A review by jooniperd
The Crooked Maid by Dan Vyleta
5.0
this was my first time reading dan vyleta and i thought this book very strong. i do wish, now, that i had read his previous novel, [b:The Quiet Twin: A Novel|12159289|The Quiet Twin A Novel|Dan Vyleta|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1316132719s/12159289.jpg|14526501], first. while each book can stand alone, characters recur. given the nature of my personality, i feel like i just did it wrong. heh!!
so, the crooked maid is many things - historical fiction, mystery, literary fiction, homage. vyleta's ticking a lot of boxes with this book. is it always awesome? no. but it's very good and vyleta can really write. his ability with description is pretty stellar.
in vyleta's acknowledgments, he says:
When I set out to write The Crooked Maid, I had contracted the Balzacian bug: I wanted to write a world, not a book. All the same, the world must be assembled piece by piece. The train ride came to me early, as did the theme of patricide, both in conscious homage to Dostoevsky, whose books I love. Other, less conscious, Dostoevskianisms have crept in, further proof that books are dangerous things: you read them and they impose on you not just their words but a whole sensibility; not incidents but a mode of seeing reality.
vyleta also notes dickens as another influence, because of dickens' “...daring in stacking incident upon incident (and coincidence upon coincidence); his ability to connect characters high and low through crime, family scandal, and the brittle threads of chance…”
vyleta is certainly not comparing himself (or his novel) to balzac, dostoevsky or dickens. he is only giving recognition to some heavy-weight writers with distinct styles who have impacted his writing. within 'the crooked maid' chekhov's gun makes an appearance, so that was cool too!
so, given all of these mentions, it's not surprising that, in 'the crooked maid', we have a story about parricide, making use of coincidence, with a side of social commentary. it's all a bit meta, but i enjoy that. (and usually i am not a fan of coincidence…at all. here, vyleta just makes it work in a way that didn't have me rolling my eyes while mumbling 'cop-out!'.)
i am not being terribly coherent here, so apologies for that. there's a lot going on in this novel - but it's not overwhelming or confusing. i really enjoyed unravelling it all and felt as thought i was in very good hands.
so, the crooked maid is many things - historical fiction, mystery, literary fiction, homage. vyleta's ticking a lot of boxes with this book. is it always awesome? no. but it's very good and vyleta can really write. his ability with description is pretty stellar.
in vyleta's acknowledgments, he says:
When I set out to write The Crooked Maid, I had contracted the Balzacian bug: I wanted to write a world, not a book. All the same, the world must be assembled piece by piece. The train ride came to me early, as did the theme of patricide, both in conscious homage to Dostoevsky, whose books I love. Other, less conscious, Dostoevskianisms have crept in, further proof that books are dangerous things: you read them and they impose on you not just their words but a whole sensibility; not incidents but a mode of seeing reality.
vyleta also notes dickens as another influence, because of dickens' “...daring in stacking incident upon incident (and coincidence upon coincidence); his ability to connect characters high and low through crime, family scandal, and the brittle threads of chance…”
vyleta is certainly not comparing himself (or his novel) to balzac, dostoevsky or dickens. he is only giving recognition to some heavy-weight writers with distinct styles who have impacted his writing. within 'the crooked maid' chekhov's gun makes an appearance, so that was cool too!
so, given all of these mentions, it's not surprising that, in 'the crooked maid', we have a story about parricide, making use of coincidence, with a side of social commentary. it's all a bit meta, but i enjoy that. (and usually i am not a fan of coincidence…at all. here, vyleta just makes it work in a way that didn't have me rolling my eyes while mumbling 'cop-out!'.)
i am not being terribly coherent here, so apologies for that. there's a lot going on in this novel - but it's not overwhelming or confusing. i really enjoyed unravelling it all and felt as thought i was in very good hands.