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| Ruth Rendell (as Barbara Vine),
King Solomon's Carpet |
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Although King Solomon's Carpet is the
first Vine's (but also Rendell's) book I have ever read (about 15
years ago), and therefore the one which hooked me enough to start me
reading the rest, rereading it awoke only the faintest memories, so
that I discovered the story, as for the first time...
If Grasshopper involves characters whose
lives strangely involve walking over the roofs of London, the
characters in King Solomon's Carpet have all different
reasons to spend much time in its tube. Jarvis, owner of a
disaffected school he inherited from his family, is fascinated by
undergrounds, to the point that he writes books about them and
travels only to discover other underground systems in the world. To
be able to afford this lifestyle, he lets rooms to other people he met in the
tube, such as Tom. Tom is a musician who gave up school after an
accident, but feels happy as a busker playing in stations with other
musician friends, Peter and his boyfriend Jay, who also move to the
school. Tina, Jarvis's promiscuous cousin, lives here too with her
children, Jasper and Bienvida. Nine-year-old Jasper skips school and
with the carelessness of his age, risks his life getting his thrills
on the tube. Alice, a woman who left her husband and baby, meets
Tom, who fancies her as his savior and soon joins the tenants of the school, but what she wants to do is what she left her family for:
play the violin as a professional. In the school, there is
also Jed and his starved hawk Abelard...
All these misfits cohabit more or less
peacefully until the arrival of Axel, a troubled man with a dark
secret, who disturbs the quiet peace of the place as he sets
something terrible in motion. The reader assists to the building of
tension until the final paroxysm, knowing that tragedy is inevitable, but only guessing what exact form it could take...
As with other novels, Barbara Vine's knack for
flirting between the familiar and the weird is intact, her
characters are true, deep, always damaged beyond repair, mistreated
and led to the worst by circumstances and chance encounters. The
atmosphere she creates is disquieting and oppressive (the opening
scene with a woman caught at the rush hour in the tube actually
gives the reader the impression that he/she can hardly breathe), her
style is precise and literary. King Solomon's Carpet is a
gem, amongst Vine's best novels...
Rating:
© Discussing Books, 06/25/2006 |
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| Further Readings |
As Barbara Vine:
Vine, Barbara (1986) A Dark Adapted Eye
Vine, Barbara (1987)
A Fatal Inversion
Vine, Barbara (1988)
The House of Stairs
Vine, Barbara (1990)
Gallowglass
Vine, Barbara (1991) King Solomon's Carpet
Vine, Barbara (1993) Anna's Book
Vine, Barbara (1994)
No Night is Too Long
Vine, Barbara (1996)
The Brimstone Wedding
Vine, Barbara (1998) The Chimney Sweeper's
Boy
Vine, Barbara (2000)
Grasshopper
Vine, Barbara (2002)
The Blood Doctor
Vine, Barbara (2005) The Minotaur
As Ruth Rendell:
Rendell, Ruth (1965) To Fear a Painted Devil
Rendell, Ruth (1965) Vanity Dies Hard
Rendell, Ruth (1971)
One
Across, Two Down
Rendell, Ruth (1974)
The
Face of Trespass
Rendell, Ruth (1976)
A
Demon in my View
Rendell, Ruth (1977) A Judgement in Stone
Rendell, Ruth (1979)
Make
Death Love Me
Rendell, Ruth (1980) The Lake of Darkness
Rendell, Ruth (1982)
Master
of the Moor
Rendell, Ruth (1984)
The
Killing Doll
Rendell, Ruth (1984)
The
Tree of Hands
Rendell, Ruth (1986)
Live Flesh
Rendell, Ruth (1987)
Talking to Strange Men
Rendell, Ruth (1989)
The
Bridesmaid
Rendell, Ruth (1990)
Going Wrong
Rendell, Ruth (1993) The Crocodile Bird
Rendell, Ruth (1996) Blood Lines
Rendell, Ruth (1996)
The
Keys to the Street
Rendell, Ruth (1999)
A
Sight for Sore Eyes
Rendell, Ruth (2002) Adam and Eve and Pinch Me
Rendell,
Ruth (2004) The Rottweiler
Rendell,
Ruth (2005) Thirteen Steps Down
Rendell,
Ruth (2006) The Water's Lovely
Wexford mysteries:
Rendell, Ruth (1964)
From
Doon with Death
Rendell, Ruth (1967)
A New
Lease of Death
Rendell, Ruth (1967)
Wolf
to the Slaughter
Rendell, Ruth (1969)
The
Best Man to Die
Rendell, Ruth (1970)
A
Guilty Thing Surprised
Rendell, Ruth (1971)
No
More Dying Then
Rendell, Ruth (1972)
Murder
Being Once Done
Rendell, Ruth (1973)
Some
Lie and Some Die
Rendell, Ruth (1975)
Shake
Hands Forever
Rendell, Ruth (1978) A Sleeping Life
Rendell, Ruth (1981) Death Notes
Rendell, Ruth (1983)
Speaker of Mandarin
Rendell, Ruth (1985)
An
Unkindness of Ravens
Rendell, Ruth (1988)
The
Veiled One
Rendell, Ruth (1992)
Kissing the Gunner's Daughter
Rendell, Ruth (1995)
Simisola
Rendell, Ruth (1997)
Road Rage
Rendell, Ruth (1999) Harm Done
Rendell,
Ruth (2003) The Babes in the Wood
Rendell,
Ruth (2005)
End in Tears
Rendell,
Ruth (2007) Not in the Flesh
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Critiques