One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is what happens after “Case Studies,” with two the same characters: Jackson Brodie and Julia (who has become Jackson’s sort-of girlfriend). Brodie has moved to France, but gives the impression that he’s kind of bored with it. He’s in Edinburgh for a festival because Julia is performing in a play. While there, he witnesses a road rage incident, which spins out to having all sorts of repercussions.
In the meantime, a very rich but very criminal home developer who is about to be taken down for fraud has a heart attack while with a woman providing “favors” and his wife, Gloria, decides she doesn’t want to be bothered by his employees and minions so tells them he’s off somewhere. This appears to be a side story, but ...
Jackson, while doing a bit of sightseeing, comes across the body of a drowned woman, but loses it (the body, I mean) as he’s trying to pull it away from the incoming tide. This sets up a the introduction of Louise, a Scottish cop (and her son, Archie, and his bad friend, Hamish). And very interesting character, though it’s hard to see what she ads to the actual plot. Even after everything is resolved, Louise seems to be a set-up for a future Jackson Brodie book. Which is fine—I like her, just don’t see the point of her character in this particular tale. Events involving Louise and her son just kind of hang. Unresolved threads here. Maybe for the next JB novel (which I will download next).
A central theme revolves around matryoshka (the Russian dolls that stack inside each other), and indeed the entire plot is matryoshka. It all makes sense in the end, though it’s kind of dizzying while in process.
What I enjoy a lot about the way Atkinson spends a lot of time with the inner stories of many, but not all, of the characters. Some people say it bogs down the plot too much, but I think the characters’ development is the point of Atkinson’s Brodie books and not so much the plot, and I enjoy this.
There was one reference to “Case Studies” that did bother me, and that was in reference to one of the characters in that novel, her ultimate fate—seemed gratuitous and pointless. I won’t get into it because I don’t want to spoil “Case Studies” for anyone.
The main problem I have with this, and with “Case Studies,” is the plots do not quite resolve. Things are left hanging; some answers are just assumptions the reader draws based on hints. I don’t know yet if this is planned or if it’s just weak storytelling (or laziness) on Atkinson’s part. Or I’m just nitpicky. Maybe this novel ties up in the next ... ?
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book introduces a character I like even more than Jackson Brodie: Reggie, a smart, loyal, and resourceful 16-year-old girl strives to do the right thing while dealing with the worst circumstances.
This novel, like the earlier two in the series, is far from perfect. Sometimes there are just too many details and too many characters, sometimes there’s not enough detail about the characters who drive the plot. Not every thread is wrapped up or resolved—you can only hope things are resolved in the next JB novel (which I will read as soon as I can download it from the library) or, hopefully, the one after that. (These really are not standalone books—you’ll get very lost if you don’t read them in order.)
I love the humor of the characters. I love learning more about the characters—even the ones that are, really, unnecessary to the plot, such as Louise (she was introduced in JB2, and was unnecessary there, too) other than getting Jackson out of a sticky spot or two. (I like her, and hope it ends up well for her—she deserves a happy resolution.)
The story revolves around a 30-year-old massacre of a family leaving one survivor, a killer, a train wreck, an orphan, and fierce loyalty to loved ones. There are very sad events, some brutal events, and plenty of humor and hope. It left me wanting to know what happens next.
This afternoon, I decided to open the window for a while. It was wicked hot earlier this week, but now it’s just cold.
Slink was here, in the living room:
Which is at the front of the house and includes getting by the dog to get to the window at the back of the house.
But he managed to do it, probably by teleportation since it was instantaneous.
He then proceeded to rub against my face as I was opening the window. Then sneezed in my face. A full, snot-laden, allergy-induced cat sneeze.
Which caused me to step back fast—stepping right into the dog’s water bowl.
Normally it’s just an “oh shit” moment. But I’ve been sick for a week (allergies or a cold, who knows?) and am exhausted because last night I 1) binge-watched every episode of Marcella on Netflix and 2) got very little sleep once I did get to bed since every time I settled down, I started coughing. And trying not to cough so I wouldn’t wake Stanley. Which made the coughing worse, of course.
(Marcella was very good. But a lot of holes, kind of built-in to the series—she suffers from fugue states, it seems—maybe to explain things where you don’t really know what happened but seem to be resolved so the story continues. Hmm. Maybe these get resolved in season two?)
Anyway, after stepping into the dog’s water bowl, I just started laughing (while sopping up the water), which made me start coughing again. Which made me think about the benefits of Depends.
It’s just too cold for May.
Though I’ve been using Photoshop for more than 15 years now, I’ve pretty much used it for journeyman stuff, such as making and processing graphics and photos for use on websites and in digital advertising. Haven’t had time to experiment much with it, or learn new stuff unless I have to in order to achieve an effect I want. So I decided to try to learn something new at least once a week.
Today comes from the MediaLoot blog: Make Colors Pop in Lightroom or Photoshop—I have both, but use Photoshop all the time while I haven’t had time to actually learn Lightroom. It involves using the Camera Raw filter. I used the settings from the tutorial, and here are the before (minimal processing, low-res image taken with my Galaxy phone):
I think the second image does look a lot better. So much so that I’m willing to use the preset filter I made with the tutorial on other photos. But I also think I need to learn more about what I’m actually doing so I can twitch the filter to make it look even better.
Here are two more experiments. I think the processed photos are much better—these are images taken with my Canon:
So, cool. Learned something new.
The drought is definitely over. And so far, we had only one unbearable day as far as the heat goes—one day, it got up to near 90°. But, for the most part, May has been a chilly month. Today it will not get up to 65°. And it’s dreary. Overcast and damp.
But, the roses are blooming! Stanley brought some in for me, and the fragrance is just lovely.
Pepper still surprises us.Earlier this month she decided to explore the ceiling—something she’s never done before, at least not that we’d ever seen!