- Hardcover
- Publisher: Pantheon (Jan 13 1994)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 067943075X
- ISBN-13: 978-0679430759
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 14.7 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Kirkus Reviews
Immured in a beastly nursing home run by smarmy William Anderson and his foulmouthed sister Letitia Davis, Rosemary Travis, abetted by her cooperative chum Dorothy Davenport, keeps her spirits up by embroidering the horrors of life at Eventide Lodge into a baroque Golden Age mystery plot--a plot that casts each of her innocuous fellow-geriatrics as a possible suspect when Hilary Bryant dies or George Channing attempts to escape and is mauled by Anderson's Doberman. But when Dorothy, on the eve of her departure for the hospital for terminal-cancer treatment, dies of a fantastic concoction of liquor and pills, Rosemary has a real-life mystery on her hands. Or does she? Did Dorothy really kill herself? Or was Anderson getting rid of her as expeditiously as possible? Or was the killer some other patient? Or is the whole plot one last fictional legacy of Dorothy's? Once again, Dibdin, author of Ratking and the Aurelio Zen novels (Vendetta, 1991, etc.), produces a tale as piercingly funny as Tom Stoppard--and as wise about the powers of fiction to deal with an unspeakable world. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
"Dibdin has a gift for shocking the unshockable reader. He writes the unmentionable calmly and with devastating effect."
—Ruth Rendell
"Horribly, monstrously funny . . . a merry and maddening jeu d'esprit."
—The Independent on Sunday
"An elegant novel."
—Boston Globe
"As appealing as it is inventive."
—The Sunday Times
From the Trade Paperback edition.
—Ruth Rendell
"Horribly, monstrously funny . . . a merry and maddening jeu d'esprit."
—The Independent on Sunday
"An elegant novel."
—Boston Globe
"As appealing as it is inventive."
—The Sunday Times
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quick Read of Immense Images,
By Matthew Gladney (Champaign-Urbana, IL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Dying of the Light: A Mystery (Paperback)
Michael Dibdin's 'The Dying of the Light' is a short, contrived, sometimes brutal little mystery, but it shines beautifully within all the aforementioned characteristics. It is just the write length, the contrived plot is what makes it tick, and the brutality, though shocking and disdainful, sticks in your mind long after the book has been closed, leaving an indelible mark.The novel starts out with Rosemary and Dorothy, two old ladies who are friends at what we believe to be something of a manor house, or possibly an old-fashioned hotel? At any rate, the story begins with a list of stock murder mystery suspects reminiscent of the golden-age crime capers. They are all gathered in a cozy lounge, and we believe Rosemary and Dorothy to be our sleuths. Soon, however, events unfold, and we discover that we have been tricked by the sly author, Dibdin. The awful, creeping realization of where exactly our two old ladies are, and what is transpiring there, is the first of many chilling plot twists that take place. Many mysterious and even horrible things begin to happen once the book gets going, and our two elderly heroins *do* become sleuths (sort of), and some of the other characters peppering the book make for good adversaries. As I said earlier, it is all somewhat contrived, but as long as you just go along with it, you should have a bracing read. Some parts of novel are intense, some parts slightly comical, but *every* part is of interest. If you have a nice, solitary evening free, draw the curtains, dim the lights, and settle-in for 'The Dying of the Light'. It is a mystery of a different kind.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Surprise, shock, but dont degrade,
This review is from: The Dying of the Light: A Mystery (Paperback)
The solution to this mystery, "The Dying Of The Light", is as clever as any of Mr. Dibdin's work. The matching of wits, the misdirection, and words so carefully chosen, create a wonderful adversary for the inspector. That his adversary is at least an octogenarian, creates a duel that is just that more interesting.This story is a bit like the board game that requires the players to solve, who did what to whom, where was it done, and what was the weapon of choice. The setting is a home for the aged, and the environment is which they live could be described as one created by a satanic Dickens. This atmosphere is what I did not care for. A good mystery does not require the degradation of a character, humiliation does not shock as much as it makes the reader uncomfortable, and for me it does nothing but detract from the tale. I have commented on many other of this Author's work, so I will not repeat the thoughts here. The resolution was excellent, the action leading to it however, barely made the book a worthy read.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliantly dark humor with a focus on relationships,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Dying of the Light: A Mystery (Paperback)
Dibdin is, in my opinion, what the mystery genre needs; a quality literature writer who happens to use mystery as an excuse to tell his story. His humor is deliciously dark and at times shocking. What sets him apart is his focus on relationships. The solution to the mystery is not nearly as important as how the characters interact. Dibdin deserves much more respect than we Americans have given him. Dibdin is what mystery should be. I also recommend the Aurelio Zen series for a "detective" with a distinctly melancholy personality.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
