Customer Reviews

I, Richard

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Let me state up front that I only read the first two stories in the collection so this review in based only on those stories. If you plan to read this book, this review gives away the plot of the two stories so read no further. In the first story the thief steals 2 goblets from the estate but kills a man in the process for absolutely no reason (unless, of course, you find it believable that someone would commit cold-blooded murder as a diversion for the theft of a few thousand dollars). The second story, a psychological thriller, has similar problems. A man, at his volunteer job, sneaks home to kill his wife and is faced, after the murder, with a surprise birthday party!! How would the wife ever know he was coming home? How could she possibly create this surprise? These plot structures are so fatal as to make the stories, no matter how well written, unbelievable. Readers should stick with her novels.

I'm a Road Warrior, spending many hours behind the wheel of my car which I special-ordered with both a cassette tape deck and a CD-player so that I could have a larger selection of audio-books. I'm surprised that the other reviewers did not mention the appalling narration of "I, Richard" (audio-book version) by Derek Jacobi. Mr. Jacobi is a fine actor, based on my experience with "Masterpiece Theatre", but his impression of an American accent sounds like Attila the Hun on helium. Since most of the short stories in this collection are set in America and have characters who are young women, Mr. Jacobi's unintentionally hilarious accent made me wish I could award this recording "negative stars".
2nd fatal mistake of this production - the "Interview with the Author" was in fact conducted by a young American woman (who managed to sound worse than Jacobi's bad impression of a young American woman) mechanically reading trite questions with no real enthusiasm or interaction with the author. Ms. George has a pleasant voice and is thoughtful and articulate, and I very much wanted to ask her a question: "Ms. George, your introduction to one of the stories (the first one, I think) indicated that in an earlier version you killed off the wrong character. Who did you kill, and why?" I mean, what's the point of an interview that doesn't rise above cliches?

Unlike many of the readers, I found this book fun, ... These stories were mercifully short, and though the surprise endings might strike some readers as tacky, I thought they were fun. I confess I had to reread one story in part to understand the killer's motive, but despite that, there were more thrills here than I expected to find. George's introductions could have been shorter and more artful, but let's face it, she's not the mystery short story artist Ruth Rendell is, so that's not surprising.

Lev Raphael ...

I don't understand all of the negative reviews for this book. It is what it is - a collection of dark, short-story mysteries. All of the stories are pretty good. I have enjoyed it. George is better at writing novels but this collection stands on it's own.

I'm so glad I followed my heart and not some of these reviews and bought the book! I've enjoyed each and every short story and the beginning of each story starts off with why Elizabeth George came to write it or what inspired her to do so. Each story made me curious as to where it was leading me. Granted, one can't compare this with the novels that E. George has written especially if one follows the Lynley series, but each story stands on it's own and left me satisfied at the end of each short story. I've read all of her books and this one was one of my favorites! Well done!

Unlike her other books, this one seems to be an experiment that didn't work.

I'm a diehard Elizabeth George fan. This particular book disappointed me in many ways. I could only complete one of the five stories, and can't recommend it to anyone.

Will this stop me from buying her next novel? Not at all. She's a master in her field.

I, like so many of the other reviewers here, came to this book of short stories after having become a fan of Elizabeth George's Thomas Lynley/Barbara Havers novels. It was probably because of those novels that I expected so much from Ms. George's short stories. I wonder if I might have liked these stories better had I approached them without these expectations. I'm afraid that I'm not introspective enough to answer this largely rhetorical question.

I do think that the major problem is that her writing style is one that utilizes a leisurely approach to the development of the personalities of her creations, and what makes them tick. The same can be said of her development of plot line. The limitations of the short story format just don't allow the time for this sort of build-up, thus her short story characters tend to be one dimensional types rather than her usually fully developed real people.

The middle story in this five story book, "Good Fences Aren't Always Enough," is the primary example of these one dimensional characters. Even their neighborhood, Napier Lane, is unidimensional. It seems to exist only to win the town's periodic "Perfect Neighborhood" designation.

As to its inhabitants:

Willow is the well intentioned wife and mother type.

Scott is the distracted husband type.

Leslie is the soap opera watching couch potato type.

Ava is the transplanted Southern Belle type.

Beau is the obedient henpecked husband type.

You get the picture - not a one of them have any other dimensions to their personalities.

In most of the rest of these stories, the plot is rather predictable, and, in the opening story, "Exposure," I sure couldn't figure out any motivation for the murder, even though the introduction referred to this very aspect of the story.

The story for which the book was named, "I, Richard," was the book's saving grace. The writing was much more like what I have come to expect from Ms. George. The principals did have personalities and motivations. You felt like you actually knew each of them. Even though the outcome was rather predictable, it made for good reading. Since it was the last story in the book, I did come away from I, RICHARD feeling somewhat satisfied.

I'm a great Elizabeth George fan. She is one of a small number of writers whose works I buy in hardbound.

But I'm afraid she's no short story writer.

The collection gets off to a bad start with "Exposure," which ought to be interesting to George fans because of the presence of detective Thomas Lynley. But the story is a mess. I don't understand the perpetrator's motive. The "puzzle" aspect is poorly presented--we're not really given enough of a clue to solve the puzzle ourselves. The perpetrator actually commits two crimes--and I don't believe that the methods used to commit either crime would have worked in real life.

Three of the the stories feature "O. Henry endings," none of which, in my opinion, quite come off.

The title story, "I, Richard" intertwines a sort of pseudo-mystery story concerning the truth about Richard III and the Princes in the Tower, with a modern-day murder story. Unfortunately, to someone who isn't a "Ricardian," the Richard III part is muddled and boring--and the framing murder mystery is unbelievable, except for the ending--which is all too predictable.

Similar motifs recur in several of the stories--giving a slightly stale or repetitious flavor to the collection.

Perhaps the best is "Good Fences Aren't Always Enough," which comes close to being sad and touching. But all of them, even this one, read more like extended jokes than like real stories. The characters in them are paper cutouts. The author's attitude toward her characters is remote and almost contemptuous. She never seems involved with them, nor do we. The stories succeed neither as slices of life nor as clever little clockwork gadgets.

And, incidentally, the book is a rather poor value. There are only five stories in it. It's thin, the type is large, and the lines are widely spaced. By my estimate, it contains roughly about 70,000 words (for [money amount]) or about one-fifth as many as "A Traitor to Memory" ([money amount]). Distinctly short measure, to my way of thinking.

I'm a former fan of George's but this is the worst book I've tried to read in years, in fact, I simply couldn't finish it. First time I've wanted to ask Amazon[.com] to refund my money! Should never have been published. Characters are one dimensional, plots are silly, no redeeming literary or entertainment qualities, a general waste of time, either author or publisher cashing in on what was a strong name in her genre.

I almost find it hard to believe this book was even written by Elizabeth George. ALL of the stories were horrible and predictable less than half way through the story. I can't believe the author who develops her characters so deeply in every one of her other books to the point that you feel like you know them personally, could have written these stories. It was a struggle just reading the first one, but I kept thinking that the next one had to get better. I knew something was wrong when I said that same thing after each story. By the last one it was just a matter of not leaving the book unfinished. I have a co-worker who is also a EG fanatic and I have strongly advised her not to go anywhere near this book. There is no need for another fans to be disheartened. I was a little disappointed with the book before this one, but it is looking much better after reading this horrible collection. The only reason I give it one star is because they won't let you not give any.