Customer Reviews

King Solomon's Carpet

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I either agree or sympathise with all of the previous reviewers. This is a difficult book from the standpoint that without some exposure to the London Underground transit system, one is reading the story from a slight disadvantage. Mind you, it is only a slight obstacle--don't avoid the chance to read this book and enjoy Barbara Vine's fascinating tale of the emotionally disenfranchised denizens of Jarvis Stringer's sheltering old brick home, the former Cambridge School.

If you have read this far, you know the basic plot and are aware of the major players in the drama. So I will leave you with this enticement. It is, in a very odd way, a fun read that goes by all too quickly. As in all of Barbara Vine's novels, justice is served up sooner or later (usually later) and, as always, it is never polite justice. Barbara Vine delivers the kind of justice that one dreams of but rarely ever sees. The last page of this novel is well worth the wait.

A word of warning to the readers who are squeamish around the subject of feeding the animals. The hawk belonging to Jed, Abelard, is especially fond of a certain delicacy that is very hard to envision without a lurching of the stomach. Not for the faint of heart!

On that note, if Ruth Rendell ever reads her reviews on Amazon, and she really should, I hope that they will serve as a justification for no imminent retirement from the world of writing. It would be so hard to live knowing that there wouldn't be another Barbara Vine novel to consume with my usual gusto!

I either agree or sympathise with all of the previous reviewers. This is a difficult book from the standpoint that without some exposure to the London Underground transit system, one is reading the story from a slight disadvantage. Mind you, it is only a slight obstacle--don't avoid the chance to read this book and enjoy Barbara Vine's fascinating tale of the emotionally disenfranchised denizens of Jarvis Stringer's sheltering old brick home, the former Cambridge School.

If you have read this far, you know the basic plot and are aware of the major players in the drama. So I will leave you with this enticement. It is, in a very odd way, a fun read that goes by all too quickly. As in all of Barbara Vine's novels, justice is served up sooner or later (usually later) and, as always, it is never polite justice. Barbara Vine delivers the kind of justice that one dreams of but rarely ever sees. The last page of this novel is well worth the wait.

A word of warning to the readers who are squeamish around the subject of feeding the animals. The hawk belonging to Jed, Abelard, is especially fond of a certain delicacy that is very hard to envision without a lurching of the stomach. Not for the faint of heart!

On that note, if Ruth Rendell ever reads her reviews on Amazon, and she really should, I hope that they will serve as a justification for no imminent retirement from the world of writing. It would be so hard to live knowing that there wouldn't be another Barbara Vine novel to consume with my usual gusto!

This story is told quite brilliantly. All the characters are wonderfully drawn, and all are INCREDIBLY interesting. From Jed, the loner who lives on the top floor of the house and keeps his hawk in the garden. To Jarvis, the owner of the house who is obsessed by underground systems and is writing a book chronicling them. To Alice, the young mother who has run away from her humdrum life, leaving her daughter and husband behind. And then there is Tom, the busker who once aimed to study at a musical college, but is now content to play for the armies of people who walk through London's cavernous Tube. Then there is young Jasper, who, along with his friends, finds his thrills amid the bustle of the dangerous underground. And then, Axle. The enigmatic, strange man whom little is known about, and whose secret will cast shadows over all their lives.

The story is told brilliantly, as i say. All the charaters living in the old schoolhouses each have a different part in the story, and rarely do their own seperate stories interact, until the end. It is like watching several little planets revolving around the sun (in this story the sun is the london underground system). Their orbits do not cross, but still they revolve around the main body of the story, until they are finally drawn together.

Rendell skips between each persons's story (each persons story varies greatly) wonderfully, while the reader hardly notices the transition.

The climax is not completely unexpected, but i often find that that is the beauty of Vine/Rendell. You can sometimes see or tell what is going to happen, and you know that absolutely nothing any of the characters can do to prevent the inevitable awfullness.

At first i thought the ending was shocking, and powerful but anticlimatic. Then i realised it is shocking and powerful BECAUSE it is anticlimatic. (Rather like when we meet Hannibal Lecter...we are shocked by him because we were expecting a monster.)

King Solomon's Carpet is a rich tapestry of unforgettable characters and events that haunt you long after the book is put down. For a long time I put off reading it because I didn't know what King Solomon's Carpet referred to, which turned out to be the London Underground. If you like this book you'll probably also enjoy A Dark Adapted Eye and The Brimstone Wedding.

Having read all Ruth Rendell's books as either herself (I'm actually half way through "A sight for Sore Eyes" at present) or Barbara Vine, I think this is my personal favourite, but I sympathise with those who didn't like it. Perhaps a knowledge of the London Underground system is necessary to get really into it. I do have the advantage of living in England and knowing many of the places she discusses. Barbara Vine books are not really crime novels, so the fact that no crime really happens till nearly the end shoudl not surprise. I would recommend A Dark Adapted Eye to the person who found King Solomon's Carpet hard work.

I must sympathize with the previous reader's comments, but having read Rendell/Vine's most recent novels I can't be as harsh. King Solomon's Carpet is barely worthy of the mystery genre (a crime does occur - 75 pages before the end of the book!) and is more of a character study of a motley group of subway musicians and their relatives. I persevered though and made it to the end. No surprises though. The terrorist element is fairly obvious to guess. Not one of her best and not one I would recommend. No Night is Too Long and Anna's Book are far more engrossing and suspenseful. I'm anxious to start The Chimney's Sweeper's Boy - her latest.

I was glad to find this wonderful unabridged edition here at Amazon. Our local bookstore (a big chain) carries a 3 hour Penguin version that is a shadow of what this very special, just right, made in England tape set is. Maybe if you're short on time the Penguin edition would be okay, but since it cuts out about half the story you really ought to get this one if you can.

If anyone said they were going to write a novel about the British Underground railway or tube, evryone would think - who would want to read it? Well, Ruth Rendall (or Barbara Vine in this case) has done just that with this book, and she's done her usual awesome job! This book is totally weird and wonderful, in true Barbara Vine fashion. The tension builds throughout the book, until about halfway through, I was waiting for something dreadful to happen. And indeed it did. As a word of warning - if this is your first Barbara Vine book, you must read through until the end because stuff keeps happening right until then. The thing I really like about Barbara Vine books are her characters. They are all so weird and wonderful, and catastrophic stuff seems to happen to each of them when they finally meet up with each other.

Although I felt driven by the plot to read through to the end, I was disappointed with the overall mood and characters. Each character was well developed but none were likable except the villain, who I found myself rooting for.

Very interesting and thoughful account of the inner lives of Londons wastrels, wanna be artisits, hangers-on to society and people in general just trying to survive. Rendell's (even writing as Vine) always fascinating insights into the minds, moods and actions of her characters do not fail here. She REALLY knows people, the bohemian flakes, like Jaspers mother, the emotionally damaged and obsessed, and the way children like Jasper know more than the average adult about what is going on around him. The psychological novel is at its height with Vine.