Monthly Archives: March 2023

Mar17

Death by Pins and Needles by Susie Black

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I was attracted to this book by the blurb and thought it would be something I would really enjoy as I am a big fan of cozy mysteries. When I started this one, I immediately felt lost as the story dumped the reader in the midst of a lot of characters (mostly unlikable) and a scene that was hard to get acclimated in. It seems this book is part of a series and I certainly hope the readers of the initial book were oriented as to time and place and people in a better way than this book did. It was as if the reader was expected to have read the prior book and be familiar with all the characters and the setting.

I read three chapters confused and stopped reading for another week or so before picking it up again.

On the second try, things became a bit clearer but I still didn’t like any of the characters. The group of friends of the protagonist called the Yentas were rude and condescending and the woman I expected to be the murder victim was nasty as well. No one really seemed to be someone this reader could root for or even care about.

By the time I got to chapter seven, I was about to set it aside as one I wouldn’t finish.

I pressed on, hoping it would improve and it did somewhat. It still had issues I couldn’t quite get past but the story did start to make sense and I did enjoy the premise of the tale.

Some things that bothered me that stopped my total enjoyment of the story: (1) The author used a phrase that was something on the lines of, “I twirled my hands in a ta-da motion” or “I turned my hands in a ta-da motion.” I’d never seen such a phrase and it was used more than once in the book. There was quite a lot of twirling of hands and fingers throughout the book. (2) The author also used the phrase, “Gave me the big eyes” which threw me out of the story each time it was used.  (3) “Gave me the stink eye” was also overused. I think the story would have been better with some judicious editing out of some of these odd, repetitive phrases. One or two occurrences in a novel is one thing, but over and over was too much. (4) One other glaring thing was using words wrong—such as in one place, the protagonist said her “curiosity peaked” which should have been piqued. I blame this on her editor. I get that sometimes the wrong words get into books, but this should have been caught.

The main character’s way of questioning people she suspected of the crime was rude and she sometimes (a lot, actually) behaved in a stupid and reckless manner. She actively put herself in danger and alienated people. If I’d been on the other end of her questioning, I would have wasted no time telling her to go away, but these people answered her questions like she had some authority to ask them. Her style of confrontation was off-putting and I wondered many times why the other characters put up with it when they didn’t have to talk to her at all.

Overall, even though I sound like I hated this book, the premise was good and the whodunit had a lot of characters to choose from which was a plus. I think it could have used a lot more editorial work. I’m not sure how the protagonist and her friends could be made more likable for this reader but I know a lot of readers enjoy this type of protagonist—irreverent, snarky, and sometimes over the top. For someone who likes that type character, this book is perfect. It just wasn’t for me. 3.5 stars

Mar1

“The Way They Were” by Robert Hofler- a review

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I received this book from Kensington Books in exchange for an unbiased review.

It’s hard to believe it’s been fifty years since the movie The Way We Were came out. This book celebrates that anniversary by giving behind the scenes details on the tug of wars between the writer, the producer and the director as well as the efforts to get Robert Redford on board to play the part of Hubbell.

As a regular person who doesn’t know much about the various personalities of the Hollywood scene, the first few chapters were challenging. There was a lot of name dropping without context and I had to stop reading to google who these people were and why they might be important to the book. That was a bit annoying. I think the author might have done a better job in the opening chapters in introducing the people involved a bit better. It felt as if the reader was dropped into a cocktail party where everyone knew each other and were gossiping about others not present and the reader was at sea without a navigator.

After getting myself oriented, the book moved a bit quicker. There were still a lot of names dropped in here and there and trying to remember who was who took me a while but eventually, things smoothed out and I enjoyed the read.

The writer of the story the movie was based on, Arthur Laurents, was really an interesting person and not in a good way. He seemed like an ego maniac and very focused on what he wanted even if it wasn’t best for the movie. Sydney Pollack deserved some sort of award just for what he had to put up with from that man. It sort of surprised this reader that they were actually able to get the movie made and on the screen in a form that made sense. Lots of filming scenes that never got used and cutting scenes they spent a lot of money making and it seemed to this reader that the film should have been a disjointed mess based on all this moving around of scenes. It sure didn’t seem as if they made the movie they started out to make.

Disagreements among all the principals about what the movie was actually about was a theme running through the whole book.

Sydney Pollack must have been a relentless man. His pursuit of Robert Redford for the lead male part and his commitment to make the role larger to get Redford on board was tenacious. I felt sorry for Redford with how hard Pollack tried to get him to agree to play the part.

I expected more gossip about Barbra Streisand as we’ve all read how much of a diva she is but the parts about her were mild compared to the parts about the writer, Laurents. He was much more of a diva than she was—at least in how the book portrayed them. She was definitely a control freak, but Laurents and his shenanigans put her in the shade.

Overall, I liked the book. I read it quickly after the first couple of chapters. It gave a lot of insight into the movie and the battles to get it on the screen. The author clearly did a lot of research and interviewed a huge number of people. His work paid off in an intriguing and informative work. A comprehensive bibliography and index showed exactly how much effort he put into this book.