MARCH - SPOILERS - A Free Man of Color

I've picked up A Free Man of Color from the library. I have two other books due that I have to read first, then I'll start reading. I think it will be interesting.

I'm about 100 pages in.

I was sad that Benjamin's wife died. Why do all investigators have to have some type of tragedy in their love lives? At least he's not an alcoholic, too. Sheesh.

It's a fascinating and sad look at a place and time I'm not familiar with. I didn't know that black women couldn't go outside without a head covering or that blacks couldn't give testimony in trials.

I suspect in that time, especially in the lower classes, disease and lack of sanitation took so many that a person like Ben WITHOUT tragic loss in the past would almost be more unusual. Plus, without Ayasha's death he would likely never have returned to New Orleans. Life in Paris wasn't easy, but life in NO seems much harder. The fact that his only family was there and Paris had the memory of tragedy was what brought him back.

I remember one of the things that fascinated me was the importance of the levels of mixed-raceness: mulatto, maroon, quadroon, octoroon, etc.

>3 tardis: I know. But it seems as if in the last ten mysteries I've read with male investigators, all ten were widowed, divorced, or had other type of bad luck with women. Of all the mysteries I've read, the only one I can even think of that was happily married is Inspector Armand Gamache (Louise Penny.)

Has anyone or is anyone reading this but me? I enjoyed it and will be putting up a review in the next day or two. I didn't realize this was part of a series. There are a dozen or more books in it. Has anyone read more in the series? I'm not sure how she could write so many without being repetitive about the horrible obstacles that Benjamin had to face. Also, in this book at least, I felt those challenges overshadowed the mystery. Does that continue? Was the first book more of a set up and the remaining books are more aimed at being mysteries?

I looked at at least a couple of others, but the series was just too grim for me.

I'm not reading it now, but I have read it, and the whole series besides.

Some obstacles are always there, as they should be, since they were endemic to the structure of society at the time, but there are new ones :) Also things get better for Ben in some ways. I would say the mystery takes a higher profile in later books, but the exploration of society/character is always a major feature.

I have read on in the series - the tone doesn't move upbeat; can't. Hambly has stuck to her research and presented an unvarnished picture of the times. There are a few characters who are beacons of clear sightedness, and the premises are always interesting. Agree that the tone is bleak, and I certainly did not read the books back to back! Pretty much followed them on release as I've supported Hambly as an author.

If you never read her historical set in Rome, it is a jewel - it came out under two titles: The Quirinal Hill Affair later changed to Search the Seven Hills. Not so bleak as her Benjamin January series - and written earlier in her career - but a story I count as one of the best books set in ancient Rome, ever. Not quite as light hearted as Lindsey Davis' work, but every bit as solidly researched - the setting lives and breathes and the characters are superbly drawn. This is definitely a treasure of a book, if you can find a copy.

Edited to add: it is also a mystery.

Oh, I didn't mind the bleakness. It certainly fit the time, setting and characters. And I don't expect all the problems to magically disappear, nor would I want them, too. I found them interesting. However, as I said, this book was more about them than the mystery.

I felt that this book was a good mystery, the clues were there for the reader, but one had to work for them. The distractions and red herrings were well done. I agree with Morphy though, that the grimness overshadowed the story. I don't hold that against the author.

I am glad to have read this, because it is informative of a time and place and culture which is very foreign to me. However, it did feel like a bit of a slog. There was so much information which needed to be conveyed so the reader would be able to have even a glimpse into that time, place and the people there. I found it all so, so dark, looking into the morass of the human heart. That desire which is always present to find someone who is weaker than yourself to put down and lord it over. It is very ugly, is not limited to people of different colors, and overwhelmed me to the point that the story was painful.

I can't say I enjoyed this book. I will say that it seems well researched and is well written, the story and characters are well drawn, and I would recommend it to anyone who didn't already struggle with depression over the human condition.

I don't think I'll be reading any more of these books, because I do struggle with the human condition, to the point that I feel like weeping now that I've ended the book.

My micro-review:

More of interest as historical fiction since the mystery took a back seat. I was fascinated and horrified to read about local laws and mores in New Orleans that January had to deal with as a black man. And the society of black women was just as interesting. You are kept guessing until the end "who dun it." You are thrown a few faint clues, but for the most part, it's very hard to figure out.

I finished this at the weekend and have to echo what Morphy and MrsLee say. It was a very good book, well plotted and with vivid characters who felt convincing in their attitudes and motivations. But it is difficult to read about the injustice and wilful ignorance that characterised society at the time, and especially depressing to see that things had become less, rather than more, enlightened during the years January was in Paris. It was not a good time or place to be either a person of colour or female. I agree with MrsLee that Hambly needed to convey a huge amount of information to set the scene and show the intricacies of the society with its strange (to me) hierarchies and rules, but for the most part she did it gracefully without resorting to outright info dumping. I didn't figure out whodunit or why; SPOILER I thought it might have been Peralta pere, angry that Angelique was demanding so much from a contract with his son
I liked Ben and his sisters and friends, and will probably read on in the series if I can find the next couple of volumes. But I will read something upbeat before then!

Aside from the obvious racism shown in the story, the whole society of adultery turned my stomach. I guess that might be a cultural thing, but to me, adultery is an abomination of a personal vow you have made and a gross violation of trust. The whole "It's the way things have always been." attitude grated on me.

Also, and this is the SPOILER thread, so I'm not going to hide this, did the lesbian relationship feel like a throw-in to the story so it could have the token gay couple? I can't decide. Historically there most certainly were women who managed most of their lives to pass for men, and the fact that her partner had been so battered by her husband and betrayed by her male relatives, made that relationship more believable than if she had been seeing another man. I'm leaning more to the idea that it was a good red herring, rather than a token.

Apart from Ben and his dead wife, were there any healthy male-female relationships? I guess his sister Olympe and her husband seemed to have one. In a way, so did his other sister, although it was one of those fragile things which could never be respectable or a sure thing if he wanted to end it. I did not buy that most of the men who had colored mistresses would have married them if they were allowed to. Possibly some, but not most.

>13 MrsLee: I agree that it (the institutionalised adultery) is a pretty horrible system, but I appreciate that Hambly shows it as such, rather than choosing to portray it as something glamorous while ignoring how destructive it is to all involved. The value placed on the pretty light-skinned daughters who could bring rewards to the family, at the expense of the darker children and sons, was sad - mothers seeing their children as commodities. Every time Ben thought "It's the custom of the country ..." I imagined him grimacing at it, rather than shrugging it off. And no, I doubt the majority of men really would have married their mistress if allowed; if they did, I expect they'd have ended up treating them as poorly as they did their actual wives.

Re: the lesbian relationship - I too thought red herring, not token.

Anne Rice wrote a book about the Free People of Colour set in New Orleans during the same period, The feast of All Saints. It was also quite depressing, but something of a soap opera with lots of melodrama and torrid passions.