I was reading about Knox's translation of "The Imitation of Christ", and it was talking about how he had singlehandedly translated the Bible, and how he had joked about putting at the front of it, "By the Author of The Viaduct Mystery." So that was how Knox came on my radar--- amazingly educated, wonderfully literate, fluent in so many languages, elegant in his translations, a sense of humor, and he wrote mysteries for fun. What wasn't there to admire?! That was also how I ran into his "Ten Commandments" for mystery authors. I see them broken all the time, but they seem to have been broken very deliberately post-Knox, rather than very annoyingly pre-Knox. So when I saw there was a book dedicated to systematically breaking his rules, I definitely wanted to give it a read.
Josef Škvorecký was a Czech-Canadian writer (1924-2012). Czechoslovakia changed a lot during the time he lived there (1924-1968? 1969?), and one of the things that really stands out in his books is how his characters are ordinary people, and have to roll with the communism that dictates so many aspects of their lives. Because the nature of pretty much every crime relates to someone's love life, love, sex, and romance also play a heavy part in each scenario. Eve sings at night clubs; most of the rest of the female supporting characters perform with fewer clothes. All of them are always on the look-out for the man who will give them stability, normalcy, love, romance, a family, and maybe even a ticket out of Communism.
The stories themselves are easy reads. Apart from Škvorecký's detective, Boruvka, who makes an appearance in the first and last stories, and Eve herself, who is a character in every one of them, there is frequently a small amount of overlap in the characters--- her friend Zuzka, or reference to some other person from the old country, etc-- but most of the characters are unique to each of the ten short stories. It can be a little difficult to keep all the different relationships organized in your head while you're reading--- business partners, children, business partners' children, ex-lovers, brothers-in-law, who hired who to do what, and so on. The plots themselves move rapidly, so keeping motivations, histories, and backstories tidy isn't always easy as you try to mentally sift through what's significant, and what's just background noise. Likewise, it invites you to guess which commandment is being broken--- and sometimes key information is held for the explanation, that would have been helpful to have in hand when trying to guess the answer. More than once, I was sure the answer was, "Number 8! Number 8 is the broken commandment!"
Still, it's a fine book. I suspect it will be more enjoyable on the re-read, since you're better able to see how the pieces fit together properly in hindsight. And that's really one of the best reasons to read this: to appreciate why the commandments were set up in the first place, and then to appreciate how they can be properly broken, rather than using it as a cheap gotcha.
I look forward to tracking down the author's three other Boruvka books, which have been translated into English.
| Publisher | W. W. Norton & Company (August 17, 1991) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 272 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0393307875 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0393307870 |
| Item Weight | 10.2 ounces |
| Dimensions | 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches |
