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The Saint Zita Society (2012)

by Ruth Rendell(Favorite Author)

3.07 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

009194404X (ISBN13: 9780091944049)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Hutchinson

review 1: This is a book about neighbourhood. It is set in a few houses in a small and exclusive area and focuses on their inhabitants, the owners, the servants and those in between. One of the pleasures in reading a book with no central character is that the writer can take you on a walk through the minds of others. Rendell takes a great deal of care crafting her characters and in making them all sympathetic. The plot deals with the things we seem to be in control of verses the things we are not. It is something of a masterpiece and repays rereading.
review 2: I am a long-time Rendell reader, and have always enjoyed her psychological perceptions and great characters. This book is the first time I have been disappointed by her. It was as if she were being paid by the wor... mored, or wrote it while on tranquilizers. The characters were just OK, quirky and somewhat confusing. There were so many it was easy to forget which house or family they belonged to. But the plot was exceptionally plodding - not much happens until an accident, and then not much else afterwards. I kept waiting for something more significant to happen. Although there was a subsequent murder, the characters weren't interesting enough to make you care while not much was happening. I almost gave up on it (that would have been a first for a Rendell book), but slogged on and finished it. The ending was really strange - as if she herself were bored with the whole thing and just shut it off, leaving things dangling. So I'd recommend that people skip this book. For people new to Rendell, try her Inspector Wexford series, I have always enjoyed all of those. He's a great character. less

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