Book Review: Gallowglass by Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell)

Gallowglass - Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell), Harmony Books, 1990 - 1st American edition  

Before launching into my review of Gallowglass, I would like to make a few preliminary remarks. As Ruth Rendell (aka Barbara Vine) is one of my all-time favourite authors, I actually regret leaving a negative review for Gallowglass. Dating back to my late teens, Rendell has been a favourite author of mine and I am slowly but surely reading my way through Rendell's back catalogue of novels, novellas and short stories. Never particularly taking an interest in her Wexford series, I am a great fan of her standalone psychological suspense fiction, including those titles published under her nom de plume Barbara Vine.

If you check out my book shelf, you will always find, amongst the read copies, an unread Rendell / Vine, ready to be consumed when I am in the mood for another dose of her very special brand of psychological suspense. Luckily, Ruth Rendell, who sadly died in 2015, was a prolific writer and I am thankfully not going to run out of titles any time soon. Many of the titles I have read, I would class as favourite reads, including The Killing Doll, Lake of Darkness, One Across Two Down and the Tree of Hands. 

Numerous of Rendell's plots and motifs stayed with me a long time after reading. Despite having read her novel Grasshopper many, many years ago, I still habitually think of this book and its roof-climbing protagonists, gazing at the rows of terraced houses from the train when I am travelling into London. I can therefore safely say that Rendell's fiction and her style of writing have made a long-lasting impression on me. I am by no means saying that all of her titles are ground-breaking works of fiction. Nevertheless, as far as entertainment is concerned, I have thus far never come across a major let-down. 

Unfortunately, apart from delivering an unexpected twist at the end of the plot, a let-down is what Gallowglass was, at least in my opinion. As a consequence it took me around twelve months to finish this book. I stopped reading two thirds into the novel last November. Around the same time I discovered the BBC mini-series, which I (BIG MISTAKE!) finished watching before completing the book. (For all those interested: The BBC TV adaptation closely follows the book and I would not hesitate recommending it to all those wishing to avoid reading the book.) 

It comes as no surprise that watching the TV adaptation caused me to completely lose my motivation to finish reading Gallowglass until I forced myself through the remaining 75 pages last weekend. Had the book not been written by one of my favourite authors, I might have relegated it back onto the shelf half-read. 

There are several problems with Gallowglass and whilst I cannot really put my finger on it, here are the two main reasons why I only moderately enjoyed this book: 

• The perspective / tone of voice: 

I cannot think of any examples of Rendell / Vine books, in which the author has chosen to tell the story from a character's perspective. Gallowglass, however, is in parts (around half of the chapters) told from the perspective of Little Joe, one of the story's main protagonists. The remainder of the book is narrated from the perspective of a third person narrator. 

In the chapters told from Little Joe's point of view Vine / Rendell naturally adapts her style and language to suit the character's linguistic abilities. Given Little Joe's  background, these abilities are limited, which is reflected in his tone of voice, the conclusions he draws and the observations he makes. If you appreciate Rendell's succinct, elegant and detached mode of storytelling and prose, please be advised that you will not get this for very long stretches of this novel. Whilst reading, I could literally feel that I was trying to read through Little Joe's account of the story quickly, in order to get to the next chapter and be reunited with the third person narrator. 

• Contrived plot / inconsistencies: 

In Gallowglass Rendell / Vine keeps the plot moving at a steady pace, whilst managing to provide accounts of historic events, the characters' backgrounds and motivations. Nevertheless, I felt that the novel was full of incongruities. Why, for example, security magnate Apsoland would employ an ex-teacher (Garnet) without a professional background in security to provide chauffeur services and ensure the personal protection of his wife Nina, aka the Princess, eludes me. 

This point of criticism comes to bear later in the novel as well. Yet, for the sake of keeping this review spoiler-free, let's just say that Apsoland's employee selection and screening processes seem to lack depth. Given Apsoland's profession and stated obsession with security, this was one of the many preposterous elements of the plot and an inconsistency that continued to jar with me until the end, for it is both unbelievable and completely unrealistic, but was also a necessary element to achieve a coherent, albeit contrived, story and the all-important surprise twist at the end.

Sadly, for these reasons I simply did not enjoy the book as much as I would have liked. Gallowglass, however, does not reflect the quality of Rendell's / Vine's other output  and luckily for me, there are many more Rendell / Vine novels to discover. Even though Gallowglass did not convince me, having just started (actually almost finished) The Bridesmaid, Rendell will certainly not lose me as a constant reader.

Book Review: Dark Dance by Tanith Lee

Dark Dance (Bloof Opera I), by Tanith Lee, 1992, Macdonald & Co
Cover Art: uncredited 

Tanith Lee has come up in a number of my Goodreads reading suggestions and on the back of these recommendations I decided to actually read something written by the author earlier this year. 

I came across several of her titles, including Silver Metal Lover and Electric Forest, which all sounded appealing, but decided to make a start with Dark Dance, which is the first book in Lee's Blood Opera series. 

As some of Lee's titles command quite a highish price tag on the second-hand book market, my decision to settle for Dark Dance was partially influenced by the availability of the hardback first edition for a reasonable price and, I have to admit, I liked the book's cover. (Sadly, the cover artist is not credited.)

Plot Summary -  Dark Dance by Tanith Lee

Jumping straight into a summary of this book without giving too much away: 

The story follows our heroine Rachaela Day from the point when she is plucked from her solitary and mundane life as a bookshop assistant in London to live with her father's family, the Scarabae, on the family's country estate, up to the point when her then 11-year-old daughter Ruth arrives to join the Scarabae family a decade later.

Having been brought up as an only child by her estranged and now deceased single-mother, Rachaela is at first reluctant to join her relatives. (She has thus far never met her father.) Yet, as circumstances appear to conspire against her, she eventually embarks on the journey to meet and live with this rather weird bunch of characters.

The Scarabae family is made up of a multitude of extremely long-lived oddballs, who idle away their days galloping through the house on toy horses or defiling books in the library before gathering at regular intervals for seagull stews and roast rabbit dinners. (The interaction between Rachaela and the Scarabae takes place almost exclusively during dinner time.)

Following a rather disconcerting nightly encounter with the most reclusive member of the family, Adamus Scarabae, Rachaela's father, the family's dark secrets (a tradition of intergenerational, incestuous relationships mixed-in with a moderate amount of vampire-like behaviours) are gradually unveiled to Rachaela and the reader. 

Overwhelmed by the enormity of it all in combination with an unwillingness to yield to Scarabae family tradition and play her part in this 'familial arrangement', Rachaela makes a first attempt at returning into her old life, but due to abysmal public transport links (Tanith Lee delivers a humorous, yet totally factual, and thus damning indictment of the British public transport infrastructure in these passages) Rachaela is soon retrieved by her very own father, for whom she is, much to her own dismay and bewilderment, now harbouring sexual attraction. 

Following their passionate encounter in the aftermath of Rachaela's 'repatriation' to the Scarabae family home, Adamus, however, reverts to his reclusive lifestyle within the tower. Ignored and neglected by her absent lover and bored-out by the remainder of the geriatric family members, Rachaela decides to embark on a second escape from the family, which ends in her return to London.

Here she intends to take-up her old lifestyle, but finds herself pregnant with Adamus's child. For the ensuing eleven years, we witness how Rachaela fits her life around her unwanted daughter, Ruth, until the family finally start stalking Ruth, who readily abandons her mother to take-up residence with the Scarabae. 

In the aftermath of her daughter's departure from London, Rachaela follows Ruth to the estate. Motivated for the most part by jealousy of Ruth, who is now at the centre of the Scarabae's and, above all, Adamus's attention, and by a sense of maternal duty rather than genuine concern for her daughter's emotional wellbeing, Rachaela attempts to extract Ruth from the family's clutches, but has to resign herself to the role of a bystander, witnessing both Ruth's betrothal to Adamus and her eventual revolt against the family's rulebook. 

Verdict

Dark Dance was quite something else and I am at a loss how to best assign this book to a genre, though I would agree that, purely for the sake of assigning a genre label to the story, I think Urban Dark Fantasy probably sums it up nicely. Perhaps even Urban Dark Erotic Vampire Fantasy? How does that sound?

Yes, there are vampires or vampiric elements, but this aspect of the story is not really touched upon in great detail and the reader is largely left in the dark about the specific nature of the Scarabae-type vampire. Some reviewers highlighted the erotic elements within the story. Yet, despite the explicit nature of a handful of passages, I wouldn't describe Dark Dance as Erotica or Erotic Fantasy either. The book is not exactly littered with descriptions of erotic scenes. 

Yes, Dark Dance contains explicit references and descriptions of intergenerational incest. Some readers clearly are put off by this. Deal with it, or don't. It's the premise of the book. I repeat: Dark Dance is about incest as a longstanding tradition practised within the Scarabae family. The plot revolves around it, the family's peculiar characteristics and, above all, their longevity are derived (somehow) through the practice of incest. If you are put-off by references to and the description of incest, don't read Dark Dance. Your choice. 

Yes, the storyelling remains at times rather vague, both in respect of the characterisation of  the main protagonists, their motivations and their backstories. However, through this omission of backstory and lack of explanation Dark Dance derives its appeal (at least for me), i.e. through the elements of the plot, which are not touched upon. The unexplained adds to the appeal of the book.

As a deliberate stylistic choice, this ommission adds a layer of mystery and kept me guessing and pondering about the protagonists' choices and motivations long after finishing the book. Why, for example, is Adamus opting for a reclusive lifestyle away from the family, whilst at the same time complying with its traditions? What is the reason behind the persecution of the family, their residence in exile and how did they come to be what they are today in the first place? I am very much hoping that some of these aspects will be addressed in Personal Darkness, the second instalment of the Blood Opera series, which I shall definitely be getting hold of.

Lastly, I have to mention that I enjoyed Lee's style of writing immensely. It's evocative, atmospheric, sparse at times and not overly descriptive. She has an incredibly subtle sense of humour, which brilliantly came to life in her depiction of Rachaela's transport nightmare following her first escape from the estate, and she is extremely apt at conveying deadpan humour through dialogue. I will certainly be reading more by Tanith Lee.