2023 #3: A Particular Kind of Black Man (Folarin)

A Particular Kind of Black Man: A Novel by Tope Folarin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had to keep reminding myself that this was not a memoir -- at least in the first part of the book, all narrated in the first person. This isn't really (just) a coming-of-age story, and this is beneficial as it allows the author to keep the deeper themes as a through line. There's a lot here about identity and particularly, agency--agency to define oneself (outside of and inside of categories), agency to grow, to move. It is a book about distances, both metaphorical and geographical. The story is multiple stories, although Tunde is the protagonist. It is a story of many lives and the choices that shape them. As Ravi Howard describes it, the books shows the "deeply personal geography of migration." That's a beautiful description. What happens when "home" constantly moving, shifting, and perhaps absent or wholly constructed from fragile memories?

There is a brief interlude that switches to an altogether different style to relate Tunde's first experience of falling in love. Because of the impact and deeply insightful narration up to that point, these passages (often one or two sentences to a page) felt forced--as though I was reading a different book. Perhaps that was the point, but as a reader I found myself engaging less and moving quickly to get back to Folarin's full and deep writing. And finally, in a (potentially comic) turn that seemed to come out of nowhere but ends up leading us to one of the most beautiful (yet heart-wrenching) moments, Folarin tells us what home truly is.



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2023 #2 The Monk Who Vanished (Tremayne) - Sister Fidelma #7

 

The Monk Who Vanished by Peter Tremayne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this seventh installment, Fidelma seems to have come into her own. Tremayne doesn't need to remind us as often that she is a dalaigh, sister to the King, etc., etc. The mystery here has all the right ingredients: a robbery, an assassination plot, political intrigue, multiple locations, shady-but-not-really characters and wholesome-but-not-really characters. It was a good time, and I'll admit being a bit surprised at the end, which is a bonus! The violence seems to be greater than in previous books, but not particularly gory. The relationship between Fidelma and Eadulf grows (slowly) more complex, and there are good passages wherein Eadulf clearly has to grapple with the pagan ideas that inform and are present in medieval Irish Christianity (for some, it turns out), but Tremayne never gets too heavy-handed with the theological musings, so they are important bits of context, not the story itself. I still get mildly frustrated (as do some of the characters) with the final court/tribunal scene (in many of the books) wherein Fidelma relishes the slooooooooooow reveal, but there's enough elsewhere to make this a worthwhile and engaging read.

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2023 #1: The Violin Conspiracy (Slocumb)

 

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book tries to cover a lot of ground and does some of it quite successfully. The important messages about the still-prevalent racism in classical music are sometimes spoon-fed to the reader via prose that might feel a bit obvious to a few, but is probably sorely needed by most. As a mystery/thriller it fell a little flat for me--the rhythm felt a bit too random, as if the through line of the plot was sometimes forgotten until it popped back up again. The "reveal" was a rather big disappointment as it seemed rushed and trivial by the time we get there. The musical interludes in the audiobook were a nice touch, and JD Jackson's character voices were extraordinarily compelling -- especially Grandma Nora. The basic narration, however, could have used more emotion is some places, particularly in Slocumb's more poetic descriptions of music. Classical musicians might get a bit tired of the explanations put in there for non-musicians, but this is a small issue. I think I might have enjoyed this one more in print, but it was worth the audiobook for the vivid characters that Jackson really brought to life. This isn't really a book about a stolen violin, but instead a violinist and the elitism and racism that drive much of the classical music world.

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