19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A welcome depature from form, December 14, 2004
After the uneven Hippopotamus Pool, the Amelia Peabody series plunges in a new direction with Seeing a Large Cat, an alternately charming, funny, poignant, and disturbing mystery. The pacing of this novel is tighter, the cast of characters trimmed down, and shadowy Master and Mistress Criminals are replaced by a fresh new set of antagonists. Amelia's trademark first-person narrative is supplemented by a third-person "Manuscript H" that gives insight into the personalities and activities of the "children": Ramses, Nefret, and the recently acquired David, now young adults with a great deal to add to the Amelia-and-Emerson formula.
Ramses has at last matured from "catastrophically precocious" child to an interesting young man; those long-winded speeches of his are finally a thing of the past. In many ways this is a book about Ramses' coming of age-- from his dramatic entry with flowing robes and rakish mustache to his internal monologue at the wrenching conclusion, Ramses is developed as a conflicted and worthwhile character rather than a deus ex machina brat. He has his aggravating moments, but his moments of adolescent bravado (see: flowing robes and rakish mustache) are given nuance by what we finally see of his interior life.
David, the Egyptian boy adopted into the family in The Hippopotamus Pool, is a gentle, sensitive counterpart to the calculating Ramses-- almost too nice a person to be believable, but welcome all the same. Nefret is a more polarizing character; her past as the "incarnation of Isis" is a receding memory, and Nefret is a "thoroughly modern" girl who spends the day working in trousers and swearing and then can change into the belle of any ball. It's all a far cry from the flower-like maiden of the Lost Oasis, and some may not care for her.
So, Amelia and Emerson remain themselves, the kids are a good addition-- what of the mystery? Well, a trio of old friends (Enid and Donald from the Lion in the Valley, and good ol' Cyrus Vandergelt) mingle with a trio of newcomers: a fraudulent medium, an American colonel, and his spoiled daughter Dolly. The tensions generated by these characters' interactions interweave with Amelia's own mystery-- the secret of Tomb 20A, a tomb that isn't supposed to exist. Once-and-future "young lovers," eccentric millionaire, bogus medium, Southern-fried colonel, and spoiled brat all collide with the Emersons over the mystery tomb and its occupant-- the most unique mummy Amelia has ever unearthed.
Seeing a Large Cat is one of the most satisfying reads in the Peabody series: it blends the usual mystery-spoof comedy with chilling tragedy, makes skillful use of old characters while introducing memorable new ones, and generally revives the series after the Hippopotamus Muddle. I especially liked the moment when Amelia discovers the ill-kept grave of Alan Armadale in a cemetery near Luxor; that this footnote character, one of the many bodies that piled up in the long-ago events of The Mummy Case, should be brought back to prick Amelia's conscience linked the jolly-spoof early books of the series with the dramatic-suspense later ones in a touching way. Seeing a Large Cat acknowledges the past of the Peabody series, and then marches off in a different direction-- a storm-shrouded horizon. I give it four stars not because I consider it great literature, but because I think it one of the best books in a wonderful series.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Splendid new direction for a long-running series, January 21, 2004
The Peabody series rebounds after the uneven Hippopotamus Pool, but rather than returning to the tone of the pre-Nefret books, it takes off in a new direction. The "children"-- calculating Ramses, gutsy Nefret, and gentle David-- come into their own here, though sixteen-year old Ramses still, at times, seems older than his two comrades combined. Peters allows the readers access to the minds of these three through the device of "Manuscript H," which provides a welcome contrast to Amelia's familiar but none too reliable way of recounting events.
This volume has a smaller cast of characters than some of its predecessors; a handful of familiar faces is balanced by a handful of new ones, but the mystery benefits rather than suffers from this reduced cast. It's a unique case this time, with no pesky journalists needed to lend the events an air of exoticism. The juxaposition of a medium, her delusional client, a five-year-old disappearence and a highly unconventional mummy create a blend of a genuinely interesting plot and the characterization and dialogue at which Peters excels.
Darkness begins to creep into this once-lighthearted (in spite of all the murders) series, as foreshadowed conflict between the three children builds to premonitory images of doom at the novel's end. In other words, proceed directly to The Ape Who Guards the Balance if you want answers... though you may not like what you find.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Such great fun these books are!, April 6, 2005
This series is a total delight, and this book is certainly one of my personal favourites. In the book we actually have two parallel stories running - that of Amelia and Emerson, and their search to solve the mystery of the mysterious mummy that they have found, and the young people - Ramses, David and Nefret doing their own thing to solve that same mystery. What makes the story so very funny is that Amelia is not at all aware of what "the children" are doing. That is one of the funniest things in the book - her insistence on calling the three young people children. She has no idea what dangerous games they are up to. Emerson guesses, but he keeps his thoughts to himself. Ramses is turning into quite a character. In this book he is sixteen years of age, but his immense intelligence, his skill at disguise and his knowledge of many languages make him a formidable opponent. I really can't wait to see what this group of five people get up to next! Ms. Peters tells a wonderful story, but it's her characterizations that are so remarkable.
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