The Fantastical Mystery of Ritterhouse Fay Donovan O'Malley 9789197918862 Books
Download As PDF : The Fantastical Mystery of Ritterhouse Fay Donovan O'Malley 9789197918862 Books
Fay arrives in London from nowhere, moves into flat 6 at number 13, feels she has "come home" -- but the other tenants feel very differently
The Fantastical Mystery of Ritterhouse Fay Donovan O'Malley 9789197918862 Books
All successful writing is a blend of natural born ability, technical proficiency and inspiration, and Donovan O'Malley's fourth novel displays these in perfect proportion.As the title suggests, this is a mystery (that sentence is an understatement) - a genre particularly demanding on the writer, but O'Malley handles it with the sure touch of a master. A plot with more twists than a mile of DNA is developed at a pace that never gets ahead of itself and yet never allows the reader's attention to flag, and the secret is not revealed until the final paragraphs. That's a great mystery story.
Inhabiting a house numbered 13 are Rita, the chain-smoking, chain-tippling would-be writer; the shy, dowdy, but golden-hearted Nelly; the ancient, arthritic, crazy Mrs Taylor; the sexually entrepreneurial Hugh and Jenny; the tragic Bill. In their different ways, these people are washed up. Until Fay arrives. Bewildered, dishevelled, sooty Fay - a turbulent bundle of conflicting, oddly simple emotions, with a childlike desire to be loved but lacking an understanding of what love is. As the story progresses it looks increasingly like she might be one of those unfortunates who are cast into life without the psychological equipment to meet it or to deal with it. The word 'might' is an intentional usage.
Storm tossed and storm tossing, wildly careering, Fay proceeds to subject these folk to an escalating bombardment of eccentricities, advances, rejections and persecutions, from which most of them emerge not only unscathed, but in a better state to live out the remainder of their time. The word 'emerge' is an intentional usage.
What are these announcements of intent, you might be asking? Their style is borrowed from the final, main character - the narrative voice. For Fay is not alone. She is accompanied by a disembodied presence, dogging (directing) her every movement even as it tells the tale.
Whatever it is, it is not a nice individual. In fact, it's a pretty nasty piece of work. But that is the most interesting kind. All-knowing, cynical, taunting, it presides, the grandmaster of ceremonies, over what it identifies as a great game. But it is no mere observer. It directs, also - the movements of those in its view from 'square' to 'square', until the final one is reached.
The obvious pitfall for the reviewer of mystery stories is that of the 'spoiler' - giving away too much to the prospective reader. All that this reviewer will say is that he started making notes after the first couple of pages, and ended up with six closely-written A4 pages of plot twists and tweaks to rival the very best. One is reminded of a recent long-running television series whose characters are marooned on a mysterious island. Unlike that mystery, however, which ended rather lamely, the dénouement of O'Malley's magnum opus comes as a genuine revelation.
A superficial examination might indicate that this is a story of violence and disharmony, in which the fabric of the mind is attacked as savagely as that of the body (both human and bricks-and-mortar). But people find one another, and dreams become reality for some. And there is a surprising lesson that emerges from the final pages. That in an increasingly cold world, in which the likelihood of an overseeing power is less and less credible, maybe there is a reason for things. Maybe.
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The Fantastical Mystery of Ritterhouse Fay Donovan O'Malley 9789197918862 Books Reviews
There is a new guy on the block. Donovan O'Malley. Not new in the sense that this is the first book by a heretofore unknown writer (goodness, m'dears, no) - to borrow a technique form the author. His intensely interesting and equally create books that came before THE FANTASTICAL MYSTERY OF RITTERHOUSE FAY include these favorites - Lemon Gulch, The Jimmy Jones Scandal, The Importance of Having Spunk, Our Yank - each daring to enter territory of comedic human behavior few other writers would dare to consider, Now with the birth of this major work - 408 pages that barely leave the reader time to breathe - it seems that not only has O'Malley written a mystery unlike any you've ever read, but he also seems to be enjoying a prolonged insider secret about the art of writing, of creating storyline, characters and incidence with the writer ever present in commentary much like a Greek chorus. And, m'dears, it works well indeed. Take it on either level - a mystery or an author's in joke - and you'll be pleased.
The title character Fay stumbles upon a menagerie of weird raw material for a story simply by taking up room in a boarding house where she dwells with the substance kinetic Rita who strives to be a writer ('One must know people to write novels about them'), fuddy but sweet 'cripplingly shy' Nellie, a absurd travesty of a old geezer Mrs. Taylor, the bizarre sexual athlete Hugh, sad Bill and a host of habits and sounds and instances that connect these fellow boarders as Fay explores her need to be adored.
Because part of the joy in reading this book is the element of constant surprise it would be unfair to even step over the threshold of the 'mystery' that drives this book. Is the main character the author playing with his comically carved chess set of strange types? perhaps. But then equally again perhaps not. 'My Ritterhouse Fay is a recipe of longings that weren't even all her own. All the things you thought you were, Ritterhouse Fay, are false, nil, zilch, squat. You never existed before we pranced around the fire in which you were (inexorably) born, yet again. How could you have a soul? Do you think that souls change partners like lie dancers in the Virginia Reel?'
Donavan O'Malley doesn't just write his novels, he dances them. Ye the stories are terrific reads, but much of the pleasure of his talent is his boisterous joy of the use of the English language. He is a word sorcerer - but, m'dears, I may have suggested that in reviewing his other books. Oh well, that was another time, don't you know....Grady Harp, July 11
All successful writing is a blend of natural born ability, technical proficiency and inspiration, and Donovan O'Malley's fourth novel displays these in perfect proportion.
As the title suggests, this is a mystery (that sentence is an understatement) - a genre particularly demanding on the writer, but O'Malley handles it with the sure touch of a master. A plot with more twists than a mile of DNA is developed at a pace that never gets ahead of itself and yet never allows the reader's attention to flag, and the secret is not revealed until the final paragraphs. That's a great mystery story.
Inhabiting a house numbered 13 are Rita, the chain-smoking, chain-tippling would-be writer; the shy, dowdy, but golden-hearted Nelly; the ancient, arthritic, crazy Mrs Taylor; the sexually entrepreneurial Hugh and Jenny; the tragic Bill. In their different ways, these people are washed up. Until Fay arrives. Bewildered, dishevelled, sooty Fay - a turbulent bundle of conflicting, oddly simple emotions, with a childlike desire to be loved but lacking an understanding of what love is. As the story progresses it looks increasingly like she might be one of those unfortunates who are cast into life without the psychological equipment to meet it or to deal with it. The word 'might' is an intentional usage.
Storm tossed and storm tossing, wildly careering, Fay proceeds to subject these folk to an escalating bombardment of eccentricities, advances, rejections and persecutions, from which most of them emerge not only unscathed, but in a better state to live out the remainder of their time. The word 'emerge' is an intentional usage.
What are these announcements of intent, you might be asking? Their style is borrowed from the final, main character - the narrative voice. For Fay is not alone. She is accompanied by a disembodied presence, dogging (directing) her every movement even as it tells the tale.
Whatever it is, it is not a nice individual. In fact, it's a pretty nasty piece of work. But that is the most interesting kind. All-knowing, cynical, taunting, it presides, the grandmaster of ceremonies, over what it identifies as a great game. But it is no mere observer. It directs, also - the movements of those in its view from 'square' to 'square', until the final one is reached.
The obvious pitfall for the reviewer of mystery stories is that of the 'spoiler' - giving away too much to the prospective reader. All that this reviewer will say is that he started making notes after the first couple of pages, and ended up with six closely-written A4 pages of plot twists and tweaks to rival the very best. One is reminded of a recent long-running television series whose characters are marooned on a mysterious island. Unlike that mystery, however, which ended rather lamely, the dénouement of O'Malley's magnum opus comes as a genuine revelation.
A superficial examination might indicate that this is a story of violence and disharmony, in which the fabric of the mind is attacked as savagely as that of the body (both human and bricks-and-mortar). But people find one another, and dreams become reality for some. And there is a surprising lesson that emerges from the final pages. That in an increasingly cold world, in which the likelihood of an overseeing power is less and less credible, maybe there is a reason for things. Maybe.
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