expectations and very gently pokes fun at the genre. Great novel.