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Lädt ... Frog Music: A Novel (Original 2014; 2014. Auflage)von Emma Donoghue
Werk-InformationenFrog Music von Emma Donoghue (2014)
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Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. I really enjoyed Emma Donoghue’s Room so I was keen to read her latest novel. Frog Music is set in San Francisco in 1876, where the city is in the twin grips of a smallpox epidemic and a scorching heat wave. The novel explores the events surrounding an actual murder of the time, that of the cross-dressing frog catcher Jenny Bonnet. The story is told from the point of view of Jenny’s friend Blanche, a French prostitute who dances and sings at a notorious brothel (another form of Frog Music?). Blanche is in a relationship with the gambling wastrel Arthur, with whom she has a son, P’tit, whom they have abandoned to the care of a baby farm. Blanche encounters Jenny by accident and an attraction quickly forms. Jenny’s questioning leads Blanche to track down P’tit; she discovers him sickly and in dire need and rescues him, placing her professional and private relationships in immediate danger. Shortly afterwards, Jenny is dead, shot through the window of a hotel bedroom. Blanche is sure that Arthur is responsible, and that Jenny was an accidental victim of an attempt on Blanche's life. She sets about trying to track down Arthur and avenge Jenny. This is an entertaining book and a very good crime novel with a bit of a different setting. Donoghue keeps you guessing, and she also does a great job of describing San Francisco and the life of the underclass that Blanche is a part of. The only part of this book that did not ring true for me was that so much of the novel depends on Blanche’s maternal instincts for the misshapen, sickly and unloveable P’tit overcoming all of her desires for the life that she had. I’m afraid Donoghue’s Blanche just did not convince as somebody who would do that. Too long, too much of Blanche's thoughts dragging the story. Also no focus. The setting is the smallpox epidemic ravaging California and the discrimination of Chinese immigrants, with subplots (or main plot?) about Jenny's murder, Blanche's suspicions about who the killers are, and Blanche's reconciliation with her son whom she entrusted to an infant farm with her belatedly discovering how poor the care is. The only thing interesting about the book is the setting that the story took place in.
It’s easy to see why the bare bones of the murder of Jenny (or Jennie, Jeanne or Jeannie) Bonnet (or Bonnett) attracted Ms. Donoghue’s attention. A prolific writer still best known for her huge hit, “Room,” she is drawn to stories of brave, strong women who survive outrageous abuse at the hands of men, and “Frog Music” includes another such situation. Its hot-blooded central character is professionally known as Blanche la Danseuse, though her professional skills include a lot more than dancing AuszeichnungenPrestigeträchtige AuswahlenBemerkenswerte Listen
"Emma Donoghue's explosive new novel, based on an unsolved murder in 1876 San Francisco. Summer of 1876: San Francisco is in the fierce grip of a record-breaking heatwave and a smallpox epidemic. Through the window of a railroad saloon, a young woman called Jenny Bonnet is shot dead. The survivor, her friend Blanche Beunon, is a French burlesque dancer. Over the next three days, she will risk everything to bring Jenny's murderer to justice--if he doesn't track her down first. The story Blanche struggles to piece together is one of free-love bohemians, desperate paupers and arrogant millionaires; of jealous men, icy women and damaged children. It's the secret life of Jenny herself, a notorious character who breaks the law every morning by getting dressed: a charmer as slippery as the frogs she hunts. In thrilling, cinematic style, FROG MUSIC digs up a long-forgotten, never-solved crime. Full of songs that migrated across the world, Emma Donoghue's lyrical tale of love and bloodshed among lowlifes captures the pulse of a boomtown like no other"-- Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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This is a racy portrait of life in a sleazy city, one where crime is part of everyday life. It's a murder mystery too - a murder which wasn't solved at the time and is not entirely satisfactorily solved in this version of events.
I should have enjoyed this book. It wears its scholarship lightly, and the main characters are engagingly interesting. The references to popular music are entertaining. I guess I felt some very serious editing wouldn't have come amiss. 300 pages would have seen this story told and told well. I'm rather glad to have made it to the end. ( )