Scan barcode
A review by rebeccacider
Innocent Blood by P.D. James
2.0
I've always had mixed feelings about P.D. James, and this book will certainly be the last of hers I read for some time. I find her novels well-crafted, engrossing, and memorable, but I'm not sure that I actually enjoy them.
Innocent Blood is populated by a cast of characters who exist in a miasma of dysfunctional amorality. James depicts their inner lives with detached, sociological precision, writing with subtle compassion, yet rarely permitting us to identify with them. The novel could as easily be titled "Original Sin" - there's a heavy-handed pessimism about human nature and the ability of individuals to be genuinely self-aware or altruistic.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that Innocent Blood reads like a morality play. Fair enough for a crime novel, but not my cup of tea. Here the worldview of the author looms so large, and the story feels so artificially bleak, that it's hard for me to assess whether James' story has anything genuine to say about the human experience.
Innocent Blood is populated by a cast of characters who exist in a miasma of dysfunctional amorality. James depicts their inner lives with detached, sociological precision, writing with subtle compassion, yet rarely permitting us to identify with them. The novel could as easily be titled "Original Sin" - there's a heavy-handed pessimism about human nature and the ability of individuals to be genuinely self-aware or altruistic.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that Innocent Blood reads like a morality play. Fair enough for a crime novel, but not my cup of tea. Here the worldview of the author looms so large, and the story feels so artificially bleak, that it's hard for me to assess whether James' story has anything genuine to say about the human experience.