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juushikaTitle: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden
Author: Helen Grant
Published: New York: Delacorte Press, 2009
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 287
Total Page Count: 100,135
Text Number: 286
Read Because: personal enjoyment, borrowed from the library
Review: The freak accident that kills her grandmother makes Pia a social pariah, but it isn't the only strange thing that happens in the German town of Bad Münstereifel. When a fellow student disappears without a trace, Pia and her only friend investigate local legends and figures to discover what may have become of her. The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is good but never quite good enough—promising as it is, it's missing something. Despite initial appearances (and cover flap), this isn't so much a fairy tale retelling as it is a murder mystery with fairy tale trappings; those fantastic influences often create wonderful atmosphere and depth of setting, but (and this may be a SPOILER, so be warned) the final reveal is wholly mundane. Yet that mundane explanation lacks the substance and depth that the fairy tale aspects give the rest of the book, and so it dissipates their magic and replaces it with nothing much at all. The problem isn't either aspect outright, but rather the balance between them: would that the mundane aspects had more substance, or the fairy tale aspects lingered longer; without either, this promising book ends on a low note.
For it is a promising book. The setting is unusual and brilliantly realized, foreign and fantastic without becoming a caricature. Pia is a believable child narrator for better and worse, irritating sometimes but largely convincing, rooting the fantasy of her story within reality. The fairy tale influences are often brilliant, filtering Pia's view of Bad Münstereifel so that its residents become more vibrant, its shadows darker, its shapes stylized, its events echoed by legend, myth, and archetype. It's the best of a fairy tale retelling, recast atop a real-world mystery—and that could be a fantastic combination, one I don't see often and which this book fosters high hopes for. But it fosters hopes only: Grant never takes her story, style, or depth quite far enough, and the underwhelming conclusion is the book's greatest betrayal. I tried to love The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, and I want to read more books like it—but as it stands, while I admire what it tries to do, I don't recommend it. It's a little too much of a disappointment. Perhaps, with some experience under her belt, Grant will have the guts to take her next book a little further.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Behold as I pass 100,000 pages since I started reviewing. It may be arbitrary, but it's still a landmark to me.
Author: Helen Grant
Published: New York: Delacorte Press, 2009
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 287
Total Page Count: 100,135
Text Number: 286
Read Because: personal enjoyment, borrowed from the library
Review: The freak accident that kills her grandmother makes Pia a social pariah, but it isn't the only strange thing that happens in the German town of Bad Münstereifel. When a fellow student disappears without a trace, Pia and her only friend investigate local legends and figures to discover what may have become of her. The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is good but never quite good enough—promising as it is, it's missing something. Despite initial appearances (and cover flap), this isn't so much a fairy tale retelling as it is a murder mystery with fairy tale trappings; those fantastic influences often create wonderful atmosphere and depth of setting, but (and this may be a SPOILER, so be warned) the final reveal is wholly mundane. Yet that mundane explanation lacks the substance and depth that the fairy tale aspects give the rest of the book, and so it dissipates their magic and replaces it with nothing much at all. The problem isn't either aspect outright, but rather the balance between them: would that the mundane aspects had more substance, or the fairy tale aspects lingered longer; without either, this promising book ends on a low note.
For it is a promising book. The setting is unusual and brilliantly realized, foreign and fantastic without becoming a caricature. Pia is a believable child narrator for better and worse, irritating sometimes but largely convincing, rooting the fantasy of her story within reality. The fairy tale influences are often brilliant, filtering Pia's view of Bad Münstereifel so that its residents become more vibrant, its shadows darker, its shapes stylized, its events echoed by legend, myth, and archetype. It's the best of a fairy tale retelling, recast atop a real-world mystery—and that could be a fantastic combination, one I don't see often and which this book fosters high hopes for. But it fosters hopes only: Grant never takes her story, style, or depth quite far enough, and the underwhelming conclusion is the book's greatest betrayal. I tried to love The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, and I want to read more books like it—but as it stands, while I admire what it tries to do, I don't recommend it. It's a little too much of a disappointment. Perhaps, with some experience under her belt, Grant will have the guts to take her next book a little further.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Behold as I pass 100,000 pages since I started reviewing. It may be arbitrary, but it's still a landmark to me.
