Customer Reviews

Unkindness of Ravens (New Portway Large Print Books)

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

 

 

An "Unkindness" is the collective noun for a group of ravens. They are not particularly predatory birds, but neither rare they soft and submissive. Now, the Raven has become the symbol of a militant feminist group known as Arria, whose attitude to the male gender is, like the nature of said bird, far from submissive.

When Chief Inspector Wexford was asked to investigate the disappearance of his neighbour Rodney Williams he was certain it was just a case of another middle-aged man having run-off with a young woman. All the signs pointed that way. A waste of time to concern yourself with, his thoughts tell him. However, he would be shocked to his core when, weeks later, Rodney's disappearance turns out to be the centre of a violent and bizarre murder.

As reliable as ever, this is Rendell - and Wexford - once again on fine form. If you want an entertaining, intelligent and realistic with piercing insights into society, Ruth Rendell is the author to whom you should turn. The Wexford series remains the best example of the English detective story currently being produced. It stands out not just for its layered intelligence, but its unflinching social observancy, its piercing insight into human nature, and its warm (sometimes!) and nostalgic centre in the form of Reg Wexford.

This novel is a very strong addition to the series. Rendell's mystery is intricate and dramatic and original and very intriguing, with a plausible solution that will shock if not surprise. An Unkindness of Ravens is an excellent book of detection as well as being a vehicle for Rendell's unerring observational insight into society and its constant shifts and changes. It is well worth anyone's time.

The title of this installment in the Inspector Wexford series is beautiful. However, that is pretty much the only thing that is good about the novel. Rendell very rarely misses the mark in her work, but here she unfortunately did. AN UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS is extremely boring. There is a wealth of characters who are extremely similar in a very tedious sort of way. The point of introducing so many similar characters is probably to make it harder for the readers to figure out what happened and who committed the murder. That goal, however, is not achieved. The novel simply drags on forever while Wexford and Burden go through a series of excruciatingly repetitive conversations with a very boring cast of characters.

In order to spice up her boring narrative, Rendell introduces a quasi-feminist organization into the story. Her attempts at creating a credible parody of feminism are nothing short of constipated and, once again, painfully boring.

Now, if you thought that Rendell could not have possibly created a character more annoying than the uptight and judgmental Mike Burden, guess again. Burden's second wife is a lot more annoying than Burden ever was (even in that novel where he wished the woman he loved lost her child, so that he'd have less mouths to feed.) In AN UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS, the Burden household descends into the kind of insanity that lacks any credibility whatsoever.

I usually devour Rendell's books in one or two sittings. She is a beautiful author whose books I will never tire of reading. This novel, however, is one of those rare mistakes that any great writer makes from time to time. The characters in AN UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS are cartoonish, the "mystery" is transparent, and the story develops extremely slowly.

This is a fine addition to the Wexford series. Rendell rarely fails in her ability to provide timely social commentary in the middle of a complex investigation. Wexford is at his best in slowly, steadily uncovering what happened to a neighbor amidst a number of various clues and motives. The mystery keeps a reader engaged even as it becomes largely apparent what happens about midway through the work. Moreover, the plot elements on feminism and racial inequality worked well and weren't overpowering in an obnoxious way. This is solid and entertaining fiction.

A women's rights group populated by high school and college girls and led by a virulent feminist, with a stylized raven logo. The mysterious disappearance of a secretive businessman who's often out of town. Everyone in the neightborhood seems to know about both. It's up to Inspector Wexford to tease apart the disparate threads and solve more than one murder. There are other crimes, equally reprehensible, that contribute to the tangled mess. It's fairly easy to figure out who did it. How, when, and why are questions more to the point, with more obscure answers.

Rendell is a literate author whose Wexford series never fails to please and intriguing. And her books are even better when the victim deserves his fate.

Note: This book was written in 1986, a long ago time before cell phones and word processing. Though this does not affect the mystery itself, a typewriter is one of the major clues, a blast from the past!

I picked up the audio version of this book hoping it would keep my interest for a cross country drive. Instead, I found myself irritated at the tedious pace and extraneous details. I didn't care for any of the characters, and by the time I realized it wasn't going to get any better...I was in too deep and had to finish out the 9+ hours to find out whodunnit. At least it kept me awake for the drive. Nevermore.

"An Unkindness of Ravens" by Ruth Rendell, Recorded Books, Inc. Version, read by Davina Porter.

When a neighbor of Chief Inspector Wexford is reported missing, you just know that this is the murder required for this mystery. Sure enough, a dog sniffs out the body of Rodney Williams, shallow grave!, and Inspector Wexford begins to track down the last days of his neighbor's life.

But, who would have thought? In England? There are two Mrs. Williams, each claiming not to know about the existence of the other. Bigamy! And then, incest! Rodney's two daughters, separated by miles but so alike in genes. Was Rodney Williams involved in incest with his oldest daughter, Sarah? And preparing the other daughter, Veronica, (by the second Mrs. Williams, Wendy) for a turn in the incestuous bed?

Did he deserve to die? The autopsy shows that Rodney was drugged before he was stabbed to death, which leads to the secondary murder,(a necessary cover-up), of the daughter of the local pharmacist. All young ladies were members of the local feminist group. Inspector Wexford investigates this feminist group, whose logo is a raven with the head of a woman, hence the title of the book. As the Inspector uncovers more and more, it seems that Joy Williams, the first Mrs., has to be guilty. But, so much took place at the home of Wendy, the second Mrs. She had to be guilty, or they were working together ...which they deny. At the end, everything comes to nice and surprising conclusion, but you still have to wonder: all this in modern-day England? Who would have thought?

The book is well read by Davina Porter, who has the capability of developing an individual, almost unique voice for the Inspector. Of course, every time the Inspector asks what a person was doing on April 15th, the night of Rodney's murder, I would say to myself that I knew exactly what I was doing. In the book, in England, the alibis were always weak. In the United States, however, the usual answer would have been a very acceptable alibi: "I was doing my income taxes!"

Chief Inspector Wexford's neighbor Rodney Williams is reported missing by his wife and what he thinks will be a typical "husband running out on wife" case proves otherwise. As the search for the missing man resumes, Wexford soons finds that Williams was a man of many secrets. The man's penchant for young girls coincides with the popularity of a local feminists group called ARRIA which seems to include every young woman in town. Rendell does a masterful job here of layering new elements to the mystery with every concluding chapter and the outcome eventually turns out to be surprising yet sensible. Rendell is also an expert at molding three dimensional characters with only minimal details (what was the other reviewer reading? ). Overall, well written, literate and satisying.

This is the first of Rendell's "Inspector Wexford" novels I've read so far, and this one wasn't quite as impressive as most of her other endeavors, in some ways. What I did enjoy was the secret society of man haters, or perhaps the uber-feminist group would be a better way of putting it. I found all that psychology fascinating and very compelling. I also had no idea who on earth was perpetrating these murders, so it's not like I had figured it out and was all annoyingly smug. Maybe it was the lack of enough appropriately psychotic characters, or the lack of insight into them throughout the book, as is the case with most of Rendell's other efforts. Still, Rendell on a bad day beats most other contemporary authors on a good one, so I'm not really complaining. Too much.

I've been looking for an English mystery writer to match PD James and I've found her. Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford is intelligent and cultured, just like Dalgliesh. This was a fun read, interesting, and one that kept me guessing. I'm looking forward to reading more.

My first novel by this writer might not have been her best whodunit. I enjoyed her writing and her character Inspector Wexford. Even though this book imploded half way in for this reader, I plan to check out another read from Rendell some time in the future. This one just fizzled out for me.