I'll try a book review

Yes, in my last post I promised to give the results of my color film experiment... but I didn't really have time for it today, seeing as it took me long enough to finish the 26 B+W exposures left in my camera.

So, instead, I'm going to try a book review.

I just finished reading Tony Hillerman's A Thief of Time.

This book follows the stories two Navajo policemen as they try to solve the mystery of an archeologist's disappearance. The first, Joe Leaphorn, has just recently lost his beloved wife. Depressed and with no excitement for life, he prepares to resign from his job - but a few weeks before the date he is to leave, he suddenly finds that he is interested in this case. Jim Chee, a young man new to the Navajo police force, is also assigned to the woman's case. Together, they find out what she was researching - Anasazi pots - and try to unravel her whereabouts and why she disappeared, both of which are related to the pots she was trying to find.

This book goes by pretty fast. I'm not quite sure if that's a good thing, but if you're looking for something that isn't time consuming, this is it. There are many slow parts - actually, there really isn't much action at all. The language itself isn't difficult (I don't mean it's simple or easy, though), which elimiates the frustrations evoked over some novels due to wording that is hard to understand. Many parts of the novel describe Navajo traditions and beliefs, which are interesting - but I found them at times a little confusing and not well-explained.

Hillerman does a good job of character development for Leaphorn, changing him during the course of the novel from a depressed, sulky individual to one who regains interest in life. Yet I also feel that some characters were not characterized well enough to make their actions make sense at the end of the novel when everything is unraveled. A big discovery Leaphorn (and we) makes seems to make sense because the author drops several big hints about it, but when I think about the motives driving the character concerned, I come to the conclusion that the character didn't have the right characteristics to pull it off. I can't really say more about this for fear of spoiling the novel.


Overall, as far as mysteries go, it's a good mystery. For me, there wasn't enough drama, or action, or anything else (this makes sense, since it's a mystery novel - but it's nice when a novel incorporates aspects from genres other than the main one, since this makes it appealing to a wider range of readers). I'm personally not a big fan of this book. I guess if you like mysteries, go for it. Otherwise, if you like reading mixed genres, like me - I don't recommend it. It was well-written, but at the same time, I didn't feel there was much "in it". No food for thought, really. Nothing made me go "wow" when I closed it for the last time. Personally, I'm more for "wow" books myself.

I guess I'm just used to reading books in which every detail about every character is explained and makes their actions seem almost inevitable to the reader. Obviously, this doesn't work in a mystery novel, since the "who" behind the actions isn't revealed until the end. I just can't find much to analyze in this novel. And I just realized how horrible that sounds - my English classes have turned me into a reader who can't enjoy a book because she has to analyze everything!!!

Okay, well, I'm going to go and try to get rid of that ugly habit.

Au revoir.