A review by carmenghia
Duplicate Keys by Jane Smiley
3.0
Either I added this book to my to-read pile because it takes place in bad ol' days NYC (1980), or because the lead character is a librarian at my library, or because it was a lady-written murder mystery, or some combo of the above.
The bad ol' day stuff is my favorite part of the book. The lead character, Alice, recounts a stabbing in the Main Reading Room, and a staff member being shot at in the stacks window from Bryant Park as though this was just normal every day NY stuff, and perhaps it was. Bt Alice is sort of a drag as a person. So much of her personality is doing stuff she doesn't want to do, thinking one thing and then flip-flopping that thought a few instances later, of being sneaky and secretive, and it's hard to root for a character like that, even if the setting is fascinating.
The bad ol' day stuff is my favorite part of the book. The lead character, Alice, recounts a stabbing in the Main Reading Room, and a staff member being shot at in the stacks window from Bryant Park as though this was just normal every day NY stuff, and perhaps it was. Bt Alice is sort of a drag as a person. So much of her personality is doing stuff she doesn't want to do, thinking one thing and then flip-flopping that thought a few instances later, of being sneaky and secretive, and it's hard to root for a character like that, even if the setting is fascinating.