The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny.
Cards on the table here: I am a long-time fan of Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series, set in rural Quebec. This latest offering is, incredibly, her 17th in the series, and she shows no sign of flagging. Rather the reverse: her imagination, insight, humour and erudition bubble off the page like the froth on one of village chef Gabri’s famous hot chocolates. Don’t get the wrong idea though. Penny does not write ‘cosy mysteries’. She tackles the difficult and confronting aspects of life head-on, and plunges fearlessly into the darkest corners of the human heart.
The Madness of Crowds had its beginnings in March 2020, at the start of Canada’s lockdown. Penny, taking her cue from the rainbow slogans (‘Ca va bien aller’ – ‘All will be well’) in children’s windows, decided to set her story in a post-pandemic world, in which a global effort to find a vaccine has borne fruit, and freedoms have been restored. The pandemic, however, has exposed and exacerbated existing tensions, and Gamache, bruised and broken from what he has seen as Chief Inspector during the pandemic, finds himself called upon to protect a spokesperson for all that he finds most repellent.
There are many ideas and themes woven through the novel, a number of which will resonate loudly for those of us enduring ongoing Covid craziness. In fact in places – and this is my only quibble with the book - it felt as if there was almost too much going on. Madness is nonetheless a highly rewarding read, managing simultaneously to entertain, comfort and disturb.
-Josie
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler.
So, book reviews... where to start?
Possibly with a graphic novel I reserved, by legendary sci-fi author Octavia E Butler. That is to say, the original story (‘Parable of the Sower’) was written by her, back in 1993, and more recently it’s been adapted, under the same title, by Damian Duffy and John Jennings. Not having read the original, I can’t comment on the quality of the adaptation, but I can tell you that it’s not the best thing to read if you’re at all concerned about the shape of things to come. Dystopian, that’s the word I’m after.
Having said that, it features a strong female protagonist and worryingly prescient observations about climate change, water shortages and plagues (all of which featured in the original), so there’s much to be admired - but, not, alas, in this particular moment, to be enjoyed.
-Josie
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