MostlyFiction Book Reviews » Iain Pears We Love to Read! Wed, 14 May 2014 13:06:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.3 STONE’S FALL by Iain Pears (1) /2009/stones-fall-by-iain-pears-eb/ /2009/stones-fall-by-iain-pears-eb/#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 21:39:34 +0000 /?p=1856 Book Quote:

“Money,” he said wearily, looking out of window as though he was seeing a golden age go by.  “All the world is now convertible to money.  Power, influence, peace and war.  It used to be that the sole determinant was the number of men you could march out to meet your enemies.  Now more depends on the convertibility of your currency, its reputation among the bankers.”

Book Review:

Reviewed by Eleanor Bukowsky (MAY 18, 2009)

Iain Pears’s Stone’s Fall opens in France in 1953 with the burial of Madame Robillard, who passed away in her eighties.  The first part of the book is narrated by Matthew Braddock who had met Robillard (then known as Elizabeth, Lady Ravenscliff) when she was in her forties.  The year was 1909, and twenty-five year old Matthew was a crime reporter for a London newspaper.  Elizabeth summons Matthew a fortnight after the death of her husband, John Stone, Lord Ravenscliff, who died after he fell or was pushed out of an open window in his study.  She offers Matthew a great deal of money to look into her husband’s professional and personal affairs.  There are a number of questions that she wants answered:  Was Stone’s death accidental or a result of foul play?  Why did he leave a huge bequest to a child, whom, he states in his will, “I have never previously acknowledged?”  

Why did Stone grant a legacy to Mrs. Esther Vincotti of Italy?   After examining her husband’s papers carefully, Elizabeth finds nothing to shed light on these matters.  She tells Matthew that, even after twenty years of marriage, she and her husband were very much in love and that he had not been in the habit of keeping secrets from her.  That is why she is willing to pay Matthew handsomely to dig deeper and give her the information that she craves for her peace of mind.

Thus begins a lengthy narrative that moves backwards in time.  Pears takes us to London in 1909, Paris in 1890, and finally, to Venice in 1867.  Part Two is narrated by Henry Cort, a shadowy figure who crossed paths with John Stone and Elizabeth and knows a great many of their secrets.  Part Three is narrated by Stone himself.  The first part is not that compelling and some will be tempted to put the book down after the first hundred pages.  Initially, it is difficult to care about the deceased and his wife, about whom we know little, or about Matthew, who barely makes a living as a journalist.  Matthew eagerly accepts Elizabeth’s generous stipend, hoping to improve his lowly financial position.  However, when he starts investigating and finds anomalies in Stone’s business dealings, his curiosity gets the better of him.   What he learns shocks and alarms him, and his continued involvement in the Stone case will put him in grave danger.

Pears takes a huge gamble, expecting the reader to keep track of dozens of characters, some of whom are not what they seem to be, and an incredibly convoluted plot.  The author assumes that we will be willing to stick with a narrative that moves in many different directions, and that hinges, to a large extent, on arcane details of banking and politics; not everyone will finds this subject matter particularly compelling or comprehensible.  Does Pears’s gamble pay off?  Yes and no. Until part three, Stone’s Fall is a tough slog.  There is a great deal going on but, for quite some time, the point of it all is elusive.  It is only in the third section of the book that the tale at last comes to brilliant life.  We get to know Stone intimately, discover how he becomes a captain of industry, and watch him commit grievous errors for which he will pay dearly.  At last, this cipher becomes human and the final pages are riveting.  Many hitherto undisclosed facts are revealed, finally enabling us to make sense of what has occurred in the previous sections.  The ending of Stone’s Fall, although not completely believable, is deeply poignant.  Pears explores a number of themes:  Men who are familiar with the intricacies of making money and the inner workings of government wield enormous power (a timely topic in our troubled times).  Without love, wealth and social status provide scant satisfaction.  A person is revered after his death not for his power and influence, but for his good works, compassion, and personal honor.  Although determined readers will diligently plow through this dense novel, Stone’s Fall will, alas, bring less hardy souls to their knees long before they reach the final page.  Still, the magnificent part three almost makes the whole task worthwhile.

AMAZON READER RATING: stars-4-0from 8 readers
PUBLISHER: Spiegel & Grau (May 5, 2009)
REVIEWER: Eleanor Bukowsky
AMAZON PAGE: Stone’s Fall
AUTHOR WEBSITE: Iain Pears
EXTRAS: Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION: Review of The Portrait

Another review of Stone’s Fall

Bibliography:

Jonathan Argyll, Art History Mystery Series:

Other:

]]> /2009/stones-fall-by-iain-pears-eb/feed/ 0 STONE’S FALL by Iain Pears (2) /2009/stones-fall-by-iain-pears-km/ /2009/stones-fall-by-iain-pears-km/#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 21:23:38 +0000 /?p=1861 Book Quote:

” ‘Get out,’ she screamed and wheeled round to me, her face ablaze, picking up the blue bowl from the mantelpiece. That bowl, the one she had used to humiliate me, to put me in my place. It served its purpose again, as it crashed into the wall behind me and shattered into a hundred pieces. She was terrifying. I was terrified.”

Book Review:

Reviewed by Kirstin Merrihew (MAY 18, 2009)

Iain Pears’ Stone’s Fall: A Novel traces back the lives of arms mogul John William Stone and his beautiful wife Elizabeth (aka Lord and Lady Ravenscliff), as well as others around them. The densely detailed novel opens in Paris in March of 1953 as a journalist attends a funeral and is given a package. This man, Matthew Braddock, then launches into his recollections of the momentous events he experienced in London in 1909 when, after the sudden death of John Stone, he was commissioned by Lady Ravenscliff to find a long-lost child who was bequeathed a sum in her husband’s will. Braddock, considerably younger than Elizabeth Stone, becomes quite smitten with her. At the same time, her secretive, strange actions spur suspicion in him. Had her husband’s fall from a high window been an accident or murder?

As Braddock tries to get to the bottom of these murky mysteries, a man named Cort also makes a shadowy entrance. In Part Two, this Henry Cort takes over as narrator from Braddock. Cort tells of his own initial meetings, in Paris in 1890, with John Stone and Elizabeth, the two of whom in turn met and began their courtship. And finally, John Stone himself (also through written record) explains his defining episode as a young man in Venice in the year 1867.

Elizabeth does not get an opportunity to tell her side of things. The reader must rely on the above-mentioned men for insight into who she might be at her core. It would have been fascinating to read her memoirs, but, then again, she probably wouldn’t and couldn’t have given an “accurate” portrait of herself because she lived on many levels and because, as Braddock observed, “She was always a good actor.” [Technically, Braddock ought to have called her an “actress.” The tendency to lose the feminine versions of English words established itself well after 1953.]  Elizabeth is, arguably more so that than her husband, the striking centerpiece of this novel; she is the more flamboyant of the two, the one, often, who draws attention. But they both conceal much from the world at large, and while they may have convinced themselves they knew the other, Elizabeth tells Braddock that they gave each other room to do what they thought they had to separately. Elizabeth and John are a literary couple one will not soon forget. She is far more than an alluring showpiece; she is an elusive and tempestuous force with which to be reckoned. Her life is one with many chapters, most not easily opened once they are closed. As Elizabeth explained it, she loved John because he was the one man she couldn’t control by sheer willpower and feminine wiles. John, a behind-the scenes capitalist of fiduciary genius and vision, for his part, declared, “I love Elizabeth more than anything else in my life….She could have asked anything, and I would have done it. She is my love.” Both husband and wife claim to find no faults in their spouses…a view through rose-colored glasses certainly, but touching. Readers can relish the opportunity to sink luxuriously into their convoluted lives and to soak up the intricately created ambience of the dangerous times (all times are dangerous one way or another) in which they made their marks.

Stone’s Fall recounts tales of financial wizardry and shell games; espionage among the restive and trustless European nation states forging industrial/military strongholds; and the vagaries of human love, lust and resulting violence. It is a novel that sometimes obscures its human beings with prodigious financial, legal, and other particulars that can even bore the characters. For instance, some readers may become a bit mind-numbed by the the nuts and bolts of financing a huge under-the-table undertaking. However, Pears’ fictional, deftly-layered reverse history will draw in and captivate anyone with the time and patience to take in the entire book (just as the author’s earlier bestseller, An Instant of the Fingerprint did so compellingly). Some may be tempted to stop after Part One which could, truth be told, stand as a complete novel. But persevere. The rest of Stone’s Fall immeasurably enriches the total picture, and Henry himself is revealed stunningly in the final section. Pears brilliantly supplies the coup de grace in the last few pages, so don’t, if you want to maintain the implicate suspense, read the conclusion before its time.

AMAZON READER RATING: from 117 readers
PUBLISHER: Spiegel & Grau (May 5, 2009)
REVIEWER: Kirstin Merrihew
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK? YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE: None
EXTRAS: Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION: Read another review of Stone’s Fall

Review of The Portrait

Bibliography:

Jonathan Argyll, Art History Mystery Series:

Other:

]]> /2009/stones-fall-by-iain-pears-km/feed/ 0