Elegy for April: A Novel
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- ISBN13: 9780805090918
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Quirke—the hard-drinking, insatiably curious Dublin pathologist—is back, and he’s determined to find his daughter’s best friend, a well-connected young doctor
April Latimer has vanished. A junior doctor at a local hospital, she is something of a scandal in the conservative and highly patriarchal society of 1950s Dublin. Though her family tree is one of the most respected in the city, she is known for being independent-minded; her taste in men, for instance, is decidedly unconventional.
Now April has disappeared, and her friend Phoebe Griffin suspects the worst. Frantic, Phoebe seeks out Quirke, her brilliant but erratic father, and questions him for help. Sober again after intensive treatment for alcoholism, Quirke enlists his ancient sparring partner, Detective Inspector Hackett, in the search for the missing young woman. In their separate ways the two men follow April’s trail through some of the darker byways of the city to uncover crucial information on her position. And as Quirke becomes deeply involved in April’s murky tale, he encounters intricate and hideous truths about family tree savagery, Catholic ruthlessness, and race hatred.
Both an absorbing crime novel and a brilliant portrait of the hard and relentless like between a father and his daughter, this is Benjamin Black at his sparkling best.
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A book by Benjamin Black is permanently a treat. He is the legendary John Banville but his Benjamin Black books are reasonably differant.
His recurring character is Garret Quirke, an alcoholic, miserable pathogist in 1950s Dublin. Quirke’s daughter Phoebe, whom he gave to his sister in law at birth because her mother died in child birth, keeps in touch with the brilliant but erractic Quirke but theirs is an uneasy relationship.
Phoebe has been very apprehensive because her friend April Latimer seems to be missing. April is a “junior docter” and has never disapeared before. Phoebe knows that April is alienated from her rich and powerful family tree. April despises their elitest and overly sanctimonious life style.Phoebe finally questions Quirke to help her find April. No one seems apprehensive about her and her family tree seems like they could care less about her.The twists and turns in the search keeps the reader in suspence.
I won’t give away the ending but it is a huge shocker.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Wintery Dublin in the mid 50’s — atmospheric,foggy, rainswept, a perfect setting for John Banville’s third outing as Benjamin Black. He has said that his two writing selves write in completely different styles, but it it obvious that there is more than the usual talent on tap. Alter egos still arise from the same source. He also admitted that his role model is George Simenon — shorter sentences, generating a quicker pace. There is still a deliberation in the way he paces his tale, releasing information only as needed. The mystery here is not so much that of the disappearance of April, a friend of Phoebe, Quirke’s daughter, but whether Quirke and Phoebe will close the gap engendered by their past and whether or not he will manage to remain on the wagon. It is not necessary to have read the first in the series, Christine Falls, since there are enough references to enlighten a new reader. I am glad that Banville did not abandon Black after one or two novels as was his original intent, as he becomes more surefooted with successive novels.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
I must admit, I don’t read thrillers or mysteries, but I do like John Banville (a/k/a Benjamin Black). I had just finished off Banville’s wonderful Kepler, a fictionalized biography of the astronomer and contemporary of Galileo who learned that planets gyrate about the sun in ellipses, and was itching for something very different from Banville. And, boy howdy, one can’t get much different-er than Elegy for April, a fog- and alcohol-soaked descent into the melancholy hell that was 1950s Dublin, Ireland. In this landscape that out-noirs the noir of something like Robert Mitchum’s movie, Out of the Past (which would be an apt title for this book but I like the title for my post better which is taken straight from the text, no chaser). In this twilight world all power is corrupt, all heroes not just afflicted with feet of lead but additional body parts too, and like, well, if you can call it that, is no more than a thin line between contempt and indifference.
As in all the Benjamin Black books, the hero here (or, more aptly, the protagonist) is one drunken pathologist named Quirke who has a very intricate relationship with his daughter Phoebe–indeed, the relationship and related back tale is so tangled that you need to read the first two Benjamin Black books before jumping into Elegy for April. Phoebe’s friend April turns up missing and the rest of the book is concerned with what happened to her. What I like so much about this book is that it’s a throw back to the ancient Graham Greene entertainments where there’s small blood or violence but lots of character, snappy dialogue and vileness. A excellent, crackin’ read.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
I have been nervously waiting for another Benjamin Black novel featuring the unique Quirke. These books stand reasonably alone in their depiction of Dublin of the 50s and of a man of a similar age who is both honorable and lost. This time out, Quirke and his daughter Phoebe (who is still feeling her way into daughterhood) take on the matter of the disappearance of Phoebe’s friend April. It is a temperamental piece, with moments of levity, and moments of fantastic loneliness–for everyone involved (no one is immune). As with Christine Falls and The Silver Swan, I was completely engaged by Black’s gorgeous prose [he has the ability to clarify a character to the full with merely a sweep or two of a singularly gifted word brush] and especially with Quirke and his inability to remain on an even keel. Fantastic pacing, wonderfully drawn characters (with not a cliche to be establish in the actress, the African student, or the small journalist), and an achingly accurate depiction of the perniciousness of alcoholism. My only quibble was that the ending left a string or two dangling. Since this review is based on an advance reading copy, I am hoping that the final copy will see these points resolved. All in all, a fantastic addition to the series. Highly recommended.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I loved this third volume in Benjamin Black’s (pseudonym for leader John Banville) mystery series featuring amateur sleuth/pathologist Quirke. These books are set in a very repressed Dublin of the 1950’s, and the leader makes a highly believable, atmospheric setting for his characters. This volume involves Quirke’s daughter Phoebe, whose friend April, a doctor at the same hospital as Quirke, has disappeared. While April’s alienated family tree seems to be completely unworried, Phoebe is convinced that something is dreadfully incorrect…and that April is not only missing but dead. She calls on her father, Quirke, to help investigate. This is a mystery series with very complex characters and family tree relationships, concentrating more on character development than on action. The leader makes a dark feel to the entire novel which culminates in a shocking ending. Highly recommended.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5