A review by maplessence
Dinner at Antoine's by Frances Parkinson Keyes
2.0
Oh (heavy handed) irony!
My copy physically started off like this;
and ended up like this;
That's right, the whole thing fell apart literally as well as figuratively.
The best parts were the descriptions of Antoine's and it's decadent sounding menus and descriptions of Creole traditions like Carnivale. The worst was pretty much everything else. Minor irritations were a romance between two characters who clearly weren't relevant to the murder mystery & who did very little to drive the plot forward and the meandering pace (often with a lot of moralising) What really bugged me was the thick patois given to black maidservant Tossie, especially at the start of the story. This was a difficult read not just for me, but for any reader not from the American South. & FPK wasn't even consistent with it - Tossie's speech became far more intelligible as the story went on (& on & on...) The supposedly astute, Foxworth changes from
The most tedious of all was the approximately 40 page epilogue about what happened to all the characters after All is Revealed. I felt very little interest in the outcome for anyone but Sabin. & I was able to stop reading at 92% - for a couple of days. Normally for me to stop that late in a book it would have to be because of work or because my house was on fire!
If you want to try some of her writings on the South I would recommend [bc:Steamboat Gothic|843752|Steamboat Gothic|Frances Parkinson Keyes|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1302655125s/843752.jpg|829283] Or if you want to see FPK make a better attempt at a murder mystery there is [bc:The Royal Box|3275740|The Royal Box|Frances Parkinson Keyes|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1312831304s/3275740.jpg|2240643]
Just so hard to believe this rubbish is FPK's best known book. what is left of this book is heading for my recycling bin - now!
My copy physically started off like this;
and ended up like this;
That's right, the whole thing fell apart literally as well as figuratively.
The best parts were the descriptions of Antoine's and it's decadent sounding menus and descriptions of Creole traditions like Carnivale. The worst was pretty much everything else. Minor irritations were a romance between two characters who clearly weren't relevant to the murder mystery & who did very little to drive the plot forward and the meandering pace (often with a lot of moralising) What really bugged me was the thick patois given to black maidservant Tossie, especially at the start of the story. This was a difficult read not just for me, but for any reader not from the American South. & FPK wasn't even consistent with it - Tossie's speech became far more intelligible as the story went on (& on & on...) The supposedly astute, Foxworth changes from
Spoiler
being madly in love with one woman to another in less than 24 hours - & the main reason for the love is the second woman (Clorinda) loves him! I do know someone who has done this but the real life guy is a manic depressive narcissist!The most tedious of all was the approximately 40 page epilogue about what happened to all the characters after All is Revealed. I felt very little interest in the outcome for anyone but Sabin. & I was able to stop reading at 92% - for a couple of days. Normally for me to stop that late in a book it would have to be because of work or because my house was on fire!
If you want to try some of her writings on the South I would recommend [bc:Steamboat Gothic|843752|Steamboat Gothic|Frances Parkinson Keyes|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1302655125s/843752.jpg|829283] Or if you want to see FPK make a better attempt at a murder mystery there is [bc:The Royal Box|3275740|The Royal Box|Frances Parkinson Keyes|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1312831304s/3275740.jpg|2240643]
Just so hard to believe this rubbish is FPK's best known book. what is left of this book is heading for my recycling bin - now!