Critical Mick

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Christine Falls A bit of fun! And 100% egret porn free..mp3 (5.3 MB)
Benjamin Black (John Banville)
Picador, 2006

Flop!

After Irish novelist John Banville won the Booker Prize in 2005, he announced he would turn to writing crime fiction under a pseudonym. That pseudonym is Benjamin Black and the novel is Christine Falls- published just in time for Santa to place a copy under 2006's Christmas tree.

Christine Falls is the name of the beautiful young cadaver whose mystery opens the novel. So far, true to ye olde crime fic formula. Our hero is a middle-aged medical examiner named Quirke, who quickly discovers that the cause of death listed in Christine Falls' file has been fabricated. The opening also sets the scene- a bleak 1950's Dublin where everyone smokes and the Church controls all. Quirke knows first-hand the brutalities of that church's Magdalene laundries where unmarried mothers are imprisoned and the orphanages where their children are crushed. It is this background which prompts him to start digging into the fate of Christine Falls' missing baby despite uncharitable forces which want the matter buried.

Quirke is sometimes helped by old drinking buddy, Barney Boyle- a thinly veiled manifestation of Brendan Behan. Behan was the author of a fascinating autobiographical novel, Borstal Boy, as well as a body of poetry and plays. He was perhaps more famous, though, for being a raging alcoholic whose talent was snuffed young. Sort of an Irish F. Scott Fitzgerald, except with high explosives and prison time. Sure, a larger-than-life character like Behan may spill over from this real world into fiction, but it felt odd for a Booker prize winner to commandeer the literary figure of an earlier generation and reduce him to a sidekick.

Then there was a shout behind him. "Jesus Christ in gaiters, if it isn't Dr. Death!" … Barney was in his drinking clothes: black suit crumpled and stained, striped tie for a belt, and a shift, which had once been white, agape at the collar and looking as if it had been yanked open in a scuffle. Phoebe was thrilled, for this was the famous Barney Boyle.... …"The Abbey Theatre from this day forth must make do without the fruits of my genius!" He took a violent draught of his drink, throwing back his head and opening his mouth wide, the cords of his throat pulsing as he swallowed. "I'm writing poetry again," he said, wiping his bulbous red lips with the back of his hand. "In Irish, that lovely language that I learned in jail, the university of the working classes." (pages 34-5)

The hunt for the truth behind Christine Falls' death slowly progresses. More attention is focused on Quirke's relationship with the family of his estranged brother-in-law, Malachy Griffin. Griffin and the orphan Quirke were raised almost as brothers, and as two young medical residents in Boston married two wealthy sisters. Griffin wed the sister that Quirke was actually in love with. Then after Quirke's wife died in childbirth, Griffin's daughter, Phoebe, becomes like a surrogate child to the aging ME.

One gripe: Quirke is a medical examiner, but his outlook and frame of reference is not medical. His pursuit is more like a dogged, loner private eye. Medicine plays little part in the way he operates, the observations he makes or the way he thinks.

Wouldn't a doctor just think "asthmatic" rather than in terms of obscure literature?

The language is observant and exceptionally thoughtfully crafted, but that quality makes Christine Falls a slow read. Every scene in the first sixty pages left hints that required a stop and re-evaluation of who I understood the characters to be. This is a relief when compared to other crime novels where all character has been sacrificed for plot. Still, this is no thriller which keeps the pages turning, pace picking up as it hurtles toward a surprising climax. These 390 pages required a long dark, damp, January month.

In the end, the baddies turned out to be as genre standard as the opening. And there were a few disappointments. The character who I had been finding the most lively and interesting, the one whose background bore distinct parallels to Quirke, performed an unforgivable act and lost all my sympathy. He gets his comeuppance, but not everyone who deserves it does. And those who do don't truly get it from our protagonist.

Critical Mick says: Christine Falls is a notable addition to Irish mystery fiction, but falls well short of the "devastating new crime thriller" promised by the sticker on the cover. Though he has a Booker on his shelf, Banville could learn a few medical thriller tricks from Tess Gerritsen. I have not given the story a passing thought since the start of its digestion period a few weeks ago. Nothing's stuck with me. Ultimately, that says it all.

Man, did this review turn out negative! Yikes. Christine Falls from high hopes to the empty bottom of a pint glass.

Christine Falls is one of the signed books that Critical Mick is auctioning in aid of The Alzheimer Society of Ireland, March 2009.

Additional Images:

1. All six books auctioned for ASI, 2009 (413 kb)

2. The cover of Christine Falls in detail. (224 kb)

3. The signature: B. Black aka John Banville (86 kb)

4. The copyright page's details verify that this is a Picador first edition- the printers key has not dropped the "1." (141 kb)

Yo! This review and all content on the DFA Guide site are copyright 2006 Mick Halpin. All links to other sites and documents are copyright to whatever source wrote something cool enough for Mick to give it a referral. Try to claim them as your own work and bad karma will catch up with you, baby. Believe it.

Irate, huh? Managed to piss off another one? Direct your hatemail to mick @ mickhalpin dot com.

This Page Was Last Updated On 25 February, 2007.