{"id":3412,"date":"2014-11-12T07:41:06","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T12:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=3412"},"modified":"2015-01-04T06:34:21","modified_gmt":"2015-01-04T11:34:21","slug":"how-the-light-gets-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=3412","title":{"rendered":"***How the Light Gets In"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dionne<\/a>

The Dionne Quintuplets (photo: wikimedia)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Louise Penny<\/strong>. Narrated by Ralph Cosham. Louise Penny\u2019s Quebec-based Chief Inspector Gamache novels are wildly popular\u2014this one was nominated for several awards, and it\u2019s the second I\u2019ve listened to. The story\u2019s multilayered plot (no spoilers here) is a mix of the intriguing and barely plausible, but Penny\u2019s characters and setting are nicely developed, not the cardboard cutouts that populate many mysteries. Penny\u2019s first novels initially were called \u201cThe Three Pines Mysteries,\u201d and this one brings in the remote village of Three Pines and its clutch of eccentrics quite believably.<\/p>\n

In this book, ninth in the series, two investigations are under way. One involves the death of the last of the Ouellet (WEE-lay) quintuplets, modeled on Ontario\u2019s exploited<\/a> Dionne quintuplets from the same pre-fertility drug era. Penny might have been inspired by the photo of the real Dionne quintuplets, above, in devising a theme for her fictional quints of one being always a bit apart, separate, beginning even before birth.<\/p>\n

The other, much shakier plot, is political. It suffers from the stakes-raising trend among mystery writers, who have decided an interesting death or two isn\u2019t enough to capture readers\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n

Penny has a habit in this book of withholding from the reader. \u201cHe made two telephone calls before leaving the office.\u201d Only later will we find out what those calls were. Use this device once or twice, OK, but it occurs so often, it starts to feel manipulative\u2014I hear the author behind the scenes hammering together cliffhangers.<\/p>\n

Apparently Ralph Cosham, who narrates the series, is well regarded for bringing Gamache to life, and he did grow on me a little, but generally I find him plodding. The book\u2019s title comes from fellow Canadian Leonard Cohen\u2019s song Anthem<\/em>: \u201cThere is a crack in everything. That\u2019s how the light gets in.\u201d I didn\u2019t tumble to the Cohen connection, though I understood the title and the cracks, even without the author\u2019s explanation near the end. Ironically, in a post-story conversation between Penny and Cosham, she talks about the kinds of things that should be left unsaid because \u201cthe reader has to do some of the work.\u201d I totally agree, and thought the title, which captured the book\u2019s entire theme, was work I could have done and had done.
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