A review by poachedeggs
Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey
3.0
This book has everything I should love: the events play out in a boarding school setting; there is the casual cruelty of schoolgirls (which I quite perversely enjoy reading about); a visiting single female psychologist observes the foibles of her not-quite-subjects with affection and acuity; a passionate school principal attempts to protect her students and the reputation of the institution. Most interestingly, this school of which we speak is a phys. ed. college for young women, and they have to take classes on anatomy, dance, gymnastics as well as physiotherapy!
Yet something was missing. Perhaps it was because I kept expecting the murder/crime to happen fairly early. Perhaps it was the fact that I didn't quite know where to place the book when I was reading it (though I now see that it wasn't meant to be about the crime). The pacing seemed slow even though this book is exactly 200 pages.
Most probably, though, it was because I read 50% of it while sitting next to a group of rowdy family members who were engrossed in playing a card game. This is the kind of book that needs to be read in a quiet place, not when my family keeps asking me for my opinion on which card to play and when I have to keep replying, "I'm not here; I'm in England right now!"
Yet something was missing. Perhaps it was because I kept expecting the murder/crime to happen fairly early. Perhaps it was the fact that I didn't quite know where to place the book when I was reading it (though I now see that it wasn't meant to be about the crime). The pacing seemed slow even though this book is exactly 200 pages.
Most probably, though, it was because I read 50% of it while sitting next to a group of rowdy family members who were engrossed in playing a card game. This is the kind of book that needs to be read in a quiet place, not when my family keeps asking me for my opinion on which card to play and when I have to keep replying, "I'm not here; I'm in England right now!"