Sat 11 May 2013
Reviewed by LJ Roberts: LOUISE PENNY – The Beautiful Mystery.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[8] Comments
Reviews by L. J. Roberts
LOUISE PENNY – The Beautiful Mystery. St. Martin’s/Minotaur Books, hardcover, August 2012; trade paperback, July 2013.
Genre: Police procedural. Leading character: Chief Inspector Gamache, 8th in series. Setting: Canada.
First Sentence: In the early nineteenth century, the Catholic Church realized it had a problem.
The cloistered monks of Quebec’s self-contained Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups monastery focus their lives on prayer and the simplicity of Gregorian Chants. The murder of their prior and choirmaster, Frère Mathieu, has forced open their doors to Inspector Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec
Penny’s writing is simply superb. Her prose is more than mere words telling a story, her phrases are stories in themselves:
Penny wonderfully and accurately describes the way in which music can transport the soul. Her analogies are highly evocative:
The inclusion of humor adds levity, yet there is anger and pain as well. Her words are thoughtful and thought-provoking. There are contrasts such as describing one particularly dour monk as “The Eeyore of the monastery.â€, while having a doctor describe how “People die in bits and pieces.†Her writing causes you to stop and consider the concepts behind the words and can compel one to share passages with others. I’ve been known to call friends at odd hours insisting that they “Listen to this.â€
Penny’s descriptions bring places and people to life, placing you at the scene and causing you to see, hear and know the things and people around you. Among Penny’s many strengths is her ability to create characters about whom you want to know more.
This is finally, I feel, the first time we see Gamache truly at his strength in his role. At the same time, we are made painfully aware that although he has a very close relationship, both to its credit and detriment, with his second, Jean-Guy, there are others who would do anything to discredit him.
There is a wonderful segment where we learn of the same information but from two separate perspectives. Rather than being redundant, it truly exposes the differences in the personalities of Gamache and Jean-Guy. We also learn the details of the enmity between Gamache and his superior in whom she has created a distinct type of evil; a character who truly excels at manipulation and cruelty.
The story is very well constructed with plots and sub-plots each as interesting as the next. Lest you think this is a cozy, it is not. It is a traditional police procedural solved by investigating and following the clues. It is also a story of relationships and strong emotions, and there is nothing cozy about them.
Staying up most of the night reading is not something one would normally recommend. Staying up most of the night with a new book by Louise Penny is almost unavoidable.
A reader begins every book with the hope of finding something wonderful. The Beautiful Mystery is the realization of that hope. It is an excellent, beautifully written book that stays with you long after closing the cover yet leaves you wanting to demand the next book immediately. It is also only the latest in excellent series I recommend reading in order from the beginning.
Rating: Excellent.
May 11th, 2013 at 2:36 pm
It’s a convincing book to anyone totally ignorant of Catholic monasticism.
http://mysteriesandmore.blogspot.ca/2012/10/the-beautiful-mystery-by-louise-penny_19.html
May 11th, 2013 at 2:50 pm
I cannot agree with this review. My own review came to the exact opposite conclusion on nearly every count. It has become, for me, “That Book That Must Not Be Named”. One of my biggest issues was Penny’s sheer ignorance of monasteries, Catholicism, and monastery life — she makes huge mistakes that throw the entire plot into a Keelerian vortex from which it cannot emerge. I say this not as a specialist in obscure religious practices but as an everyday practising Catholic.
But the one thing that stays most with me about this novel is a scene that lasted about a page, where Gamache hesitates before opening a door. He stops to ponder the symbolic meaning of that door, you see, and takes so long wasting our time with his ramblings that finally someone else opened the door instead. I have no idea if Penny was indulging in self-parody or if this was meant to be taken seriously.
May 11th, 2013 at 4:20 pm
Oh, Patrick. I’m certainly not going to try to defend Ms. Penny. She doesn’t need me for that. I shall say, however, as one who has met and spoken with her, that she is a life-long practicing Catholic, spent time at the monastery after which this book was modeled, and had the religious and monastic elements of the book vetted by the Abbot and his staff.
The scene to which you refer, is one I found both fascinating and an excellent insight into the character of Gamache.
No, this was definitely not a self-parody. It is a book that has won countless awards.
It’s fine that you didn’t like the book and don’t agree with me and the millions of readers who found the book to be excellent. That is your opinion, after all. You are as welcome to it, as I am mine.
Happy reading,
LJ
May 11th, 2013 at 4:34 pm
What I find interesting in your review, LJ, is that you found it necessary to emphasize that this book is NOT a cozy. I’ve read only one earlier book in the series, not this one, but you are very definitely correct about this.
I think the “cozy” attribution to Penny’s books comes from the small town atmosphere in which they generally take place, that plus the fact that they keep being nominated and winning awards from conventions such as Malice Domestic, the ultimate in “coziness.”
THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY, in fact and for example, won the Agatha Award in 2012, which regardless of its merits, may be appropriate, since I don’t think of Agatha Christie as a cozy writer, either.
May 11th, 2013 at 6:21 pm
I am glad to read that someone has proven what I have always suspected about Penny — that she indeed has a spiritual and religious background. Her books are imbued with it. How can anyone not see that? Thanks for this review, LJ. Louise Penny has always and will continue to be one of my favorite contemporary writers of mysteries. She really gets it.
May 11th, 2013 at 7:46 pm
Comment #1. Bill, you were the first to respond, but since I didn’t see it to approve it until now, no one else has seen it either, not until after John’s comment #5.
I find the wide divergence of opinion about this book to be very interesting, the religious aspects and other background, that is. Not being Catholic myself, nor not knowing anything about monks, I can’t comment on that, but I think I understand you, John, when you talk about the spiritual nature that’s the essence of her books and characters.
June 7th, 2013 at 3:21 pm
I agree, Steve. I consider Ms. Penny’s books to be traditional mysteries or even police procedurals. It is Inspector Gamache and his team who investigate and solve the mysteries. Also, she is now setting every other book outside of Three Pines.
I also agree with you about Ms. Christie. Good heavens, just think how many bodies are left strewn about by the end of her books.
June 27th, 2013 at 7:28 pm
This book was convoluted and awful. The tie ups at end were amateur like. She dropped importance of book. I couldn’t love any of her awful characters. She can’t compose like Agatha. Her story lines Re I controlled and boring. I loved her other books. This one struggles. Like a great painter people think every picture is great when some are useless