The Plotters by Un-Su Kim

Translated by Sora Kim-Russell, The Plotters is the American debut of Korean author Un-Su Kim.  

From Description:  Behind every assassination, there is an anonymous mastermind--a plotter--working in the shadows. Plotters quietly dictate the moves of the city's most dangerous criminals, but their existence is little more than legend. Just who are the plotters?

The Plotters is a strange book that mixes noir with absurdist situations.  Reseng, an antihero, is an an assassin raised  in the library of Old Raccoon, the librarian.  The reader is introduced to contractors, plotters, fixers, assassins guilds, assassins--and targets.

Assassins maintain a distance from their work that lets them discuss the deaths of their targets and the deaths of their fellow assassins  with detachment and acceptance.  This emotional detachment is necessary for an assassin, but Resang has, in the back of his mind, an awareness of the situation and actually chooses this distance to continue with his "profession."  After all, he was raised for it.

Several events over the years, however, have begun to weaken the disassociation.  Two particular deaths (murders) of assassins he has respected have gradually interfered with his typical "just a job" attitude.  A chance to have another life with a young woman he met at 22, a chance he threw away, also begins to figure into his questioning of his role--questions he has resisted most of his life.  He revisits these events in his mind.

Two recent jobs bring doubts to the forefront, and although he has always known that he will probably be a target himself, acknowledging this fact in relation to his recent experiences results in a change of goal.  This is not to say that he feels remorse, exactly, but the sea change that has been building over several years takes a more dramatic turn when his friend is murdered and he gets involved with three curious women, one of whom is a plotter that had a bomb placed in his toilet.

Filled with offbeat and provocative characters, The Plotters' smooth translation is geared to making the novel flow easily for Western readers.  I hope Un-Su Kim will have another English translation soon.

Read in November; blog review scheduled for Jan. 8, 2019.

NetGalley/Doubleday Books

Thriller?/Satire.  Jan. 29, 2019.  Print length:  304 pages.

Intasar's Give Away and Two Reviews

Attention school librarians:  Intasar Khanani is having a give-away for high school libraries.  She is offering five sets of books (Thorne & Sunbolt),  Both are excellent, and I have reviewed them here  and here.  

The give-away is only for high school librarians who will be able to share the books with students.  If you are a high school librarian, you can enter here: Library Love Giveaway.

Reviews

French Rhapsody  (translated by Emily Boyce) is the third book I've read by Antoine Laurain.  I loved The President's Hat and enjoyed The Red Notebook.   

I thought I was going to love this one as well, but alas, not so.  It started out so well, but around half way I felt like I was plodding through it.  The premise is excellent and I enjoyed much of the first half of the book, but then...I started skimming certain sections (too much about Lapelle and the Bubble and Vaughn).  I was still interested in JBM, but  the other characters--not so much.

NetGalley/Gallic Books

Satire.  Oct. 11, 2016.  Print length:  232 pages.

The Moth Catcher by Ann Cleeves has D.I. Vera Stanhope and associates (D.S. Joe Ashworth and D.C. Holly Lawson) investigate first one murder...and then another.  What connects the two victims in a way that merits murder?

As usual, Cleeves makes great use of secondary characters. This ability to bring the secondary characters to life is what, for me at least, separates Cleeves' novels from many others in the same genre.  

A community of retirees, all with secrets, provide Vera with the opportunity to satisfy both her own innate curiosity and to unravel the circumstances behind the two related murders. Vera, unlike Joe and Holly, loves to observe people, to indulge her inquisitive nature; her ability to sit down and talk to people on a personal level often yields just the information she needs to put the puzzle together.

Vera, unattractive and overweight, is a fascinating character who makes nosiness an art form.  I thought there were too many disagreeable descriptions of Vera in this installment, but otherwise, another fine addition to the series.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press

Police Procedural.  Oct. 4, 2016.  Print length:  400 pages.

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I'm still having great fun with my snail mail.  Have been creating some autumn/Halloween envelopes and making a huge mess in my studio.  October will see quite a few Halloween letters and postcards going out.  And each day, I look forward to seeing what might be in my mailbox!

Candide

Candide. Voltaire. I read a biography of Voltaire last month and wanted to read Candide--a novel I've always intended to read, but have never gotten around to--while the biography was still fresh on my mind. It was a good move because having recently read the biography added a great deal to the reading this satire. Candide is a quick read and reminds me of a lengthy Saturday Night Live segment--silly, serious, and satiric.

Candide, a gentle young man in love with the beautiful Cunegonde, views the world with great optimism. Both young people have been tutored by the philosopher Dr. Pangloss who espouses the belief that "since everything is made for a purpose, everything is necessarily for the best purpose."

After the first innocent kiss by the young lovers, Candide is kicked out of the castle, forcibly inducted into the Bulgarian army, witness to obscene horrors of war, discovers that Cunegonde has been raped and murdered, watches the kind James the Anabaptist drown, sees Pangloss hanged and others burned alive (note - many of these dead return in fantastic circumstances)...and more. Each of Candide's adventures leads from one appalling circumstance to the next. Despite each new disaster, Candide continues his eternal optimism in Pangloss' theory that everything happens for the best.

Only at the very end, does Candide begin to question Pangloss' philosophy, but without bitterness; he also comes to a resolution of sorts --that each "exercise his own talents" and become useful. His final response to Pangloss: "Well said," replied Candide, "but we must cultivate our garden."

Voltaire's attack on the philosophy that war, disaster, and suffering are part of a "benevolent cosmic plan" is ridiculous, funny, outrageous. He contrasts Pangloss' optimism with Martin's pessimism and suggests that the truth lies somewhere in between. He questions man's callousness and cruelty, the tragic results of natural disasters, the importance of tradition, the hypocrisy of many who are supposedly serving God, the abuses of power, and much more.

Much topical satire is quickly outdated, but because Voltaire concentrates on events and consequences rather than on individuals, this satire is fresh and applicable today. (Voltaire does throw in a few allusions to specific persons, events, publications, and religious doctrines of his day, but they are almost negligible in the overall scheme of his satire.)

Fiction. Satire. 113 pages. 2003.

Great Mail

Today's mail brought wonderful gifts! The Habit of Being (a hefty tome 596 pages), one of the Amazon orders I've been waiting on) and Shadow Cities from Lotus Reads! Thanks, Lotus!

Now, I'm only waiting on two books that I ordered earlier this month. I'm resisting the library and further orders.

I've finished two more books: Candide and Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles. Both are tiny little books. Both are weighty books with a good deal more influence than their small sizes would indicate.

I'd almost finished Candide and took it with me when I went to my father's to spend the night. He's on a new medication, and I'll stay again tonight to make sure there are no difficulties. The doctor said to give him the meds at 9:00 and stay with him for 3 nights, but I have someone else to stay tomorrow night.

Anyway, I finished Candide and almost finished Weight last night. Today, I rushed through the rest of Weight and will be reviewing both of them soon. Both are excellent