Pleased to meet you, won't you stop saying my name

[dorinda]

Sometimes I get in a mood to read historical novels, especially mysteries. And I'm interested in World War One and the British home-front and the aftermath.

So, I've been reading the first in a series of mysteries by Jacqueline Winspear, "Maisie Dobbs", which starts about ten years after the war and deals with the lingering physical and mental effects of the war on all kinds of people (including Maisie herself, who had been a nurse at the front and is now a private detective of sorts).

I just wish I liked it better. Because there's a series! If I like the first book of a series, it's like winning a book-lottery, with a treasure trove in front of me. Buuuut, not so much. It's not a bad book by any means, and I like the acknowledgement of the lingering scars the war left on people and how they're still dealing with it a decade later.

But there are some style choices that, for whatever reason, I find myself unable to get past. First and foremost: THE NAME PROBLEM. People use each others' names ALL THE TIME, as does the narrative voice. You'd think no one had ever heard of PRONOUNS.

For instance, second paragraph of Chapter 24 (TWENTY-FOUR, so it isn't like we need to be introduced to either our main character or her faithful sidekick anymore!):

Billy Beale sat in the chair in front of Maisie Dobbs, his hands working around and around the fabric on the perimeter of his cap, which he had taken off when he came to answer Maisie's call. Maisie had lost no time in telling Billy Beale why he had been summoned, and how she needed him to help her.

I mean COME ON. He doesn't go by the full "Billy Beale" as a stage name or something, like an inverse Cher. And Maisie's first three dialogue sections after this paragraph all go:

"Yes, I do, Billy. [...]"

"Billy. You don't need to be a toff. [...]"

"It's taken care of, Billy. [...]"

(And "It could be risky, Billy" and "The sooner the better, Billy". OH GOD WHAT'S YOUR SIDEKICK'S NAME AGAIN I MIGHT HAVE FORGOTTEN.)

Sometimes I think the British class system is the best thing that could have happened to this author, since then she has a great excuse for constantly having Billy (Billy Beale!) end every line to Maisie with "Yes, Miss", "Thank you, Miss", "Can't say as there is, Miss".

Sigh. I'm up to page 246 out of 292 and I know nothing is going to change, but I guess I imagined I might get adjusted to it. (SPOILER: NOPE.)

Comments

[wrabbit]

That's funny. Maybe the author thinks she is emulating the style of fiction of the time.

[dorinda]

Maybe so! The whole book does have a strange overwritten artificiality to it, that might be the result of someone thinking it makes the writing feel older. You give the author more credit for planning than I do. :D

[nestra]

I notice this with Perry Mason books. Quite often, it's the full name, though sometimes it's just "Mason". But it seems like Della Street and Paul Drake are ALWAYS Della Street and Paul Drake in description. And they're in every book! Forget pronouns, just use their first names once in a while.

[dorinda]

It reminds me of the science-fiction trope in which the aliens absorb Firstname Surname as one whole name. "TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER, DELLASTREET AND PAULDRAKE".

I wish I could believe that this author was harking back to an older style of fiction writing on purpose! But my slack-cutting knife is just not sharp enough these days, it seems.

[sage]

Oh, god. That is part of why I never got past the first book in that series. There just wasn't enough payoff in the face of so much clunky writing.

[dorinda]

Yeah, it is a constant irritant. CONSTANT. Every page has some terrible example or other; I had to keep myself limited in my quoted examples above or I would've typed in practically the whole book.

I sadly will not be reading any more of the books. Dammitall, I thought I might be on to a good thing.

[elynross]

Maybe one of these will suit better?

1910s mysteries

(overall a great site for scoping out mysteries of particular subgenres/periods/etc. I wish there were one for sff!)

[dorinda]

Yeah, that's a nice site! I don't usually go prospecting just on topics/settings, though--I often try instead to read things recced to me by someone whose taste I at least have calibrated, even if I don't share it. (Because I am lazy, and having things come with at least a little pre-sifting saves me the work! :D )

This was just an unfortunate case where I saw someone rec the Maisie Dobbs series enthusiastically on Metafilter and I trusted them unwisely. Uncalibrated!

[elynross]

Yeah, that's a risk, but sometimes it works out wonderfully! I am sorry they aren't working for you; I know that feeling of discovering a new series EXACTLY. Most recently with the Longmire mysteries. *g* The King & Maxwell ones, otoh... not so much.

[klia]

Ermahgerd, that would drive me bananas because it always sounds so... artificial.

But, oddly, I just watched a House Hunters Int'l yesterday where the realtor actually did that! She kept saying the client's name over and over... "In this room, Mary..." "Mary, over here is the..." "Mary, blah, blah..." I've never heard anything like that in real life. Really bizarre!

[dorinda]

Weeeeird. She must've learned it in a training seminar or something. I wonder what they think it does? Because what it really does, for me, is creep me out.

[klia]

Yeah, it really icks me out, too, and I'm waaaayyy less likely to trust the person doing it. But it's taught behavoir, for sure -- gwyn (on LJ) was totally right when she called it "salesmany," because that's what a lot of sales and customer service people are trained to do (I was, on one job, but I refused. Heh).

[isis]

This is one reason I didn't manage to finish the first of the Parasol Protectorate books. ARGH.

[dorinda]

Oh no! That's such a shame. Style really does matter, and I hate when an otherwise tempting setting/tone/subject/approach gets derailed by its own manner of execution.

[sakana17]

Oh dear! That's one of those things where once I notice it I can't un-notice it, so it makes me itchy. Sometimes I can live with it, if the book has pulled me in deep enough, but it'll never stop being an irritant. :( You have my sympathies -- I also love to discover a new mystery series and be all whoo-hoo! books to read! Here's hoping the next book you try rewards you better.