Customer Reviews

Ghost Country

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

This is a very well-written urban fantasy. (It's not remotely horror, by the way).

It's not a mystery. It's about a Goddess returning into urban American life, and the chaos that ensues.

As a reader familiar with SFF, I found this story original, well-written, well-characterized and engaging. It draws the reader in and offers both intellectual and emotional interest.

Paretsky fans who are able to step beyond the familiar mystery milieu, and who aren't afraid of a little sensuality, have a treat to read here--and I don't hesitate to recommend the book to anyone.

I picked up GHOST COUNTRY at the library when I was in a mood for a quick, non-threatening read. That is not what I found. Instead of V.I Warshawski's take charge and sort out the problem and tie up all the loose ends fun read, GHOST COUNTRY was a book that would cause me to think and question. It was a time I didn't want to think about the problems and my role in their cause and cure. But, I know Gail Russel and her work at Sarah's Circle and was intrigued, so when the time was right I went back to find out what Ms. Paretsky had to say. I rembered TUNNEL VISION and her concern with the homeless. But GHOST COUNTRY is about much more than a look at people without housing, it is a look at individuals and how they come to be homeless how the parts of society, which I am part of, interact with the homless.

The book plot is a compilcated mix of personalities, events and social institutions and their effects on each other.

I will recommed it to my book group because Ms. Paratsky has written a book that requires the reader to think and question. The questions are not easy and the answers even harder. But my book group is an interesting mix of intelligent thinking women who stretch each other to move out of our comfortable thinking ruts.

I hope that Ms. Paratsky continues to write about V.I., but that GHOST COUNTRY is followed by books that will stay in my mind and cause me to question what I believe and how I react toward others and the part I play in all I do.

It is not a "pleasant" story. She is not Clyde Edgerton in WALKING ACROSS EGYPT, asking what is the role of the Church, what do young people need to be sucessful adults, what gives adults a state of grace. Instead Ms. Paretsky colors her story with some disturbing images, but she is not without hope and redemption.

When you think of Sara Paretsky, you can't help but think of V.I. Warshawski in the very same thought. Most people who picked up this book probably assumed it was a new adventure for V.I.; after all, that's what Sara Paretsky writes. Well, I'm sure Sara Paretsky is a multi-dimensional person herself, and as such is allowed to write what she likes - if we're disappointed that V.I. is not a character in this book, that's our problem, not hers. There really was no room for V.I. in this story, anyway. But that didn't stop me having a problem.

Still set in Chicago, Paretsky weaves an urban fable around the most unlikely heroines; the homeless, "mad" and dispossessed. We all know about homeless people, but do we have any idea how they get that way? How can an unquenchable craving for alcohol bring a world famous operatic diva onto the streets with her hardly noticing? It seems incredible to me, but I have never experienced that thirst. Why do the withheld histories of her mother and grandmother cause a young woman to construct alternative lives for them and go looking for them? I don't know - I'm sure we don't have such secrets in my family. How can someone see rusty water leaking from a crack in a wall, and see the blood of the Virgin Mary? I don't know - I don't have that sort of faith.

Then there are those who help. What is help? Is the shelter provided by Hagar House really help, with all the miles of strings attached in the name of some sort of self-serving Christianity. Does the hospital really provide help, with the dispensation of drugs and 15 minute psychiatric sessions?

The supposedly normal people are also a mass of confliction. The golden girl, freezing her emotions down deep while striving relentlessly for the approval of a domineering grandfather. The domineering grandfather, treated as a god by the hospital and by a manipulative housekeeper. The idealistic, young psychiatrist, still naïve enough to put concern for patients ahead of concern for the hospital. The hellfire and brimstone preaching lay brother, with his abused, repressed and cowered daughter, and bully of a son. The large hotel, owners of the wall worshipped by the homeless women and the lengths they are prepared to go to get rid of them.

But then the story takes a fantasy turn, and unfortunately gets lost. A mysteriously erotic, unintelligible woman named Starr enters, and manages to heal everyone's afflictions and punish the manipulators. With her Medusa-like hairstyle, is she a reincarnated Sumarian goddess, or a female Christ? Well, what she is, is a cop-out. I was appalled to find this story that had provoked my thoughts and held me spell-bound for many pages, suddenly turned into a silly little fantasy. The introduction of this character was completely unnecessary - a writer of Paretsky's proven skill resorting to such artifice to resolve a skilfully constructed set-up is extremely disappointing.

Still, I found quite a bit of food for thought in this book. How precariously many of us totter on the precipice, how tiny the nudge to send us spinning out of control. What then?

This was something totally unexpected. I am not sure where Sara was going with this book and was really disappointed. I did not associate with the characters and it was hard to get into the book. I have read all of Sara's previous books and enjoyed them thoroughly, I hope she will continue to write mysteries in the future, if not I would think twice about buying another of her books.

The story line was disjointed and disappointing. This is a book I would have been unhappy with if I had purchased it instead of getting it from the library. There was supposed to be a message, but I'm not sure what it was, did the characters?

after waiting so long to read another book by Ms. Paretsky (not necessarily another V.I.), i was very disappointed. i didn't care about the characters (they were all selfish, mean, etc.) and the story just seemed to ramble. the basis for the story was good but what did we learn? 'Ghost Country' reminds me of Martha Grimes' first foray without Inspector Jury/Melrose Plant ('End of the Pier') ... frightening, depressing book. but the second one in that series was great. maybe further adventures of Mara, Hector, Harriet, etc. will be more palatable.

Ms. Paretsky certainly doesn't have to continue writing the V.I. series in order to satisfy her legions of loyal readers. However, this book is in no way a good read or an enjoyable story. If Ms. Paretsky is tired of V.I., she is a talented, engrossing, and involving enough author to devise a better plot and characters than she 'gave birth' to in this book. An avid reader, I have one basic requirement, the character(s) must make you want to know them better, whether the reader likes or understands them or not--otherwise why read that particular book? These inhabitants of "Ghost Country" were no more interesting or involving of the reader at the end of the book than at the beginning and the story could have been anything--bottom line, who cares? I call this self indulgent because it seems to be a case of a so-called popular author (which there is absolutely nothing wrong with being) striving to become something else. Ms. Paretsky doesn't owe her readers anything but a good read--but she does owe us that.

A comment--YUCK A question--WHY?

Even though I am a V.I. fan of many years and have been waiting for another in the series, this offering would be horrible even without the prior knowledge that Ms. Paretsky is capable of involving and exciting writing. If Ms. Paretsky was tired of V.I., then either end the series or take a longer break from writing. The fifty cents that was wasted was my library reserve fee--I certainly am glad that I didn't spend more than that!!

I picked up GHOST COUNTRY by Sara Paretsky thinking it was another inclusion for her detective V.I. Warshawski. This is a complete departure for her usual fair, yet it retain the exquisite writing style that has brought Sara to the top of the mystery world.
A goddess who comes to earth and gets tangled up in the lives of three homeless people is fantasy, but fun.
My only complaint was it took so long to introduce each character, some of whom you would have gladly murdered yourself.
Another side of an excellent author.
Nash Black, whose books are available on Kindle edition.
Qualifying LapsWriting as a Small BusinessSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County Novel

I had heard good things about Sara Paretsky, but when i read Ghost Country i was very disappointed. It was boring and didn't keep me hanging on. Definitly not a page-turner.