Reviews

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

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zbmorgan's review against another edition

4.0

A marvelous mystery with a typically inverted English family as atmosphere. The narrator/protagonist, 11 year old Flavia, is written perfectly, in all her dreadful, emotionless, pleased-weith-herself glory. Your heart will bleed for her and for her sisters and father, as by the end of the book, it's no secret how anyone got to the dysfunctional way they are. If the uncultured are raised by wolves, then this family, while not outrightly evil, was probably raised by de Borgias.

The mystery is also well done- when a stranger drops dead in the cucumber patch, Flavia suspects her father, her father suspects his PTSD suffering man of all work, and we are introduced to an older crime that may have something to do with this one. The story of the stamp collecting and the descriptions of the laboratory are at once fascinating and familiar to anyone who's ancestors may have hailed from England, and the setting (post-WWII country england) is perfect but not invasive.

The audio version (read by Jayne Entwhistle) takes about 10 minutes to get used to, as Flavia is voiced as a girl who attackes everything with relish. While distracting at first, it turns out to be perfect.

nermrlib's review against another edition

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5.0

I ordered this book because of a computer generated recommendation, since I had already read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The review said I would like this book if I liked the other one. I always hesitate in taking those recommendations, but this one was right on the money. I completely and totally loved this book. I couldn't put it down. It's fresh, funny, and the heroine, 11 year old Flavia de Luce, is a hoot! She reminds me a little of Perry Mason--used to love to watch that show, even though he always figured out something long before you the viewer ever could, and you never knew what it was until he explained it to Della in the end. Flavia is just like that, which is refreshing. I like not knowing whodunit and how it ends in the first three or four chapters. I was also glad to read at the end of the book that this is the first in a series--can't wait to read the next one!