The Cruelest Month

by Louise Penny
Hennepin County Library audiobook 10 CDs
read by
genre: mystery fiction

I'm glad this is the third one of her stories I've listened to . . . because had it been the first, I don't think I would have finished it, much less read others. My recommendation to readers who haven't read any Louise Penny "Gamache / Three Pines" books? READ THEM IN ORDER! (I've now read #4, #1, and #3 . . . I do *not* recommend this method.)

A seance on Good Friday . . . not an auspicious start. Mr. Beliveau, the grocer - I predicted the story would "hinge" on him . . . not so much. The Hadley House. Clara - both sensible and sensitive. (I still don't understand Peter's motivations, though we get a bit more of his back story.)

Odile and Giles? Hazel and Madeline? Sophie? Why is April the cruelest month? The weather? Easter? Sometimes I think I miss too much when I listen to the audiobook rather than actually reading the text. (Love the allusion to T.S. Eliot's poem The Cruelest Month . . . but now I have to look it up and re-read it!)

Ugh! Which woman died?! I hate when Penny does this . . . but yes, it builds suspense and makes me think about the characters and events. Brebeuf and the odd phone calls . . . I don't like where this is going.

Author drops clues and leaves the reader hanging! Seance . . . wouldn't have read this author's other books if I'd started with this one.

Gamache - back to the Hadley house. . . really? And why so much personification of the house? It's like another character in the book.

"The near enemy" . . . is one's self. Hmmm. Earlier, the near enemy was one's closest friend.

"Fairies at the end of the garden . . . Oliviet and Gabri - ha! Ruth makes me laugh.

Found this site: http://gamacheseries.com/ to help me spell character names!

Another note from my car: competition (between Hazel and Madeline as well as between Brebeuf and Gamache) is a big theme in this story. I still can't understand how two friends who have been through so much together could turn on one another!