5 comments about A Dark-Adapted Eye.

1. This is one a kind books that haunted my mind long after my first reading back in the late 80s. It is also one of the very few books that I have actually reread years later and found it even more interesting the second time around. Plenty of other first rate authors out there--Lee Child, PD James, Reginald Hill, John MacDonald, Donna Leon, Robert Parker, Dick Francis, etc--but only very few whose works have worn well through time. Much less required a second reading.
   No need to rehash the plot for Ms. Vine's opus as plenty of others have already done so, however I need to give a nod to her marvellous ability to make these somewhat unsympathetic characters both interesting and fascinating. These characters could be anyone we encounter, so realistically are they portrayed. The nerrative itself should in theory have lost any suspense from the start, since we know from the beginning a great portion of the outcome, and yet by sheer imagination and talent Ms. Vine shrewdly pulls the reader ever tightly into her grasp so that we are actually racing through the end as all the "whys" are answered like rabbits being pulled out of a hat. Even more challenging is her ability of going back and forth from past events to present nerrative; instead of being disruptive Ms. Vine somehow ties these two strands together without ever losing a beat to increase the reader's interest.
   It is not necessarily an easy book to start--a great number of characters are introduced in the first few chapters--nor is it a fast paced one; however, once we catch the rhythm of Ms. Vine's nerrative, we are drawn into a world where family love literally kills and destroys, and nothing will matter until we reach the end of our reading journey. Don't expect anything fast paced in the Harlan Coben fashion (not a slight to Mr. Coben). But do read it and savor every moment.



2. "A Dark-Adapted Eye" was the first of Ruth Rendell's psychological mysteries published under the name "Barbara Vine," and it remains one of her best. Offering brilliantly-realized character studies and a finely-drawn portrait of British social mores and class insecurities in the 1940's, this novel fascinates from the very first page.
   
   Now in her 50's, and spurred on by the inquiries of a true-crime writer, Faith Severn recalls the scandal and tragedy surrounding the deaths of her two paternal aunts: Vera Hillyard, twin sister of Faith's father, John, and Edith (Eden) Pearmain, the twins' beautiful and much younger sister, whom Vera raised. Barely middle-class but "snobbish to the end," as Faith puts it, the sisters' determination to present the best face to a morally-judgmental world causes them to resort to a great deception when wartime freedoms result in disaster. Later, when the shallow and opportunistic Eden marries into the upper class, that deception comes back to haunt not only the two women, but also everyone else associated with them.
   
   Rendell's sensitive prose and talent for limning character have never been on better display than in this book. Readers who prefer plot-driven novels to subtle, psychological exploration may find "A Dark-Adapted Eye" boring or exasperating. However, the slow, meticulous explication of plot via character is what renders this novel so effective. Vera Hillyard -- an entirely unsympathetic, ridiculous, but somehow fascinating figure -- drives the story, while Faith's thoughtful attempts, first as a bewildered child, then a developing adolescent growing towards intelligence, and then as an experienced woman, to navigate and analyze the secrets and lies of her family and the era in which she grew up are compelling. The nature of the "mystery" will be guessed by many readers long before Rendell reveals it, but pages will continue to turn because the reader has been drawn into a world and a family that exert a magnetic hold on the imagination.
   
   "A Dark-Adapted Eye" became an unfortunate television production in which the original story was badly-mangled and distorted. Read the novel; don't bother with the film.



3. Barbara Vine, A Dark-Adapted Eye (Plume, 1986)
   
   Ruth Rendell has always been one of those authors I could take or leave; I pick up one of her novels now and again and read it, find it relatively interesting, and tell myself I'll start pursuing her novels with a bit more fervor in the future. I never do. (This is no fault of Ruth Rendell's. I do it with many authors, because I'm horribly scatterbrained. Half the reason I started writing reviews was so I could remember if I'd read any given book five years afterwards.) I had never tried the Barbara Vine books, however. I decided to rectify that with A Dark-Adapted Eye, which I hear mentioned favorably on a relatively frequent basis. And, well, now I've tried it. And the phrase that kept coming to mind was "textbook dull." Not as in Rendell read a textbook on how to write a dull novel, but as in Rendell actually attempted to write a textbook, and the result was A Dark-Adapted Eye.
   
   I'm all for language as thick as clotted cream sometimes. There are books I've read, and loved, that have required me to have a dictionary sitting next to me so I can look up words that have never crossed my eyes before. (This happens more often than not in translations. Give Toril Moi's translation of Julia Kristeva's phenomenal Powers of Horror a try sometime.) Make me work as hard as I need to for it, but reward me now and again. Wendy Walker sprinkles a new delight every few pages in her work. Gunter Grass makes me laugh myself sick, when he's on his game. With Cormac McCarthy, the difficulty of the language is part of the appeal; he can weave the words in such a way as to hide the things in a scene he doesn't want you to see until he's good and ready simply by painting the scene in the type of language one would expect from a doctoral thesis. Rendell-as-Vine, on the other hand, has produced a thick, ungainly mass of text that never gets beyond the level of simple exposition. Well, actually, I'm sure it must at some point, or no one would have ever finished this book. But I got to the point of frustration long before I actually defenestrated the blessed thing. I kept going, hoping something would actually happen before I got somewhere that actually had an openable window, but such was not the case. And so out it went. From now on, I'll stick with Rendell's own ego. (zero)



4. From the outset of this powerful psychological novel, the reader knows that someone is going to be executed--in this case, Vera Longley Hillyard, the aunt of speaker Faith Longley Severn. Vera has been found guilty of murder, but this novel, unlike traditional mysteries, does not reveal who the victim is or why the murder has occurred until the end of the novel. Nearly a third of a century has elapsed since Vera's hanging, and it is only at this point, when an investigative reporter approaches members of Vera's family for information for a book, that Faith and the others in her family reveal the small bits of information they have separately kept to themselves for dozens of years.
   
   Set in the middle of the twentieth century, the novel focuses on the lives of the seemingly close Longley family. Faith's father and Vera were twins, and Vera took care of their much younger sister Eden when Eden was a teenager. Though Vera eventually married a soldier and followed him to India, she and her son returned to Laurel Cottage, the family home, to care for her father. There she had a "miracle baby," who could not have been her husband's. Eden, by then, was a young adult, a volunteer Wren during the war and no longer at home, but with Eden's marriage and return to the area of Great Sindon, she and Vera were drawn together once again.
   
   Unexpected conflicts, tensions, jealousies, and resentments evolve through the story Faith tells about the family and through the family's letters, documents, and memories. Barbara Vine, a pen name for Ruth Rendell, is perceptive and realistic in recreating family tensions while keeping key information secret until the end. The mystery is particularly enhanced by the Faith's openness, a sharp contrast to the privacy of Vera. As the action moves back and forth from the present into the past and then into the earlier past, the reader fills in the gaps about life in this family, and as each character, more than thirty years later, now feels free to share hitherto private information, the horror, along with the reader's insights into the characters, grows inexorably.
   
   In the end, the complete interactions of the family have been revealed, pieces of the mystery have been resolved, and Vera's life and the reasons for her crime and execution become clear. Vine's ability to manipulate the reader's own perceptions while creating psychologically believable characters, make this a powerful novel, full of suspense. n Mary Whipple



5. I expected a good mystery novel, since it got Edgar award, but I did not get it, that is why it gets only 2 stars, otherwise it is reasonably good book. I especially like the inside into the life in England before, during and shortly after the war

2 comments about Irish Boston: A Lively Look at Boston's Colorful Irish Past, Including Museums, Historic Sites, Pubs, Music, Dancing, and Much More.

1. This comprehensive peek at the culture behind America's most Irish city is fascinating if you are interested in Irish American history. I was impressed by this "labor of love" by the author, and his tribute to the city's Irish community is heartfelt. Particularly interesting are the inclusion of not only photos and great content, but a guide to interesting destinations, Irish pubs, events and other reasons to visit Boston. A great gift for anyone with kelly green blood in their veins, I bought three for Christmas gifts! Thanks, Michael, for such a sincere and thorough chronicle of this important Boston community.



2. From an engaging written history to a survey of historic and cultural sites, Irish pubs and gift shops, and annual events, any present or past Bostoner will find Michael P. Quinlin's Irish Boston: A Lively Look At Boston's Colorful Irish Past, Including Museums, Historic Sites, Pubs, Music, Dancing, And Much More an excellent purchase celebrating both the past history of the Irish in Boston and their present-day culture and influences. Especially notable are chapters which focus on famous and notable Irish personalities in Boston, making for a fine blend of history, biography and travelogue all under one cover.

No comments about Jane Austen: New Perspectives : Women and Literature; New Series (Women & Literature,).

2 comments about A Farmer's Alphabet.

1. This book is a beautifully rendered alphabet. The woodcut technique and style are very serene and beautiful to look upon. Mary Azarian has a great talent of which everyone should be aware.



2. Wow! This book is great! Mary Azarian's wonderful black ink woodcut illustrations of life on a typical Vermont farm. Book is large and is taller than the regular hardcover book. One illustration per page with the opposite page blank. Paper is very heavy stock in an ecru color with a texture to the paper (not your regular paper or cheap paper). Both upper case and lower case letters appear at the top left corner of the illustration, about 2 inches high, which is wonderful for teaching the letters of the alphabet. The word is spelled out at the bottom of the illustration with the first letter capital and the others lower case. Examples are: Jump (in the haystack), Lamb, Pumpkin, Rocker, Stove, and Zinnia. Simple farm life is shown and the illustrations are just great! Words are simple and easily understood by the young child who is learning to read. Illustrations are so fun and large that even a toddler who is interested in farm life would enjoy them. The parent can also make up a little story about what is going on in the picture if desired because there is enough going on and/or enough to describe a little ditty about the illustration. For example: the farmer and his wife are picking apples from the apple tree at harvest time, and placing them in the basket. Maybe they will make an apple pie or cider with the apples..... (you get the idea).

3 comments about Searching for Thoreau: On the Trails and Shores of Wild New England.

1. Great stuff. The author is a good writer armed with an intimate knowledge not only of Thoreau's prose and philosophy, but also Thoreau's terrain. People who are hikers and climbers familiar with New England landscapes will especially enjoy this volume.



2. This book was well written and offers some beautiful pictures of Walden Pond and the mountains, Lakes and streams of New England. The author's discriptions of the wilderness areas in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont made me want to go back and enjoy the places that Thoreau wrote about. It was refreshing to read that most of the places were still identifiable and produced a longing to go back and see for myself.
   
   Allan Odell, Redding, Ca.



3. 19th Century writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau has had an impact on the public imagination that endure down to this very day. The former editor of 'Vermont Life Magazine' and a student of Thoreau's writings from three decades, Tom Slayton has written and compiled seminal essays arising from his travels to the places associated with Thoreau. These deftly written, articulate, engaging commentaries are published collectively as "Searching For Thoreau: On The Trails And Shore Of Wild New England". The individual essays include Walden Pond and 'Walden'; A Walk in the Concord Woods; A Day on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers; The Mountains of Hme; Katahdin Means Greatest Mountain; Northern Main: Big woods, Big Question; Walking Cape Cod; Mount Washington, Two Times; and Conclusion: What's Left. Enhanced with a 'Chronology of Thoreau's Travels'; 'When You God: Tips on Tracking Thoreau'; a Bibliography, and a Sources list, "Searching For Thoreau" will aptly serve as an instructive guide for readers who would like to make their own way to those outdoor New England wilds that so inspired Thoreau in his time. A 'must read' for the legions of Thoreau fans, "Search For Theoreau" is enthusiastically recommended for personal and community library collections, and as an addition to academic Thoreau Studies supplemental reading lists.

3 comments about Irish Travellers, Tinkers No More.

1. A very important body of photographs -- both artistic and historic -- framed by a text of the Travelling people's stories and a compact disc of the people in the book performing their music, over forty years ago. A testament to a great photographer's determination that brings to life a part of Ireland's immemorial past which has vanished in our lifetimes.



2. This work is truly profound. His composition is genius. The subject matter is an important cultural statement. Alen is without doubt a master photographer. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The reproduction is perfect. A hidden gem is the beautiful audio cd that captures the the music of these people. What a brilliant work!



3. A striking breadth of work that allows the viewer to see, hear, and feel the difficulty of life in concert with the beauty and light.

1 comments about Dream Homes New England: Showcasing New England's Finest Architects, Designers and Builders (Dream Homes).

1. Given that this is the 19th book in a series, all on microregions of the United States and developed by a company, Panache, that specializes in "coffee table editions on golf" and other sundry subjects, I worry a little about the criteria for inclusion. I could not find a statement that the selected architects had no financial stake in being so. Also, the cover of the book left me non-plussed; one wonders why that particular long distance photo was used?

3 comments about Durgin-Park Cookbook: Classic Yankee Cooking in the Shadow of Faneuil Hall (Roadfood Cookbook).

1. Chef Tommy Ryan has been referred by many friends, associates and competitors as truly "The Czar of Yankee Cooking." After reading the book and visiting Durgin Park (as I have many times in the last 20 years) the reader will clearly see Chef Tommy Ryan has a basic principle and that is you must start with quality ingredients. Everything from the meat, fish, poultry, vegetables and deserts comes from the purveyors who sell the very best. After the Chef and his team prepare your meal it's truly a culinary masterpiece and this book gives the reader the steps to success in his/her home kitchen.



2. I have been going to Durgin Park for the past 40 years and it is always the same. Real down home Yankee Cooking. The food is always great and very fresh. I was told that everything is bought daily and it is obvious by the quality of the food. If you are ever in Fanuiel Hall Market Place in Boston, this is a must to go too. Also, buy the book as there are real great recipes to try and there is also the history of Durgin Park in it. You won't be sorry you did............. Enjoy



3. Every now and then you run across an exceptional cookbook. The Durgin-Park Cookbook is one example. It is beautifully laid out with good photos and interesting sidebars full of extra tidbits of history and anecdotes about this Boston institution.
   
   Over the past weekend I made three recipes from this cookbook alone. The Corn Bread # 2 recipe was a real keeper. It had a light texture, was moist, and was crispy on the edges. I added my own twist by throwing in finely diced fresh chives and sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil (drained).
   
   The chicken wings, marinated and basted with a garlic and ginger sauce, were also quite easy and tasty. As with any cookbook, I always analyze the ingredients and decide if they will be to my taste. For example, if ginger powder is called for, as in the chicken wings recipe in this book, I almost always use fresh ginger. Why not? I keep one-inch length pieces of ginger in the freezer and just take them out whenever a recipe calls for powder or fresh. It's all personal preference of course. I just happen to think ground ginger powder tastes harsh.
   
   The Parmesan Potato Rounds recipe was also quite excellent. It is made much like a gratin, but without the heavy cream. Again, it was simple to make and tasted like it took much longer. If you like Parmigiano-Reggiano and potatoes, what's not to like about this recipe? It had a crispy crust on top and soft, perfectly cooked potatoes on the inside.
   
   The Sterns have put together some excellent cookbooks over the years and I'd have to say that this is one of my favorites in the Roadfood series. There are recipes for entertaining as well as daily fare. Most of the ingredient lists for the recipes are easily managed without a lot of complicated chopping, dicing, measuring, etc.
   
   Hmm, let's see, this weekend maybe I'll make the Stuffed Pork Chops and Onion Casserole or perhaps the Scalloped Tomatoes...

2 comments about Cape Cod Wampanoag Cookbook: Wampanoag Indian Recipes, Images & Lore.

1. More Patti Page's "Old Cape Cod" than a collection of recipes, The Cape Cod Wampanoag Cookbook is a wonderful concoction of good reading and favorite meals simplified. Essays are interspersed with mouth-watering and heart-warming dinners, soups, chowders, and breads. A history of the cranberry bogs winds its way through one chapter, carefully following the transition from a time when native children crawled on hands and knees to pick cranberries by hand to the modern method of wet harvesting the bogs. A childhood spent as an Indian guide for hunting and fishing expeditions is well documented in charming narratives spinkled through the book. Earl Mills' voice comes throgh in stories which are divided according to the four seasons, telling readers how his people lived according to the land.
   The owner and cook of a popular Cape Cod restaurant for close to thirty years, Mills is Chief Flying Eagle of the Mashpee Wampanoags and former athletic director of the Falmouth , MA public schools. Breen, who has captured his spirit as well as a native respect for Mother Earth, has also captured Cape Cod at its best. Her thoughts on Thanksgiving are worth the price of this little gem of a book.
   I read the book cover to cover and then bought it for every one on my Christmas list. Readers, eaters and cooks alike will cherish this delightful gem!



2. I'm orginanly from Cape Cod and a small part Wampanoag, may even be related to Mr. Mills. Have tried some of the recipes and they
   take my back to my childhood in Orleans. I really enjoy the stories that he has written, I have been to some of those places. The book has been a great joy to me, it brings a smile to my face and a warm feeling in my heart, thank you for the return trip to my younger years, both with the stories and places but also the wonderful recipes

No comments about New England Skiing (NH) (Images of America).