Posts tagged Kate Atkinson

The headache is perhaps the result of the weather changing abruptly from foggy chill to humid heat, within a couple of days. Or it could be  the inflammation of the gum that leaves a dull ache on the left side of the face.  But I am sure  Case Histories by Kate Atkinson upgraded the headache into a migraine.  The sort that makes you want to rub your nails against the black board, just for distraction.

Case Histories (CH) is a “novel” surrounding a HumphreyBogart-ish detective, who works on three cases, one of a child that went missing 30 years earlier, another of a young woman, murdered by person or persons unknown, a decade before,  and the third of a woman who apparently slaughtered her husband in a fit of post-natal rage two decades back.  Actually, I am not sure the detective does much other than mope around with his failed marriage; that’s where the Bogart panache fades.  Things just fall into place on their own, and the guy miraculously inherits millions from a client; some life, I say.

But then, I am probably being uncharitable. The plot is intricate, with interconnections among the cases, set in the recently fashionable “post modern” nonlinear style, and the author intelligently unravels the knots towards the end.  Not quite all the knots – the third case, the case of the depressed wife didn’t appear “solved” by the detective, but runs on a parallel track in itself towards a solution, with a single connection to the second case.  I skipped a few sections here and there to finish the book (the book is due at the library tomorrow, and remember the migraine?), so there may have been a connection I missed. I doubt it though.   I read reviews of CH on the web, and it seems all others find it “exciting”, “exceptional” and such like.  The language (minus the vulgar slangs) is elegant, and the plot is intelligent. But for me, the groan factor was that all the cases (including the detective’s own life)  has a sexual motive.   This story seemed to need the s-factor to carry it through. Yes, the book won an award.

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Book: Case Histories

Author: Kate Atkinson

Year of Publication: 2004

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