Vintage

There is a lot that I liked about this book.  Not your traditional "crime story" it's probably best to flag it as a mystery.  The mystery builds right from the start with the brutal massacre of an entire family - except for one.  When that one orphan, now a man home from the war, returns to his family home, his agony and pain, left alone in the world, is beautifully illustrated in his manual, slow, stone by stone destruction of the house in which is family died; as is his planning of vengeance on those responsible.

Reading this book was a really odd experience for me - on the one hand I spent a fair amount of the book in a fugue of confusion, on the other hand, I found Seraphin's story and he, as a character, incredibly engaging.  Sad, determined, damaged and yet powerful, this is a fascinating man.   Perhaps part of the confusion for me, at least, comes with the translation.  Magnan writes in the vernacular of this small area / town in France and much of that doesn't seem to have translated easily or well.  The language in the book ended up feeling a little muddy, murky if you like.  I always felt there was something in the descriptions of people and places, the dialogue that I wasn't quite a party too. 

So whilst, there was definitely a lot I liked about the book, there was also a bit that I didn't.  I most definitely didn't like the confusion.  On the other hand I loved the ambiguity.  I loved the characters, but felt I never really got to know them.  I loved the place, but I felt I never quite got to go there.

I'd certainly not discourage anyone of a more adventurous or curious reading nature to try this book - quite the contrary in some ways.  Perhaps it needs to be read as a fantastic, unusual, different style of book, that was translated too exactly.  It always felt like somewhere, under the words, there was a beautiful story lurking.

Sometimes you pick up a book, start reading, and instantly start wondering what on earth is going on.  Yet for some reason, you cannot put the darn thing down.  That's exactly what happened for me with STONEDOGS.  Mind you, if I'd have read the blurb that states that Craig Marriner is New Zealand's answer to Irvine Welsh and Quentin Tarantino, I probably could have recognised a hint about what I was in for.

STONEDOGS isn't a recent book - it won the Montana New Zealand Book Award Deutz Medal in 2002, but it is a book that was recently bought to my attention by a correspondent on my website.  Boy am I pleased about that pointer, otherwise I might have missed reading this completely.

Not that STONEDOGS is a particularly easy or pleasant read.  The book is manic, rapidfire, and insane at points.  Basically you've got a small group of teeanagers - the Brotherhood, waging the holiest of wars.  Against something.  Or somebody.  Not sure.  But they are a bunch of kids who stick together through drug deals, binge-drinking, abortive attempts to pick up girls (and not so abortive attempts for some of them), reckless driving and street fights.  At heart, a bunch of fun-seeking young lads, there's a closeness and a supportiveness in this little band that just makes them so likeable - even though you have to scrape through a fair amount of trash talk and faux toughness to get to the reality.  But as in so many of these coming of age type tales, things go awry and revenge takes over and the journey gets mad, bad and very dangerous.

Undoubtedly cringe inducing, STONEDOGS will also have you laughing out loud.  As well as feeling vaguely reassured that whilst the language may change, and perhaps there's a tighter, tougher, slightly more dangerous edge to some of the activities, teenagers, basically haven't changed that much.  Or at least they are still recognisable.  As are the bonds of friendship, the lunacy of risk taking, the rites of passage. 

I definitely had no idea what was going on at points in this book, but I also found I simply could not put it down.  Dark, violent, very in your face, this isn't going to be a book for everybody.  But for anybody who does pick it up - I think I can guarantee it will stay with you for quite a while.

I used to read a few cosies, although I was never totally addicted.  But I've always been a huge fan of the quirky, odd and the just ever so slightly bats.  Colin Watson, Charlotte MacLeod have been favourites for years.  I'm adding Pierre Magnan to the list now.

Originally published in French in the late 70's, DEATH IN THE TRUFFLE WOOD was translated into English around 2005.  There are a number of books in this series featuring Commissaire Laviolette, although I don't think Roseline makes an appearance in any of the others. Roseline is a truffle hunting pig, and a creature that has made me pine for a pet pig in a way that you simply would not think is possible.  Mind you, I never thought I'd want a dachshund either, but this book made me rethink that as well.

On the outskirts of the small village of Banon, a group of outsiders have established a small hippie community.  As they start to disappear Commissaire Laviolette is sent to investigate, but nobody is prepared for the discovery in the freezer of a local hotel, when a wedding party is trapped by snow and extra food is called for.  (Obviously the freezer would just have to be replaced!)

Soon Roseline is leading the police to a cache of more bodies, and forensic assistance is reluctantly called upon.

It's going to seem an odd thing to say, what with bodies littering hotel freezers and family vaults, but there was something really joyous about reading DEATH IN THE TRUFFLE WOOD.  Refreshingly down to earth, quirky, almost tongue in cheek in some places, and just plain funny, DEATH IN THE TRUFFLE WOOD draws a vivid picture of small village life and the wonderfully individualistic people that all so frequently inhabit those places.  Perhaps it is partially because of that setting, but there's no feeling of the story and the environment being dated - it's easy for the reader to assume that village life continues in that manner now, and as far back into the past as you want to imagine.  Along with the murders, there's a fabulous outline of the clash of cultures - the villagers and their quiet existence, the outsiders and the effect that they have.  Definitely a book for readers who are looking for something light, fun and just that little bit slightly bats!