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Carregando... Wax (1935)de Ethel Lina White
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Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. This is the second mystery novel I have read by this 1930s author, once bracketed with Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, but now little known. The central plot is a fairly gripping one of a series of murders surrounding a sinister waxworks in the fictional town of Riverpool, with elements of drug taking. However, its impact was diluted for me by large stretches of the narrative focusing on the mundane activities of the inhabitants, which feel distinctively inter-war middle class, and which make the story seem very dated, even more so than its age would suggest, i.e. more outdated than many 19th century books seem to me. This dilution of the central plot meant the story largely didn't work for me, as it lacked the tautly constructed feel of a Christie novel. Perhaps this is why her name has faded, other than as the author of The Wheel Spins, the novel on which the Hitchcock film The Lady Vanishes was based. sem resenhas | adicionar uma resenha
Pertence à série publicadaThe Albatross Mystery Club (No. 421) Doubleday Crime Club (1935.43) Vampiro (570)
The residents of the British town of Riverpool are disturbed by a series of murders in the local waxworks museum. As tensions mount, local journalist Sonia Thompson determines to investigate - but when she spends the night alone at the museum, she soon finds horror stalking the exhibits. A classic crime thriller from the author of The Lady Vanishes. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — Carregando... GênerosClassificação decimal de Dewey (CDD)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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I had been wanting to read Wax for ages, mainly because I loved the short story it was cannibalized from. Raymond Chandler used to do the same with his own pulp stories, lengthening them, adding elements, and turning them into Marlowe novels. Here, however, I had the misfortune — for lack of a better word — to read Waxworks, the short story that gave birth to it, before I had read the novel. Because of this, White’s wonderfully descriptive prose in the novel became a hindrance for me. I liked the short story version so much, that all the characters and elements she used to alter it slightly in order to flesh it out into a full length novel, had me wishing she’d just get on with it. I suppose that’s an indication of how much I liked the shorter story, which was originally published during the Christmas season in 1930 by Pearson’s Magazine.
That being said, there is still a lot to like here, and if I’d come at it from the opposite direction, perhaps I’d have loved it. As it was, I liked it a lot. While it has some wonderfully atmospheric scenes, especially those set in the Waxwork Gallery, modern readers will probably fuss that it isn’t a paint by the numbers thriller, focusing solely on that element. This is old-fashioned suspense which has a lot of day-to-day life interspersed between the story. While the relationships and banter may seem inconsequential to many modern readers, they can be wonderful for those who enjoy an older style of storytelling, where the table setting is just as important as the meal.
There is a reason Ethel Lina White had such success in her day. If I had to recommend the novel or the short story, however, I’d recommend the short story. Since it is apparently only available — at least that I can find — in The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries put together by Otto Penzler, however, I suggest giving the novel Wax a go to see whether White’s style of writing, and her old-fashioned suspense, is your cup of tea or not. ( )