Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I would give it 6 stars if I could, 8 Nov 2005
I so agree with one of the previous reviewers that Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell is the best writer in her genre. She is streets ahead of anyone else in the field. The plot has been dealt with by several reviewers so will not repeat it here. What is so marvellous about Vine's writing is her building up of the story to a great (and usually unexpected climax). True, the plot was fairly obvious but it was the way she approached the story that made it so interesting. I also have the problem of wanting to gallop ahead and yet rationing myself so that I don't finish the book too quickly. I have read all her books and most of them twice. Her ability to deal with and develop the characters in her books is just amazing. Each and every one of the Cosway children as well as Mrs. Cosway and the outside characters were made so human and so believable. This book deserves 6 stars
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another fantastic addition to the Vine Library, 13 Mar 2006
As with the previous reveiwer, I cannot praise Barbara Vine's latest work enough. As is often the case with Vine's books, this ia a true slow-burner, and the real action does not occur until the latter parts of the book, but the build up and characters are so compelling you are gripped from the outset, feeling, perhaps like Kerstin that you are an outsider given a privileged but disturbing vantage point to observe the family in the Hall. The Cosways are a superb creation, sinister, grotesque, comedic and pitiable by turns, certainly a dysfunctional family to rival the dynamics of the Hilliard/Longley family in A Dark adapted Eye (One of my favourites from her earlier works). The clues and pointers are placed strategically from the start, from the characters reaquainted with Kerstin at the start and those they mention, to the Roman vase, the library and Lydstep Old Hall itself, leading you compulsively onwards to the shattering conclusions. I was slightly concerned at one point that developments toward the end would result in a cheap pastiche of events in Jane Eyre and Rebecca, but Vine creates her own set of circumstances, and by references to both, she deftly avoids this.
I have thoroughly enjoyed and wholeheartedly reccommend The Minotaur
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A terrific read by any standards, 2 Nov 2006
What a great pleasure it is to settle down with a new Barbara Vine novel. As they usually appear at two- or three-year intervals I always try to read them slowly and savour them, but it's not long before I'm racing through the chapters to find out what happens next.
One of the author's great gifts is her characterisation. It would be true to say she rarely draws especially likeable or heroic characters, which is either a fault or an accurate reflection of human nature, depending on your point of view. However, there is no one better at exposing and examining human frailties, weaknesses, compulsions and unpleasant impulses. In 'The Minotaur', the Cosway family are her central creations - representative of a dying breed of landed country families even in the 'Sixties (the novel's setting). They live an insular, claustrophobic life in their dark, overgrown old house, seething with petty jealousies and resentments which eventually explode into violence. Other notable figures include Felix Dunsford, artist and womaniser, who comes to the village and causes such disruption in the Cosways' lives. He is egotistical, unfeeling and amoral; yet, in a typically complex piece of characterisation, Barbara Vine occasionally gives us a glimpse of the aging, rather tragic and pathetic figure behind the mask. She constantly challenges the reader not to make hard and fast judgements by pulling the rug out from under us.
The Vine novels, even more so than the non-Wexford Ruth Rendell books, are what are often called 'slow-burn thrillers'. Those looking for quick, cheap thrills will not find them here. How much more satisfying it is to follow Vine's carefully constructed scenarios, expertly paced and plotted to gradually build hints of tension, until the suspense reaches fever pitch at the denouement. 'The Minotaur' is no exception, and proves a worthy addition to Barbara Vine's outstanding body of work.
To finish, I feel I must strongly take issue with the comments of the previous reviewer. Firstly, Vine is one of the most consistent writers around; over the past twenty years only 'Gallowglass' has truly disappointed. 'Grasshopper', far from being a failure, is one of her richest and most rewarding books, with perhaps the most nail-biting conlusion of any of them. I'd certainly rate it above 'No Night Is Too Long', which is an excellent, haunting book but not among her absolute best. Lastly, there are few writers who deal with homosexuality more sensitively or sympathetically than Ruth Rendell; many of her Barbara Vine books have touched on the subject. When one of the characters in this book suggests a middle-aged, unmarried clergyman might be an "invert", it is simply typical of the attitude to be found in a small country village in the 'Sixties. The matter is dropped because it has no further place in the story, other than perhaps to illustrate the old-fashioned, narrow minds of the Cosways. To read something untoward into the author's attitude based on this single piece of dialogue seems utterly absurd.
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