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| Final Rating: 2.8/5 |
Sometimes you finish a book and have absolutely no idea how to rate it and that is how I felt this morning. Bellman & Black was an odd read, but then again I would not expect anything less from the author of The Thirteenth Tale. Having read the authors previous work fairly recent I can see the connection of theme and in some ways I enjoyed Bellman & Black a little more than The Thirteenth Tale (but that is just my personal preference). Ms. Setterfield is a master of her craft and her writing is still powerfully magnetic and lyrical but I have this odd sense, that there are secret messages or veiled concepts buried just beneath but somehow out of reach of my comprehension that only other certain readers are supposed to understand.
Bellman & Black starts with an introduction of the main character's life and builds and grows to a pitched crescendo all relating back to the sorted concepts of death, sorrow and a life lost to the misplaced pursuit of distraction. The reader is never given the opportunity to care about the main character; the story early on defines an invisible line of apathy that is almost expected of the reader. As the story unfolds and the main character lives one scene to the next, the pace breaks any possible or remaining connection the reader may have made with the main character. There is an opportunity to reestablish that bond with 2 other characters (one the main character's tragic daughter and the other a grieving seamstress) but at the end the narrator clearly explains why this is not possible; because this is William Bellman's story. Although a simple but at the same time multifaceted story, this was also not exactly an easy read and I could see where this is either one of the reads you absolutely love and could not wait to finish or fidget with and decide to stop in the middle or just finish and have no idea how to finally rate.
-read and purchased on kindle
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