27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, April 3, 2011
This review is from: An Evil Eye: A Novel (Hardcover)
I can give this book only 3 stars, and then only because we are treated to Goodwin's usual, dandy looks into how things worked (this time, inside the harem) during the late Ottoman Empire. Without that, however, I would rate this newest Yashim tale as only fair - certainly not close to the quality of either "The Janissary Tree" or "The Snake Stone."
There is a slap-dash, first draft feel to this book. Back in "The Olden Days," when publishers could afford to hire and empower top notch editors, Mr. Goodwin would surely have been told that he has too many characters here, way too many plot lines (some of which are never fully or cogently developed), far too many truly implausible coincidences, and an incredible amount of just plain bad writing, especially toward the end of the book. Mr. Goodwin's "Explain All This Complexity To The Dear Reader In Phony Dialogue In The Last Twenty Pages" went out of style after very early, ham-handed Agatha Christie novels. Some parts of this book are so bad, they could have been written by an adolescent for a high school Creative Writing class. By the time the reader gets to the end, in fact, his or her willingness to suspend disbelief has been exhausted, and he or she no longer cares what happened or why Mr. Goodwin wants us to think so.
I suspect that both Mr. Goodwin and his publishers may have pushed hard to rush this book into print. That's a shame, because the death of Sultan Mahmut and the coming to power of the young Abdulmecid should have offered Mr. Goodwin enough material for at least two books - one about what took place inside the harems when there was a change of sultan, and another about what went on politically and socially, mostly among men, as a new reign began. Sadly, "An Evil Eye" tries to compress both stories into one book, which means that Goodwin fails to give us either story at all well. Too bad that "An Evil Eye" didn't undergo a good deal of serious editing and rewriting. Those of us who love Yashim can only feel frustration that Mr. Goodwin did not take the time to craft these stories better and make them thoroughly convincing.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bring Back Yashim, May 10, 2011
This review is from: An Evil Eye: A Novel (Hardcover)
Just finished Evil Eye. Three stars for atmospherics but no way up to Janissary Tree or Snake Stone (or Bellini Card which I enjoyed but wanted more of Yashim and less of Venice). In fact about 70 pages into Evil Eye, I got annoyed and abandoned the book. Picked it up later and finished it. It did get somewhat more focused but still had too many extraneous characters, unsupported suspense and slapdash writing - all surprising and disappointing from Goodwin. And again, this one needed more of Yashim. Pretty diagnostic that Palewsky has been the best-drawn character in the last two books. Bring back Yashim; I want to know more about him and see more of him in action. I hope Goodwin will try again.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent historical mystery, April 1, 2011
This review is from: An Evil Eye: A Novel (Hardcover)
In 1839 the long reign of Sultan Mahmut II ends with his death. Abdulmecid now sits on the Osman Throne of the shrunken Ottoman Empire as his predecessor lost the Crimea, Greece and Egypt. The latter hurts the most as some upstart Mehmet Ali Pasha took the North African country from the Turks due in part to the Admiral of the fleet Fevzi Ahmet defecting.
Yashim the eunuch is assigned to investigate why a hero turned traitor. The case is much harder than his previous inquiries as those were potentially lethal while this case looks into the activity of Yashmin's mentor and teacher, a vicious man willing to die for the late Sultan. As he begins his search for motives, women under the Sultan's protection begin to die from a strange illness. The intrepid sleuth wonders whether the deaths of females under the Sultan's protection are tied to the defection of the most loyal supporter of the Sultan.
The latest Yashim historical mystery (see The Bellini Card, The Janissary tree and The Snake Stone) is a great tale that looks deep into the corrupt rot at the core of the Ottoman Empire. Yashmin is terrific whether he is making inquiries or just making dinner as he holds the strong why he done it story line focused. Fans of the series will relish this terrific entry in which Jason Goodwin shines a deep cause and effect spotlight on what the corruption at the highest levels is doing to a crumbling giant within a powerful mystery.
Harriet Klausner
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