Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear

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Among the Mad, Jacqueline Winspear

From Goodreads: Maisie Dobbs is anything but merry as she walks home on Christmas Eve, 1931. She’s just witnessed the suicide of a man on a crowded London street. What unfolds the next day is even more troubling. A letter delivered to the prime minister’s office promises massive mayhem, the destruction of thousands of lives — and, most surprising of all, it mentions Maisie by name. Drawn into the case first as a suspect, then as a consultant, Dobbs realizes that only she and her assistant are standing between a madman and his terrorist dreams.
These books just keep getting better. If you read series at all you know this is not an easy task. But Jacqueline Winsprear pulls it off each and every time. This is by far the most suspenseful of all the books and it keep me on the edge of the page the whole time. What’s most remarkable about this entry into the series if the formula was stirred up a bit. While still have all the great elements that I love about a Maisie Dobbs book there was a major change dropped into the mix. For the first time we are let in on the thoughts of our culprit. By way of his journal entries we get into the mind of the person planning nothing short of a terrorist attack on London.  This not only added to the tension of the story but gave us insight into the wounded mind of a man destroyed by war.

Here’s the thing that keeps me coming back to the books in this series, all the characters are so interesting and real. I love both the central characters and the new characters introduced for each new story. In this story we get to see Maisie start to really embrace life and put her experiences in the war firmly behind her and start looking for both joy and companionship. Realizing her loneliness and need for human connections she reaches out to Priscilla and her family. I can’t even tell you how much I love Priscilla. And I adore she has been given more depth with each new story. Here we see that Pris isn’t as “over” the war as she may have seen earlier. Back in London Priscilla must truly deal with the loss of her family and her fears of the future for her own boys.

In contrast to Priscilla’s fears for the future is Doreen’s inability to let go of her horrible loss in the past. Doreen, Maisie’s assistant Billy’s wife, cannot get past the loss of their daughter.  The Beale’s lost their daughter Lizzy in the fourth novel in the series Messenger of Truth. Where that story showed the inequity the lower classes had in treating illness this story showed just how awful some of the treatments towards the mentally ill were. Particularly, if you were poor. The treatment Doreen first received was just frightening.

This story also bring to light the treatment of men and women damaged psychologically by war. Though the setting is 1930s England I’m sure there are some parallels to the lack of attention paid to mental illness as a result of war. Other comparisons can be made to today’s fears of chemical terrorism. It was so interesting to think there is nothing new under the sun. Where we may think worrying about terrorist with chemical weapons is something new, it obviously is something that has been around a very long time. Boy, did tht add to the suspense.

I mentioned there were some wonderful new characters introduced. We met Detective Chief Superintendent Robert MacFarlane. (Boy, is that a mouthful-I tell you they sure know how to drag out the names of their Police officials) Let me tell you, Robert MacFarlane can go toe to toe with our Maisie. He even calls her on her habit of mimicking people in order to make them feel more at ease and easier for her to relate. While I hope there is not a romance between the two (something it seems Robert would like) because I am standing strong for team Stratton, I hope MacFarlance is around for awhile. He has broken down some of Maisie’s barriers. Maisie also has to deal with members of MI-5 and I can only hope we see more of that. I can see story lines coming as WWII looms in the near distance.

This was a jam packed edition to the series with both the mystery (maybe the best so far) and the personal stories grabbing me and holding on to the end. I can’t wait to see what’s next. I have high hopes for the next in the series. I know I have said this over and over and over (and over and over-that’s five times over for each in the series so far) but this is my favorite so far. At first I hesitated saying this because I starts to lose it something to say it for each book. But they do just keep getting better. Winspear adds layers with each new story and Maisie, Billy, Priscilla, Stratton, and all the characters keep getting more endearing. So, yes this is my favorite so far and I won’t be surprised if I end up saying this again in my next Maisie review.

 

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Wondrous Words Wednesday

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Among the Mad, Jacqueline Winspear

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Kathy @ Bermudaonion weblog where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading.  If you want to play along, grab the button, and join the fun!  (Don’t forget to leave a link in the comments if you’re participating.)

At the end of my reading career I’m fairly certain I will be multilingual and will be able to use the slang of many lands and social groups.

This week’s words come from the sixth in the Maisie Dobbs series, Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear. I’m including some words I already knew but are British slang we don’t get to use. I’ve already mentioned how much I love English slang and wish I were able to use it without sounding well, either pompous or odd.

Blokes – “You don’t get these Scotland Yard blokes making telephone calls early on Boxing Day morning for nothing.”

Bloke is British slang for man, similar to our using guy. See what I mean, we just can’t use the word bloke but it’s kind of awesome.

Demijohns – “He stood up and, taking small steps toward a cupboard, pulled out a large box containing a collection of empty demijohns, tubes, and rubber piping.”

A demijohn is a large bottle with a narrow neck, often with two small handles at the neck and encased in wickerwork. I had to look up a picture of this and then, of course knew exactly what it was.

Here’s are some demijohns: Neurasthenia – “First built as an asylum, it had been turned over to military cases of neurasthenia and other neuroses during the war, as had the Clifton Hospital.”

Neurasthenia means a sort of nervous exhaustion. It is not a technical term and is no longer in use.

Cosh – “The first attacks-with chlorine gas-were like a cosh on the back of the head of the military…..”

Cosh is another slang meaning a blackjack or bludgeon. It’s also a verb (as used in the sentence) meaning a hit on the head. This is another word I think just sounds great.

Gaff – “The landlord lives in a house -old gaff, it is, split into about six rooms that he lets out.”

Gaff is slang for house.

Ceilidh – “Hope you’ve not any plans for going to a ceilidh this evening.”

Ceilidh is Scottish term for party. I tell you by the end of my reading career I’m going to be multilingual.

Boffins – “There was a team of boffins-you know, scientists, physicists, that sort of person-working in Berkshire on antidotes for gas.”

Boffins is slang for scientists or technical experts. See I like this one a little better than geeks or nerds.

There were actually a few more words I could have added, maybe next time. I have to say again, I just love English slang and wish I could use it outside my house (I use it a fair bit inside my house).

What what words had you running for the dictionary?

Teaser Tuesday

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Among the Mad, Jacqueline Winspear

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week’s tease comes from Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear, the 6th in the Maisie Dobbs series. If you’re not reading this series you are really missing out.

“I have no further use of this life, of this body, or of this mind. But before I go, before I decline the opportunity to step forward into another year of sidelong glances and piteous abuse, I will make my mark. You will be sorry, so sorry not to have listened to me.”

So what are you going to tease us  with this week?

Mailbox Monday

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A Good Hard Look, Ann Napolitano

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of The Printed Page and is being hosted this month by I’m Booking It during the month of February. Head on over to see what wonderful books everyone else got last week.

This week brought just one book my way and I’m of kind of glad of that. My stack of books is getting HUGE. I’m going to have to take a picture of the books piled up next to my bed sometime. Anyway, this is what my mailman brought me,

A Good Hard Look by Ann Napolitano from Book Browse First Impressions.

 

 

So, did your mailman bring you anything last week?

Picking Bones from Ash by Marie Mutsuki Mockett

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Marie Mutsuki Mockett, Picking Bones from Ash

From Goodreads: Ghosts lurk in the bamboo forest outside the tiny northern Japanese town where Satomi lives with her elusive mother, Atsuko. A preternaturally gifted pianist, Satomi wrestles with inner demons. Her fall from grace is echoed in the life of her daughter, Rumi, who unleashes a ghost she must chase from foggy San Francisco to a Buddhist temple atop Japan’s icy Mount Doom. In sharp, lush prose, Picking Bones from Ash examines the power and limitations of female talent in our globalized world.

This story is told in three different time periods. The first, and my favorite, is Japan in the 1950s. Satomi lives with her single mother over the izakaya, or bar her mother owns. Satomi at 11 is a gifted pianist and her mother works hard and pushes Satomi to take her gift as far as she can. Her mother tell her “…there is only one way a woman can be truly safe in this world. And that is to be fiercely, inarguably, and masterfully, talented.”

This is one of those rare books for me that I really liked even though I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters. While I could understand some of the motivation behind Atsuko, Satomi’s mother, she’s a rather cold mother and some of the choice she makes really bothered me. She marries in order to provide Satomi with the schooling she needs to be a concert pianist and then proceeds to push Satomi away from her. Satomi is young girl just trying to please her mother and to get her mother’s approval. And this is the section of the book where I like her most. At times  she’s  selfish and competitive but I still saw the girl who was trying to find her place. Then, unfortunately she makes some very poor choices and ends up with some not so good guys and things go down hill fast. By the end of the first section she’s living in America with a man she doesn’t love and a little baby to care for.

The second section of the book picks up with Satomi’s daughter Rumi. Living in San Fransisco with her father Francois and paying for her mother’s poor choices. This is where I started to not enjoy the characters. The men in the book are ineffectual at best and extremely creepy and dubious at worst. I didn’t like either Francois (Rumi’s father) and I really didn’t like Snowden, a family friend who sends Rumi on her journey to find out more about her past.

The third and final section take place back in Japan, where Rumi flees to follow a ghost (an actual ghost, but don’t worry it works in the story) to find out more about her past and the mysteries surrounding her mother. There are bits of this section where it just gets odd and I had a hard time with all the characters and how they acted. But, at least it was an interesting weird, if you know what I mean?

Here’s what I liked about this books. It’s steeped with a culture I know very little about but find very interesting. It’s full of magical realism (a term I’m just getting to know but turns out I like this kind of book-where I used to think I didn’t). Both Satomi and Rumi see ghosts. Rumi even follows a ghost from San Fransisco to Japan to find out what it’s trying to tell her. Rumi can hear objects speak to hear, like musical instruments, they tell her about their lives and history.

The story is also filled with insight into the Japanese culture and attitudes. Mockett fills the story with facts about both the Buddhist and Shinto religions.  So, while I didn’t really care some of the characters (and I really disliked the most the men) I did enjoy this book and look forward to seeing what Mutsuki Mockett writes next.

Another thing The Book Girl. at For the Love of Books, asked in my Wondrous Words Wednesday post if having to look up words detracts from the reading experience.  And I’d have to say, for at least the last few, the answer would be no. I’ve had words, and more than a few, in this story, the Maisie Dobbs series, and another book I’ll be reviewing-When We Were Strangers I didn’t know. I’m usually able to glean what the words means in its context, so I’ll mark the page with a post-it (yes, I’m just that geeky and keep post-its with my book) then look it up later to see if I was right and find out the exact meaning. Every now and then I’ll have to stop to look up the word and that doesn’t really seem to bother me either. I know it’s easier to do with e-books because they offer a look-up feature. I guess this is another plus of e-readers, though I’m still not feeling the love for them.  So, I guess the quick answer is, I haven’t found it to be a problem and I’m really enjoying actually learning new words.

I received this book from Greywolf Press for an online discussion hosted by Nicole at Linus’s Blanket and Jen at Devourer of Books. If you’ve read the book or just find it interesting head over to Linus’s Blanket and read the comments this was a really good discussion. Be warned though, there are spoilers.  Thanks to Nicole, Jen, and Greywolf for the great read.

 

Wondrous Words Wednesday

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Marie Mutsuki Mockett, Picking Bones from Ash

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Kathy @ Bermudaonion weblog where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading.  If you want to play along, grab the button, and join the fun!  (Don’t forget to leave a link in the comments if you’re participating.)

 

 

Today’s words are from Picking Bones from Ash by Marie Mutsuki Mockett. I’ve had a run of books with a lot of either foreign words or slang in them that has kept me going for the dictionary over and over.  Either that or there are words used in either art or music. This book had all three-Japanese, music, and art terms. I could fill a very large dictionary with the words I had to look up. Here are a few:

Koto and Shamisen – “Nothing like the fine koto or shamisen I used to play”

Both are stringed musical instruments. A shamisen has three strings and a koto has thirteen strings.

Koto

Shamisen

 

 

 

 

Murahachibu – “”Excuse me,” one of the women finally said , “this bath is not for murahachibu.”

Murahachibu is a type of shunning to try to force someone out of the community. I assume it used here to meaning the person who is shunned.

Arrondissement – “I lived in the 14th arrondissement at the very top of a curlicued prewar building with a view of the Eiffel Tower.

Oh yeah, I forgot this book has French in it too. I swear if it wasn’t for the internet I may not have known what was going on it this story. Anyway, arrondissement roughly translates to district.

Étude – “There were scale books and étude books and photos and old certificates from music contests.”

Étude is a musical composition of considerable difficulty. Étude is also a French word for study.

Emma – “Akira explained to me that this was an old emma, or Shinto charm.”

Okay, so the sentence explained the word. But, I had to add this because my daughter’s name is Emma.

What did you find yourself looking up this week?

Teaser Tuesday

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Marie Mutsuki Mockett, Picking Bones from Ash

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today I tease from Picking Bones from Ash by Marie Mutsuki Mockett.

“Problems arose when a soul didn’t leave for the north and hook up to the great karmic wheel, which, after completing its rotation in one hundred years, spewed out a newly born soul. A soul who didn’t agree to this reprocessing became a ghost, a being who stayed behind to try to finish up something left undone in the previous life or who was too shocked and angered by his newly deceased status to accept it. ”

Nicole at Linus’s Blanket and Jen at Devourer of Books are hosting an online discussion of this book today. If you have been fortunate enough to read or are interested in finding out more click on over and join in.

What will you tease us with?

Mailbox Monday

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Alice LaPlante, Daisy Goodwin, Goldie Goldbloom, Home to Woefield, Howard Blum, Sarah Addison Allen, Susan Juby, The American Heiress, The Floor of Heaven, The Paperbark Shoe, The Sugar Queen, Turn of Mind

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of The Printed Page and is being hosted this month by I’m Booking It during the month of February. Head on over to see what wonderful books everyone else got last week.

 

 

I had another fun week.  I don’t know when I’m going to have time to read them all but, I swear-I’m going to get to every last one of them.

Home from Woefield by Susan Juby from Book Club Girl for a read-along on April 5th.

The Floor of Heaven by Howard Blum from Crown Publishers.

The Paperbark Shoe by Goldie Goldbloom from Picador.

Turn of Mind by Alica LePlante from Grove/Atlantic.

The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin from St Martin’s Press.

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen from Paperback Book Swap.

So, what did your mailman bring you last week?

 

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear

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An Incomplete Revenge, Book Cllub Girl, Jacqueline Winspear

From Goodreads: With the country in the grip of economic malaise, Maisie Dobbs is relieved to accept an apparently straightforward assignment to investigate a potential land purchase. Her inquiries take her to a picturesque village in Kent during the hop-picking season, but beneath its pastoral surface she finds evidence that something is amiss. Mysterious fires erupt in the village with alarming regularity, and a series of petty crimes suggest a darker criminal element at work. A peculiar secrecy shrouds the village, and ultimately Maisie must draw on her finely-honed skills of detection to solve one of her most intriguing cases yet.

I know I’ve said this about the other Maisie Dobbs books but this really is my favorite so far. The mystery was very complex and interesting. We got to know more about Maisie family history. Maisie was able to release some of the pain of her past and embrace her future. And Pris was back.

I always knew there was something in Maisie’s past that gave her her gift and sure enough she does. Her gypsy grandmother must have passed on more than just Maisie’s  jet black hair. It was nice to see Maisie get in touch with that part of her while investigating a land sale for James Compton, the son of her former employers Lady and Lord Compton. I love the way she found a place for herself with Beulah, Webb, and Paishy and was able to grow. I have to say the thing I’m really enjoying with each new novel is watching Maisie loosen up and start to enjoy life.  I love that she’s finding time to have some fun.

This was definitely the darkest of all the mysteries Maisie has dealt with and I was equally heartbroken and horrified by what happened. It was an interesting look at small communities devastated by war. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to lose so many young men at one time. Another thing I think these novels do is to show the wide spread and long lasting impact of war. It’s not over when it’s over-that’s for sure.

Maisie also closes the door on a huge part of her past. I don’t want to give anything away but the novel will definitely set Maisie on her way forward into the future. And in doing so is able to start to mend her relationship with Maurice Blance. Hopefully she will be able to move on and find a little romance. I’m really keeping my fingers crossed Maisie will be getting a boyfriend soon.

And, yippee, Priscilla is back. I love Pris. I love that she calls Maisie on her s0litary, work-filled life. I love how honest she is about the past and is able to live her life in full and wants Maisie to do the same. She really forces Maisie forward so well. I love her rough and tumble boys and her obvious love for them. And I love that Maisie has a friend who she is comfortable with.

It was great to see Billy, Frankie, and Maurice back again. I’m worried about Billy leaving for Canada and I have no idea what Maisie will do without him but I’ll worry about that when it comes. For all the horribleness of the mystery and all the sad turn of events there really was quite a bit of joy as well. Come on, how bad can it all be when it ends with Maisie dancing?

Oh, one last thing. I found it utterly fascinating and an interesting perspective that Billy was on “holiday” while working hop-picking. Just getting out of “the smoke” was the vacation. I don’t know if I would think that was much of a vacation.  Hmmm.

If you’re reading along with the I’m Mad for Maisie read-along with Book Club Girl head on over and join the discussion. And if you haven’t started reading Maisie Dobbs-get off the stick, you don’t know what your missing.

The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman

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Alice Hoffman, The Red Garden

From Goodreads: The Red Garden introduces us to the luminous and haunting world of Blackwell, Massachusetts. Hoffman offers a transforming glimpse of small-town America, presenting us with some three hundred years of passion, dark secrets, loyalty, and redemption in a web of tales.

From the town’s founder, a brave young woman from England who has no fear of blizzards or bears, to the young man who runs away to New York City, the characters in The Red Garden are extraordinary and vivid: a young wounded Civil War soldier who is saved by a neighbor, a woman who meets a fiercely human historical character, a poet who falls in love with a blind man, a mysterious traveler who comes to town in the year when summer never arrives. At the center of everyone’s life is a garden where only red plants can grow, and where the truth can be found by those who dare to look. The Red Garden is as unforgettable as it is moving.

What I liked about this book is it tells the story of a place. For over 300 years we’re told the stories of the Blackwell, Mass. Almost a collection of short stories connect by history. The same family names and town folk lore appear again and again in the stories. It’s fascinating to me, the small moments in history of someplace that has existed for so long.

I had a problem remembering some of the names and connecting them to their descendants from one chapter to the next but I was able to flip back and refresh my memory. Other than that I really did enjoy this. There are 14 stories in all and I enjoyed some more than others. The Principals of Devotion was particularly good and both The Rad Garden and King of the Bees tied up the story of the town very well. There were some clever references to historical figures passing through Blackwell. Johnny Appleseed makes an appearance in Eight Nights of Love and Emily Dickenson  shows up in Owl and Mouse. My favorite of the stories was The Monster of Blackwell, it is very touching and sad.

All the stories seem a little less upbeat as Hoffman’s previous stories. Actually the last 2 or 3 of Hoffman’s books I’ve read seem to be missing some of the magic her earlier works have had. There still very good books but they definitely are a bit of a downer. I’m still a big Alice Hoffman fan I just miss a little of the magic of her earlier works.