Customer Reviews

The Puzzled Heart (Kate Fansler Novels)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Can you believe the Christian Right is so upset with Kate Fansler (a leading feminist) that they kidnap her husband and inform Kate that the ransom is Kate must cause a notice to be printed in the public press that she has renounced feminism! Silly. The author has often "pushed" feminism in her novels, but not to this extent. The ostensible mystery is really no mystery at all. The author did much better with THE IMPERFECT SPY, THE JAMES JOYCE MURDERS, POETIC JUSTICE and IN THE LAST ANALYSIS. Those novels were each a 10! The author's prose is ALWAYS delicious and that was the saving grace on this novel (otherwise this novel would rate a 1 from me).I am giving this author up; if I want to read about feminism, there is enough non-fiction around.

As a lawyer, Wife, Mom and Nana, I have little time for fiction and choose it carefully. My favorite is sophisticated mystery and Amanda Cross has long been a favorite of mine. However, in her last two Kate Fansler books she has inserted her personal politics and harped upon them. It is not that I particularly agree or disagree with her political position, it is just not WHY I am reading a mystery novel. Cross me off (no pun intended) of her list of devoted readers!

My book club read this book after looking at the jacket. (I guess there is truth to not judging a book by its cover!) All 10 people at our last discussion gave it a thumbs down. If this book weren't chosen by the group to read, I wouldn't have finished it. There is very little good I could say about this book. The characters, including the main character, were idiots. The one "who done it" unnecessarily involved herself in the caper and got caught. Much of what the characters did made no sense at all. We were all amazed that this was part of a mystery series because Kate was so stupid. I went back and read the book jacket and discovered that NONE of the comments on it refered to this specific book, but rather to the series and author in general (very tricky!)

I have enjoyed Amanda Cross' previous work, finding her mysteries both literate and amusing. So _The Puzzled Heart_ is especially disappointing. Its plot is absurd, as other reviewers have pointed out -- Kate's husband Reed is kidnapped and she is supposed to write a paper publicly renouncing her feminist beliefs in favor of "the family values of the Christian right" (p. 73). She does not contact the police, and he spends his captivity rejecting the sexual advances of female undergraduates. The second half of the book is slightly more believable, as Kate and friends try to find out who could be behind this silly plot, but the culprit when revealed has an even less realistic motive than the political and religious right, who were apparently brought into the first half of the book primarily so Kate could make impassioned speeches against them (e.g. "Leslie, the right wing in this country, Christians though they may call themselves, are besotted with their message. They are like fundamentalists everywhere, certain of their correctness and of being ordered by God to destroy those who disagree with that certainty. I think perhaps we should stop fooling ourselves about them" (p. 10). Though another character argues that very few on the right condone violence (108), the stereotyping of political and religious conservatives throughout the book is jarring, if not irresponsible.

This is not a novel as much as it is a polemic against fundamentalism, conservatism, and turncoat feminists. While Cross may use her fiction as a medium to bash her ideological foes, the weak plot, stilted dialogue, stereotyped characters, and portrayal of Kate as her university's lone beacon of liberalism reduce the power of that medium and hence, its message. If you're searching for a good mystery, don't bother with _The Puzzled Heart_. If you want to snort at the right, you might want to stick to _The Nation_.

It was a struggle to read "The Puzzled Heart." The plot lacked substance and surprise and it was too easy to guess the culprit. The constant dribble about the evil "right-wing" made this book especially tedious as it was trite, offering little more than generalized preaching. Obviously, this novel is more of a forum for the author to espouse her shining liberalism than it is a mystery, well-crafted or otherwise.

If I recall correctly from reading earlier works, the characters did not resort to using expletives and a few were thrown in for a reason I cannot fathom; especially because they did not fit with the usual dialogue. I found it distracting and gave me reason to believe the author has become sloppy with her writing.

The only thing enjoyable about this book is the constant flow of single malt Scotch. Perhaps I would have found the book a better read if I had imbibed.

I too am an Amanda Cross fan, but this book was just awful. When I got to the part where Reed & Kate were discussing his enticing kidnappers, I just had to quit. The author's political inserts really didn't bother me, but the terrible plot and unbelievable dialog did. Thankfully I borrowed this book from the library--and gave it a speedy return!

I know this book came out a long time ago, but having just discovered Amanda Cross and having liked her writing (I still do!) I want to share my disappointment. The book is simply full of stereotypes. For example, "One of the points we liberals miss is that those on the right agree when it comes to all modern forms of art -- whether literature, entertainment, even music -- they all agree that its influence is debilitating, probably evil." Say what? Hero Kate Fansler laments "Christian bigots" and then later shares "I know exactly what the yeshiva males will be thinking for the rest of their lives". This is bigotry, plain and simple! Finally, everyone who is not a liberal is radical-right fringe, uniformly supporting "the National Rifle Assocation, the bombing of abortion clinics, the death penalty, and the abolition of compassion as a government policy competing with growth." Amanda Cross writes really well in general, but she was lazy in this novel and Kate's bigotry toward people of the Jewish faith is repugnant.

Amanda Cross usually writes excellent mysteries, but this one is not very good. The plot is contrived, and all the political views expressed are annoying. The only redeeming quality is the cast of characters.

An unbelievable plot and frequent political lectures don't make for engrossing reading. The investigation into the kidnapping is ludicrously linear - think of a motive, investigate, reject. In the meantime, no one thinks to call in the police. The private detective's idea of a clever "cover" is adopting a St. Bernard. This is pure drivel, and I can't believe the NY Times, of all papers, gave this book a good review. Yuck! Don't waste your time!

This book was painful to read. This kind of writing shouldn't make it past high school - and yet we are to believe an academic speaks. It starts with a stiff, awkward sentence and ends with the last of hundreds of clumsy gerunds, with lengthy chunks of pointless dialogue in-between. The aspersive political pamphlet tone mentioned elsewhere makes it worse. One gets the sense this was tossed off quickly, with a complacent attitude, no revisions, and no editor at the helm - had there been one, this bloated opus would have shrunk by half. As to the plot, it is so painfully twisted and improbable, with several random threads left loose, that one wonders how stupid or inattentive the author supposes her readers are. Even the title is precious and not particularly relevant. Hard to believe this author managed to publish nineteen books before this one - one hopes this release was just a hiccup in a long, successful career, a momentary lapse in judgment on the part of all involved. I would love to know if there were any explanatory circumstances behind the publishing of this hot-air balloon - not that it would make it any easier to read, just easier to forgive.