Book 34: Case Histories, by Kate Atkinson
I had been intending to read this book for awhile, as I'd seen it recommended from a variety of different sources, but when it appeared as the Litblog Co-Op's "Read This" selection for Summer, I went ahead and moved it on up the list. Because we all like to categorize things in order to more easily describe them, it would be easy to pigeonhole Case Histories into a simple "Genre Fiction" selection. That would be a mistake, for although the book is at its base a mystery novel, the stories go so much deeper and the characters are so involved and complex that the novel becomes more significant and genre-busting.
The book begins by giving the three distinct case histories of the title. The first took place some 30 or more years in the past, with a beloved three-year-old girl disappearing from a tent where she is sleeping with her older sister. Then we shoot ahead 25 years or so to a bizarre murder that occurs in an office building. The 18-year-old girl seems to be the victim of a random act of violence, and her father is left in tatters. Finally, we have a young 18-year-old mother of a new baby whose frustration with her husband eventually leads to a graphic situation with an axe.
After the fact, all three of these cases come to be investigated by Jackson Brodie, who ultimately finds some strange threads that connect them (although tenuously in most cases). We become intimately familiar with Julia and Amelia Land, the sisters of the young girl who disappeared, as well as Theo Wyre, who is still deep in grief over the loss of his daughter ten years after her murder. As for the young mother, her story unfolds somewhat differently, but is no less interesting for the way we learn about her character. Right in the midst of all that, the reader grows to know about Jackson and his own past and present.
My one small complaint with the novel might be that it's pretty easy to predict what's going to happen, but that's really only because Atkinson does such a masterful job of creating her characters that we can piece together how things came to be. It's not just her character creation that is wonderful, either. Atkinson is simply a beautiful writer, using simple concise language to impart emotion, whether it be elation, sadness or even disgust. We live with the characters of Case Histories through their highs and lows, and when the story finally comes to its resolution-that-isn't-really-a-resolution, it's satisfying. The book makes for an outstanding summer read and is a book that I hope to pick up again in the future and re-read with the full knowledge of what will occur in the end.
I had been intending to read this book for awhile, as I'd seen it recommended from a variety of different sources, but when it appeared as the Litblog Co-Op's "Read This" selection for Summer, I went ahead and moved it on up the list. Because we all like to categorize things in order to more easily describe them, it would be easy to pigeonhole Case Histories into a simple "Genre Fiction" selection. That would be a mistake, for although the book is at its base a mystery novel, the stories go so much deeper and the characters are so involved and complex that the novel becomes more significant and genre-busting.
The book begins by giving the three distinct case histories of the title. The first took place some 30 or more years in the past, with a beloved three-year-old girl disappearing from a tent where she is sleeping with her older sister. Then we shoot ahead 25 years or so to a bizarre murder that occurs in an office building. The 18-year-old girl seems to be the victim of a random act of violence, and her father is left in tatters. Finally, we have a young 18-year-old mother of a new baby whose frustration with her husband eventually leads to a graphic situation with an axe.
After the fact, all three of these cases come to be investigated by Jackson Brodie, who ultimately finds some strange threads that connect them (although tenuously in most cases). We become intimately familiar with Julia and Amelia Land, the sisters of the young girl who disappeared, as well as Theo Wyre, who is still deep in grief over the loss of his daughter ten years after her murder. As for the young mother, her story unfolds somewhat differently, but is no less interesting for the way we learn about her character. Right in the midst of all that, the reader grows to know about Jackson and his own past and present.
My one small complaint with the novel might be that it's pretty easy to predict what's going to happen, but that's really only because Atkinson does such a masterful job of creating her characters that we can piece together how things came to be. It's not just her character creation that is wonderful, either. Atkinson is simply a beautiful writer, using simple concise language to impart emotion, whether it be elation, sadness or even disgust. We live with the characters of Case Histories through their highs and lows, and when the story finally comes to its resolution-that-isn't-really-a-resolution, it's satisfying. The book makes for an outstanding summer read and is a book that I hope to pick up again in the future and re-read with the full knowledge of what will occur in the end.
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