Customer Reviews

Asta's Book

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4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a beautifully written, well nuanced novel of mystery and suspense that seamlessly moves between the past and the present. The past is told through the diaries of a Danish immigrant named Asta, who went to live in Edwardian England with her husband, Rasmus, and two young sons at the turn of the century. Settling down in East London in 1905, her loveless marriage and loneliness drove Asta to keep a journal of her innermost thoughts and experiences.

Though married to a man who spent a great deal of time away from home on business and with whom she seemed to have little in common, Asta added two more children to her family, daughters, Swanny, her favorite, and Maria, the youngest. Asta's lyrically written journals would chronicle of her life, her struggles as an immigrant, her hopes and dreams, and her adoration of Swanny. They would also tantalizingly hint at a secret that would, ultimately, impact on her daughter, Swanny, later in life.

Over seventy years later, those diaries, all forty nine of them, would be discovered and become a publishing sensation and a bestseller. Within its many pages would lie the missing pieces to a turn of the century murder mystery and the leads to the whereabouts of a missing child, as well as tantalizing clues to the puzzling circumstances surrounding Swanny's birth. This information would lie dormant until nearly a century after Asta first put pen to paper, when Asta's granddaughter, Maria's daughter Ann, would review the diaries and discover not only the secret of Swanny's birth, but the identity of a missing child, as well as that of a killer, who nearly a century earlier had butchered two women.

This is a book well worth reading, and one that will command the readers attention until the very last page is turned.

Asta's Book is a rich and rewarding novel, not only a "mystery" but a complex social history of an immigrant family, Edwardian London, criminal trials and the place of women in society. The story centers on Asta, a hopelessly middle class Danish lady who moves to London with her husband and two young sons in 1905. Over the next several years, a series of events unfold that reveal questions about murder and a missing child. The format of the book is two fold; one voice is Asta's, her diary. The other belongs to Asta's granddaughter, Ann, who in the present time is trying to discover the secrets Asta removed from her diary. Secrets concerning the parentage of a daughter, Ann's aunt. Secrets concerning jealousy and rage, violence, and the terrible lies within he family. This story is like an onion with many skins; each chapter peels back slowly and reveals the next layer. Asta is a formidable character, full of contractions, and one of the most believable historic female voices in fiction. This book was a marvelous, wonderful find for me, a true gem.

In 1905, a young Danish couple arrive in England with their two small sons. The husband, Rasmus, becomes a total Anglophile while his wife Asta, struggles with language problems,loneliness and depression as she is left alone with the children for long periods of time while Rasmus travels on business.To while away the hours, Asta starts a diary which she continues for the majority of her life. Years later, her descendants discover and publish the diaries which become an international success and which bring to life a number of unanswered questions about a sensational murder trial and the dubious birth of one of Asta's daughters. At first I struggled with the various characters, finding it difficult to place them in the right generations but all became clear eventually. The plot is involved, with red herrings strewn all over the place--an intriguing read and worth perservering with as all the solutions come right at the end of the book.

This was the first Barbara Vine book that I read and it's the one that got me hooked. I've now read every one of them and am eagerly awaiting the latest book "The Chimney Sweep's Boy". My sister bought me this book after I gave birth four years ago, and it's what got me through the long night feeds during those first weeks.

It's a book that drags you in to its intriguing plot and just totally envelops you. I loved it and was so sad to reach the end. It was like having to say goodbye to a dear friend.

One of her very best and that's saying a lot. Rendell is my favorite alltime author, and I'm a constant reader. The format of her mysteries changes constantly and this one has the peculiar focus of a niece editing the famous diaries of her deceased aunt. What she finds develops into a fascinating story with Rendell's usual diverting subplots and surprising finale.

This book is one of those rare occasions when Vine/Rendell fails to deliver a work up to her usual high standards. Hardcore Vine/Rendell fans might still derive some pleasure from ASTA'S BOOK but, for the most part, the novel is vastly inferior to the rest of the author's stellar production.

For one, ASTA'S BOOK is very long-winded and boring. Endless details that can interest no one and that have very little (if any) connection to the so-called mystery get listed for page after boring page. At least half of the book could have been edited out without damaging the story in the least. You get to wait and wait for something finally to happen but when it does, it's usually something so minor that you wonder why you took the trouble at all. It takes the author until page 150 finally to get to mention a murder mystery. Those who manage to get that far in the book need to be forewarned: don't expect that mystery to be anything like what this author usually creates. The best word to describe it is BORING.

Asta, the main character, is probably the only character of Barbara Vine / Ruth Rendell who is a complete literary failure. This author's main strength is her capacity to create complex, extraordinary characters. In Asta, Vine fails to do that spectacularly. We get to meet Asta in her twenties and then later when she is in her seventies. There is absolutely no connection between how she is presented at these two periods of her life. Granted, people change. But in order to transform so dramatically something profound needs to take place in their lives. Asta, who is sheltered and pampered her entire life, suffers no such dramatic chain of events, so a radical change in her seems contrived and illogical.

It seems like Vine wanted her readers to see Asta as someone admirable. However, this character comes off as some sort of sociopath who never had a chance to get her sociopathic tendencies fully develop. In the end, the scenes in which she appears become so repetitive, you could guess in advance what Asta will say and do in each given situation. All her life, she keeps complaining and feeling sorry for herself, even though this woman, who never had to work a day in her life, couldn't seriously claim there was any actual hardship in her life.

Swanny and Ann, two other important characters in the novel, are also fussy boring women whose personalities are so flat you can hardly distinguish them from one another. Ann narrates everything she does (and she hardly ever does anything interesting) in so much painstaking detail, one can die of boredom while reading it. To give just one example, when she searches for her grandmother's diaries, she describes endlessly how she opened every single drawer or cupboard, and what she found there, and what color it was, and what it reminded her of, etc. And this goes on for 8 pages. When the reader is about to start howling, she, of course, finds the diaries in the most obvious place. This is what the entire book is like: a huge buildup that fizzles out in triviality.

I guess no author, no matter how talented she is, can avoid writing at least one bad novel. This is probably Vine's worst book ever. If you suffer from a severe case of insomnia, make sure you buy it. Otherwise, I don't think anybody can honestly enjoy ASTA'S BOOK.

Easily the best of Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine (and they are all very good). The Chimney Sweeper's Boy comes a close second in my opinion. It is a pleasure to read such a beautifully written book with excellent characterization as well as such a gripping suspenseful plot. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Great book. Very well written. A pleasure to read. Highly recommended. 6 out of 5 starts.

Asta's Book was originally written as Anna's Book. It is a superb story, I think probably one of the best ever written by Ruth Rendell, writing as Barbara Vine. Going back and forth from the future to the past is usually difficult but the author does it so well. I really enjoy Ruth Rendell's mysteries, but when she is writing as Barbara Vine, she makes more of a story and psychological mystery than a whodunit, which I find more enjoyable. If you like Asta's Book, try The Crocodile Bird and her newer Barbara Vine, The Blood Doctor and The Chimney Sweeper's Boy. All are excellent!

I really loved reading this book. It was exciting and there was a great interplay in two different times. I love that u can't guess the end until the very last page. I can really recommend it, it is the first book i have read of Barbara Vine but i think there will be many to come. I love her way of writing and the way things get confusing but sort themselves out in the end!