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missbryden's review against another edition
2.0
The story is interesting enough, including being a contemporary story to the 70s, but none of the characters are particularly likable - even Dalgliesh, there isn't much said about him to make him seem super nice, though not unlikeable. Too many gory details at times. This is the first story that was adapted in the 2021 series, and I still like the screen version better.
cimorene1558's review against another edition
3.0
I love the now so old fashioned nursing school details.
beatlestar's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
adamrshields's review against another edition
4.0
Summary: One mysterious death, and then another, among nurses-in-training, brings Adam Dalgliesh to the John Carpenter Hospital and the Nightingale House, where the nurses live and train.
I am continuing to work through the Adam Dalgliesh mystery series slowly. I am not sure how long PD James wrote the series, but the books I am working on how were written in the late 1960s. So far the books have been fairly out of time. You know they are in the 20th century, but no cell phones or computers exist. It is only at the very end that there is a cultural reference that dates the book. It matters to the story, so I will not reveal the reference, but I have appreciated the writing being somewhat out of time.
The series is less physiological than my current favorite mystery series, Inspector Gamache, but I am enjoying the very slow development of Dalgliesh as a character. Part of what I thought about with this book is that Dalgliesh's moral and ethical character is essential. Moral and ethical character matter in almost every role in life, but particularly with positions of authority and justice, the person filling those roles matters. One of the officers working for Dalgliesh is a prominent character in this book, and that officer does not have exemplary character for the job. The comparison between them is being set up for what I assume with be a plot point in a later book.
I have just started Karen Swallow Prior's new book, The Evangelical Imagination. As a literature professor, she is approaching the role of the imagination in helping to define the social imaginary (Charles Taylor's term) of what is possible. Simple fiction books like this series give the reader a sense of what is possible. Murder mysteries, in particular, may raise fears about how prevalent murder is or how easy it is to catch murderers. But they also build connections of how people come to big crimes through smaller inactions. How we think about the world is shaped by the type and quality of books we read (or TV, movies, web videos, video games, etc.)
I think there is a reason that PD James is such a well-known author and that this series has been recommended by so many and I think the Evangelical Imagination is giving some hints as to why this more than 50-year-old series has stayed in print.
I am continuing to work through the Adam Dalgliesh mystery series slowly. I am not sure how long PD James wrote the series, but the books I am working on how were written in the late 1960s. So far the books have been fairly out of time. You know they are in the 20th century, but no cell phones or computers exist. It is only at the very end that there is a cultural reference that dates the book. It matters to the story, so I will not reveal the reference, but I have appreciated the writing being somewhat out of time.
The series is less physiological than my current favorite mystery series, Inspector Gamache, but I am enjoying the very slow development of Dalgliesh as a character. Part of what I thought about with this book is that Dalgliesh's moral and ethical character is essential. Moral and ethical character matter in almost every role in life, but particularly with positions of authority and justice, the person filling those roles matters. One of the officers working for Dalgliesh is a prominent character in this book, and that officer does not have exemplary character for the job. The comparison between them is being set up for what I assume with be a plot point in a later book.
I have just started Karen Swallow Prior's new book, The Evangelical Imagination. As a literature professor, she is approaching the role of the imagination in helping to define the social imaginary (Charles Taylor's term) of what is possible. Simple fiction books like this series give the reader a sense of what is possible. Murder mysteries, in particular, may raise fears about how prevalent murder is or how easy it is to catch murderers. But they also build connections of how people come to big crimes through smaller inactions. How we think about the world is shaped by the type and quality of books we read (or TV, movies, web videos, video games, etc.)
I think there is a reason that PD James is such a well-known author and that this series has been recommended by so many and I think the Evangelical Imagination is giving some hints as to why this more than 50-year-old series has stayed in print.
marlisenicole's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
laurapk's review against another edition
2.0
I admit, part of my problem may have come from the fact that I read it as an Audiobook.
The book had its interesting parts, but I had a hard time keeping up with the characters. Too many names introduced too quickly. Some characters were easier to remember and identify, half were not.
I didn't connect at all with the main protagonist. I don't know anything about his history and had a hard time understanding his actions. We spent little time with him and a little more with the nurses. I give it to the author: the victims were well fleshed out. Their living counterparts...not so much. It's a pity, because the novel took its time describing places and people (the pace is so different from a modern mystery). I honestly don't understand why we spent so much time with Ms. Beale the inspector. She wasn't the POV character for long, she wasn't a substitute for the reader...I'd have rather spent more time inside the Superintendent's head.
The book had its interesting parts, but I had a hard time keeping up with the characters. Too many names introduced too quickly. Some characters were easier to remember and identify, half were not.
I didn't connect at all with the main protagonist. I don't know anything about his history and had a hard time understanding his actions. We spent little time with him and a little more with the nurses. I give it to the author: the victims were well fleshed out. Their living counterparts...not so much. It's a pity, because the novel took its time describing places and people (the pace is so different from a modern mystery). I honestly don't understand why we spent so much time with Ms. Beale the inspector. She wasn't the POV character for long, she wasn't a substitute for the reader...I'd have rather spent more time inside the Superintendent's head.
jenn756's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this. P D James is a remarkably consistent writer, so if you like closed community whodunits, lots of twists and turns and false alibis – and I happen to do so - this is your novel. Otherwise you’ll find it slow and ponderous.
It is set in a nursing training home in the late sixties. Its description of nursing is inadvertently a bit of social history itself, for I think nursing training has changed dramatically since those days. The story is slow starting, not withstanding the grisly murder in the first chapter, and it took me awhile to get into but once I did I was gripped in a gentle kind of way. A good novel if you happen to be ill or on a long journey.
Having said all that Dalgleish is an annoying detective as ever. He supposed to be sardonic and attractive but is actually just dull. He could do with being murdered himself. Fortunately we don’t see his personal life in the novel, for I have no desire to read about his poetry or love affairs and probably would have skipped that part. P D James doesn’t do love very well and lacks a sense of humour, so she is not witty as say, Caroline Graham would be and almost all her characters are unsympathetic. She enjoys doing detailed pen portraits of people, which are entertaining but are generally unflattering. Other people have pointed she just didn’t like the human race very much and I suppose they might be right. Still, doesn’t detract from it being a good novel.
And oh yes, I spotted the murderer in Chapter Two, which says more about the fact that I’ve read too many detective books than my powers of deduction.
It is set in a nursing training home in the late sixties. Its description of nursing is inadvertently a bit of social history itself, for I think nursing training has changed dramatically since those days. The story is slow starting, not withstanding the grisly murder in the first chapter, and it took me awhile to get into but once I did I was gripped in a gentle kind of way. A good novel if you happen to be ill or on a long journey.
Having said all that Dalgleish is an annoying detective as ever. He supposed to be sardonic and attractive but is actually just dull. He could do with being murdered himself. Fortunately we don’t see his personal life in the novel, for I have no desire to read about his poetry or love affairs and probably would have skipped that part. P D James doesn’t do love very well and lacks a sense of humour, so she is not witty as say, Caroline Graham would be and almost all her characters are unsympathetic. She enjoys doing detailed pen portraits of people, which are entertaining but are generally unflattering. Other people have pointed she just didn’t like the human race very much and I suppose they might be right. Still, doesn’t detract from it being a good novel.
And oh yes, I spotted the murderer in Chapter Two, which says more about the fact that I’ve read too many detective books than my powers of deduction.
bplayfuli's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book despite its inconsistencies.