Customer Reviews

Total Recall

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

This was my first aproach to V.I. Varshawski, not mentioning the movie years ago. Total Recall is a long book in a genre that usually rounds mysteries on 300pp (Elizabeth George an exception). Paretsky won't settle for that and sets it up for us to think we're deep into very differents plots: an insurance fraud and a disturbed outcrying holocaust derived patient harassing her friends (Paul Radbuka).

During the book I kept wondering what was wrong with V.I.'s way of treating people, everyone is, for a moment or two, against her, abusing her verbally, doubting her judgement, etc. even her friends and help (except maybe Mr. Contreras an odd character himself). It's like Paretsky likes to mount as much obstacles as possible for Vic to face.
The book has several interwoven chapters recovering the Lotty Herschel story that goes back to World War II, the Kindertransport, remorses and guilt. This chapters are great and probably the best in the book.
The thing I found a bit anoying comes from when Lotty feels, strangely treatened by Radbuka and behaves very irrationaly for hundreds of pages attacking and insulting V.I. Probably this isn't new for the V.I. frequent reader: Why does this woman stands that much abuse from a alleged friend? I assumed they were very close in other books, but Paretsky fails to convey that for the first time reader (something Sue Grafton always holds in mind). Vic says many times that she loves Lotty and so on but that didn't make it for me. Somehow Paretsky should have introduced the main characters as they show so their role, importance and oddities were understood.
If you never read a novel in this series you can find many open questions in the behavior of its characters. Its like if Paretsky is writing only for the regulars.

Not withstanding this little shortcomming, the book is engrossing. You are going to read it top to bottom (of course not in one sitting). And once you go beyond the first 100 pages a bit slow paced but I guess needed to set up the plot, and the first corpse is found, you are caught in the book. I won't spoil the book writing about a few contrived points in the resolution, but be assured I plan to read more of this series.

I couldn't say if its the best of them but it certainly is a good read.

I enjoyed this book from start to finish, couldn't put it down, didn't want it to end. Why can't I give it 10 stars?

V.I. Warshawski has become a mature woman with a realistic lovelife and real friends. It was a pleasure to spend time with her (although I'm worried she's going to starve to death; she never seems to eat anything). The complex insurance and "recovered memory" scam she is "detecting" was interesting and I never doubted any of it. Plenty of blood, gore, action and surprises. As usual I enjoyed the Chicago scenery, especially the occasional notes on the Cubs.

The story of Lotty, finally revealed after all this time, makes perfect sense. I always wondered what her "problem" was, as no doubt did Paretsky. I think Paretsky handled it well, revealing it as if Lotty is telling her the story, which in the end it turns out, she is.

Why do so many people think less of a book because it's a "mystery?" This is as good a novel as many pieces of "literature" I've read, and way better than some of those lyrical and tedious first novels reviewers go nuts over.

I read some of the Amazon reviews before reading this book and I wasn't expecting much. Sara Paretsky's characters and plots are a little hard to decipher at times. However, I was very pleasantly surprised by TOTAL RECALL. The plotting was interesting and integrated and held my attention well. The characters were a mix of old familiar people like Max and Lotty and new ones such as Paul Radbuka. Paretsky handled the characters well even through she did a lot of skipping around between plots and subplots.

V.I. Warshawski is a "real pip" of a main character who always has a dozen things going on. In this novel she is verbally assaulted and professionally abused by friend and foe alike. Even Max's young granddaughter, Calia, gets down on "Aunt Victory". Nothing she does pleases anyone, but she keeps plugging along, tying threads together until things make sense.

Paretsky uses Chicago as her setting and really manages to paint a very believable picture of the town. TOTAL RECALL is a solid combination of place, people and plot that entertains the readers and can be recommended with confidence.

As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release, I have been enjoying Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski novels for years. I am glad she has resumed writing them, especially TOTAL RECALL. In many ways, TOTAL RECALL is Lotty Herschel's book. Lotty is V.I.'s friend and mentor. Lotty is the closest thing to a mother V.I. has. In several chapters, Lotty takes central stage and returns us to those horrible days of Holocaust. In time present, a man named Paul Radbuka has surfaced making startling claims regarding his conection to Lotty and her companion, Max. V.I. begins to investigate this man and his claims at the same time she is involved with an insurance investigation involving a black man named Aaron Sommers. As the story progresses, the reader learns much about Lotty, her past, and the horrors of Nazism. Ms. Paretsky also links Holocaust reparations to the issue of reparations for slavery. TOTAL RECALL is an excellent novel addressing some most serious themes. Excellent book.

Unless one has read Ms. Paretsky's previous novels in this series, one would come away from this book with the sense that Lotty is a raving nutcase who is very hard to care about, despite the interspersed chapters about her early life. I also found it difficult to get interested in all the insurance brouhaha, which at times was confusing. Ms. Paretsky writes well, and V.I. is great, but I felt that this time around the story was just not all that riveting.

I've read all of Paretsky's books and am a long time admirer. This is up to her usual standard. Her plotting and her characters are carefully conceived, the setting well realized. Viva Paretsky! Now if she would only turn these mysteries out with greater frequency....

Let me preface my remarks by saying I have read every V.I. Warshawski novel, and overall I have greatly enjoyed the series, the character's development throughout the different books, and Paretsky's clean writing style. Total Recall was not one of Paretsky's best, as far as I'm concerned. The plotting was hectic, muddled, and circular, rather proceeding tautly in a straight line like many of her other books do. Two of the characters do not ring true to me at all - Paretsky does not give the reader enough information to explain truly why and how the Paul character and the wealthy European characters do what they do. This is too bad, as Paretsky usually does an excellent and thorough job of characterization. As a fan, I'm happy I read this book so I'll know how things stand with V.I. on her next outing, but as a reader, I was left with frustration and a bad taste in my mouth. Also, as a therapist, I was not happy with the portrayal of the therapist character. Being in the mental health business is hard enough, and we need more positive, realistic literary versions of our profession to be put before the public.

I've looked forward to hearing more about Lotty Herschel. She is an enigma with a past, but is more loving and giving than any that Vic has met since the death of her mother. The close bond between Lotty and Vic has been a special thread through all of her books. So, when the "story of Lotty" was coming out, I was all eager to read the secret history.
I now have slogged through over half the book, primarily because of the promise of the idea it dangled in front of me. However, many places do not make any sense and VI is constantly banging into one person, then careening to another "pin ball game" is how the character refers to it. Lotty just shut up for this first half of the book. No loving kindness, just hautiness. It must be her evil twin. And the black subplot goes around and around, sort of like the drain in "Psycho". I am very disappointed with the book.

I've read all of her prior books and have always found V.I. to be an engaging and believable heroine/detective. In this book, the combination of holocaust memories and a current problem simply is never engaging or believable. The villains are simply unbelievable. The "coincidence" that links the two threads of the plot was contrived and had a real world probability of zero. If Ms. Paretsky wants to write novels of social importance she needs to abandon the detective format and write a novel not a detective story.

Private detective Victoria Washawski has an easy task. Her client has been denied an insurance claim that was supposidly paid out ten years ago. Off she goes to resolve this matter but not before she detours into Chicago politics, the puzzling behavior of her friend Lotty, a so-called holocaust survivor, a few murders here and there and insurance fraud. To make matters worse she makes all the people associated with her quest for justice resentful and angry at her.

Whew, what a full plate of intrigue. Sara Paretsky has given us a great story but we find Victoria going around chasing various rabbits leading to no where. The convoluted twists and subplots get to become so confusing to the point where you're wondering exactly what is this story about. The answers can be just as puzzling...

You are lead from one thing to another not sure of the point of Paretsky's plot. Eventually you may come to some resolution if any at all. In spite of the rabbit chasing the story is pretty interesting.

One thing I found interesting is her portrayal of the Black characters in this book. Ms Paretsky certainly is unable to capture the nuances of African-American dialect which is very apparent in her work. She peppers her characters with the stock Black stereotypes of men and women. They come across as surly, ungrateful, greedy, criminal and overly sensitive to race. Ms Paretsky needs to do more research in portraying Black and other non-white characters in her work. Sticking to stereotypes just doesn't work.