Fancy Ferret Ferret itibaren La Gallera, Sincelejo, Sucre, Kolombiya itibaren La Gallera, Sincelejo, Sucre, Kolombiya

I don't have much to say about this book that I want to record for posterity. This one may end up on a garage sale table. I remember reading the The Turn of the Screw in college and it worked for me. In fact, I still count that as one of the better books I read (outside the stuff in major 20th century American writers) before I dumped my english major. Maybe the problem was my expectations were set too high. James was deft, nuanced - capable of spinning a tale that was masterfully ambiguous, creepy, and engaging throughout. Setterfield doesn't prefer the light touch - instead she comes loaded for bear. It shines through in large ways and small ways: Small way - it's not enough that the Vida Winter charachter is dying - every five pages we get another paragraph on how much the old bag has wilted since their last meeting. On and on and on and on. You think to yourself, well she's got to to die at this point because apparently "she's just a skeleton." But then two days later she's still hanging on, looking (apparently) even worse. I guess that's the device used to remind us that her death is impending, but I filed that under "important facts" the first time she told me. Honestly. Large way - there are no puzzles here you get to work out for yourself. Every unanswered question gets an answer, every subplot gets a tidy, if implausible, resolution. I can't decide whether Setterfield hates the reading public or just has a low opinion of its general intelligence. But I perservered, dammit. I read the whole thing, despite my better judgment. What a waste. Here was a chance for a 21st century author to build on the category The Turn Of The Screw made popular. At minimum, maybe it was a chance to artfully respond to the pages of crap that Stephen King churns our every quarter. In the end it was just an opportunity for Setterfield to drop a steaming pile onto the pages of the NY Times best seller list. Apparently that was the only opportunity not lost on this author.