The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
by Alan Bradley
Amusing, twisty mystery, and clever. Too clever. Even when I laughed at the many jokes and turns of a phrase, I felt like it was forced...or rather, like I was being forced. To laugh. Odd, isn't it?
Flavia, the narrator, is an eleven-year-old girl with a passion for chemistry. She lives with a father who is rather distant and preoccupied with his hobby--philately--and two sisters who are greatly reviled and tortured. They torture her back, too. It's funny, but it struck me as kind of sad, too--if it had been real. But it didn't feel real, so it was simply funny.
And I'm not complaining. This is a perfectly funny, clever book with lots of cool chemistry in it and some very smart detective work. And the policeman, Inspector Hewett, was superb. He was not quite always, but sometimes, two steps behind Flavia.
No comments:
Post a Comment