Customer Reviews

What Alice Knew: A Most Curious Tale of Henry James and Jack the Ripper

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What Alice Knew is an utterly original historical mystery. Paula Marantz Cohen has taken many well known historical figures and incorporated them as the characters in this period tale. Novelist Henry James, his psychologist brother William and their bedridden sister Alice are the main protagonists, but others such as Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain and John Singer Sargent figure prominently.

And of course - Jack the Ripper. Cohen brings 1888 London, England to life with her descriptions of locales and social customs. But it is the dialogue and interactions between the characters that provide such a fresh inventive look at a event that has been covered many times before. The conversations between the siblings is witty, clever and very entertaining. The character of Alice is especially engaging - her self imposed bed rest seems at odds with her quick and intelligent mind, but she is self aware. When we get a glimpse at her vulnerabilities, she becomes all the more authentic. Of all the historical figures, I enjoyed her portrayal the most.


"...that the solution to these horrific crimes requires the three of us. Henry, to observe the social world where I sense the murder lurks and to plumb his friends and acquaintances for gossip. William, to study the physical evidence through his contact with the police and to supply psychological analysis where needed.

And you? William asked in amused wonder. What will you do?

Me? She levelled her intelligent gaze at her brothers. I will review what you gather....and solve the case."

Cohen has presented a 'solution' to the Ripper mystery that is both plausible and unique. But the fun in this book is the journey not the resolution. Highly entertaining.

This book is a page turner. It is a mystery; it is a historical period piece; it is a piece of literary and cultural criticism. It makes a famous family--as well as some ancillary characters on the London scene at the fin of the last siecle--come alive. Henry, William, and especially Alice James are beautifully limned, and Cohen is adept at capturing the cultural and aesthetic issues and tensions of the Aesthetic movement. When Jack the Ripper (whoever he may have been) can enter the world of fiction and keep a reader's attention as forcefully as fictional characters, and real ones do, you know you are in the presence of a writer of sophistication, depth and substance. Also of wit and suspense.

In this historical mystery, Henry James, his sister Alice and his brother William try to solve the identity of Jack the Ripper. William lives in America but has come to London at the request of Scotland Yard to help them solve these crimes, using his psychological training. Alice, who is bedridden is determined to help, using information from William's investigation and Henry's observations. Other historical figures also make appearances: Mark Twain, John Singer Sergeant, Oscar Wilde, and Walter Sickert.

The story is told through the eyes of each of the James'. I loved being in London, 1888. The author did a fantastic job of creating that atmosphere; the art, the literature,the theater, and of making real characters come alive in this fictional novel.
I thought the author also nicely portrayed how politics played a role in the search for the killer and how the police looked at psychology as an investigative tool at that time.Though mostly bedridden, one does not feel sorry for Alice, she is very smart and is happy with her life. She definitely knows how to keep her brothers in line as they argue about who Jack's real identity is. The dialogue is sharp and witty and clever.

What Alice Knew is an interesting look at one of history's biggest mysteries, while being very entertaining. I don't know how factual the book actually is, but I don't really care. It kept me engaged and interested.

my rating 4/5

What Alice Knew: A Most Curious Tale of Henry James & Jack the Ripper is Paula Marantz Cohen's first novel. The plotline is luscious for any lover of historical fiction or mystery. The three James siblings- Henry the mildly successful author, William the brilliant psychologist and Alice the keenly observant invalid- investigate the Jack the Ripper murders as they take place, trying to determine through psychology and social observation who must have committed the murders.

Sounds exciting, right? Unfortunately, I don't think it was nearly as exciting as it could have been. I admit I haven't read too many of Henry James' books, but The Turn of the Screw is one I read several years ago and still serves to give me a deliciously creepy shiver up and down my back when I think of it. James was a master of the unreliable narrator and wrote amazingly well. In this book, he was portrayed as an insecure, fat alcoholic who just wanted the approval of his elder brother. It's possible that Henry James did feel insecure and maybe he was an alcoholic and quite possibly he wanted his older brother to like him. But there was also keen insight, wittiness and a very real kind of genius in him and I don't think Cohen brought that out at all. Nor does she allow us to see Henry's neuroses develop. She tells us flat out exactly what Henry thinks. For example:

"But William had always treated him dismissively, had viewed his life as frivolous, and had denigrated his writing, if only by failing to read it. These things pained Henry deeply, though he pretended not to care. For more even than social acclaim and fortune, more even than literary immortality, he desired the good opinion of his older brother."

Really, I think this point would have been much better made through less obvious methods, allowing the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about what must have been a very complex relationship between the two brothers. And Cohen gives Alice and William the same treatment- we are told exactly what they think and feel in this heavy-handed manner and do not get the opportunity to draw our own conclusions.

And if that is how the story is just for character development, then I think you can guess that the murder mystery also proceeds at a somewhat clunky manner. In many ways, I found the mystery investigation more interesting. I liked the way the new and budding fields of psychology and photography were used. But in general, this story did not grip me at all in the way one would expect a Victorian era novel featuring a family of famous siblings investigating one of history's most infamous serial killers to do.

This historical fiction concerns the Jack the Ripper case and provides a unique take on the case by involving the famous James family: author Henry James, his brother and psychologist, William James, and their bright, but invalid sister, Alice. While Alice and Henry live in London, William has been asked to come from the U.S. to consult on the psychological aspects of the Ripper case by Scotland Yard. Alice is intrigued by the case and convinces William and Henry to work with her to help determine who the murder might be. The interplay between the siblings and their friendships and rivalries complement the storyline. The author portrays the gritty atmosphere of London and the contrasts of class differences as she weaves together an intriguing and suspenseful mystery.

While the trio of James siblings made a strange choice for a detective team, this novel came off as oddly satisfying. It took a while to get into, since none of the main characters had a dynamic or intriguing personality, but the story was so well written and the copious cast of historical co-stars helped complete an enjoyable work.

I wish the James' siblings could get together to solve many mysteries. This was a fun book to read, as Alice and her brothers have different skills (and different weaknesses). It would be a fun series (like the Beekeeper's Apprentice series).

I'm fascinated by the Ripper story, so will read almost anything about it, but this was a pleasant surprise.

I wish I had read some of Henry James' writing beforehand, but I still enjoyed it from a historical and mystery perspective.

A wonderfully engaging read! The novel has just about everything-- captivating dialogue, brilliant and witty portraits of the James family, lots of riveting suspense, and a terrific new twist on the Ripper case.

I really liked this book. What made me give this book 4 stars is that I related to every character on the page.the writing was fabulous.I also liked that (what alice knew)was graphic at times as it should be when talking about jack the ripper.This timeline in history when so many famous peoples lives intertwined whith each other was wonderful the way our author brought them together on paper.this was our book of the month for october it is just too bad that I didn't get ms cohen to join us because we're in south philly mabey next book (Namaste')

In "What Alice Knew," Paula Marantz Cohen imagines what might have happened if Henry and William James, along with their sister, Alice, pooled their considerable brainpower to uncover the identity of Jack the Ripper. In the summer and autumn of 1888, the infamous Ripper preyed upon prostitutes in the squalid and impoverished East End of Whitechapel. To this day, the murders remain unsolved.

In 1888, Henry James was an expatriate American living in England, who enjoyed some success as a novelist (although not as great as he would have liked). When he is not busy writing, he attends quite a few dinner parties with such luminaries as Oscar Wilde, and visits his sister, Alice, who spends most of her time in bed, suffering from headaches, fainting spells, and nervous palpitations. Alice is not a one-dimensional hypochondriac; she reads newspapers, receives visitors, keeps a diary, and writes letters to Parliament. William James, a professor at Harvard with expertise in philosophy, training as a physician, and a deep interest in psychology, receives a letter from police commissioner Sir Charles Warren asking him to assist Scotland Yard with the Ripper investigation, a case that has proved both "troubling and intractable."

Cohen portrays the three siblings, William, James, and Alice, with a degree of affection. We come to know and understand each of them well. William has never completely lost his fear of madness and melancholy, which years ago felled him with disastrous results. Now, he is a respected scholar and an affectionate husband and father. Henry is self-contained man, who "has never needed anyone. He has his work; his characters are his family." Alice is a kind and sensitive soul who is thrilled to have William and Henry with her once again, and equally delighted to have an opportunity to exercise her keen intellect.

The book's conceit is, unfortunately, a bit too far-fetched to take very seriously. William, Henry, and Alice James joining forces as amateur sleuths? Not likely. The narrative is a bit long and talky; the second half is somewhat slow-moving and could have profited from skilled editing. We know in advance that Cohen cannot come to any definitive conclusion about the Ripper's identity; she wisely concludes the novel with enough ambiguity to keep us guessing. Although it is not without flaws, "What Alice Knew" is a literate, imaginative, and intermittently entertaining novel filled with intriguing background information about the James family and their contemporaries.