You all know how much I was looking forward to Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield. Well, unfortunately I was somewhat disappointed. While Ms. Setterfield’s use of language is remarkable, the storyline and characters were somewhat less so, in my opinion. But, bear in mind, I’m a literary reader, meaning I read for the story, not the unlying, hidden meanings and symbolism, of which I’m sure there were many in this book.
An author recently posited on Facebook that the quality of books nowadays is being judged on whether the characters are likable and that shouldn’t be the criterion. I agree. However, you should feel something for the characters; love, hate, sympathy; something that will drive you further into the book. Does the character you love get the guy in the end (so to speak)? Does the one you hate get his/her comeuppance?
A book fails, again in my humble opinion, when you don’t feel anything for the characters and that is my issue with Bellman & Black. I felt nothing for the main character, William Bellman, throughout his triumphs and his miseries. He was a man who initially became a workaholic to drown out his sorrow and which ultimately separated him from the rest of society.
Let me know your thoughts on the book. I’d be really interested.
Two Heads Together 
I have it in the house and will try it. Not reading your review right now. Thanks!!!!!! Enjoying the new Johnny Cash bio, not boring!
Let me know what you think of Bellman & Black when you’re done. I won the new Donald Fagan autobiography from Librarything and am awaiting its arrival. Not a big music biography/autobiography fan, though. Read Gregg Allman’s autobiography which was horrendous.
I have to tell you, one of the most entertaining memoirs I ever read was Marlo Thomas’s “Growing Up Laughing,” maybe because I grew up watching her dad’s show and I also knew the comedians mentioned in the book, which btw contains a lot of good laughing out loud jokes!!!!!
I used to love Make Room for Daddy. Yikes, when was that on TV? Yes, I’m ancient.
Just found your blog doing a search on James M. Cain. I’m looking for writers like him and I think they probably don’t exist. Sorry for the aside. I remember trying to read The Thirteenth Tale and didn’t finish it. I’m willing to give it another go. I remember it being too slow and I couldn’t at the time wait for it to unfold. I agree that (from your first post on this book) that the focus on the likablity of a character shouldn’t be a criterion. There are plenty of protagonists I couldn’t stand and that says a lot about the writer in making them real enough to evoke some response from me. I don’t take off points on a character being likable but do view it negatively if the character development is half done or non-existment. So, 7 years between books. Yikes and it was a bit disappointing. I’ve been there. Sorry to ramble on your blog.
Keishon, don’t worry about rambling on. That’s fine. Let me know if you retry The Thirteenth Tale. In the meantime, if you want to find writers like J. M. Cain, I suggest you get copies of The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask and The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps, both editied by Otto Penzler. They contain pulp mystery stories from the 1920s through the 1950s which were published in the pulp mystery magazines that were popular then (both about 1100 pages, 2 columns per page, but so worth it). Also, there are posts on this blog about pulp mysteries. Let me know how your search progresses. In the meantime, have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanks Ed! I will let you know and thanks for the guidance/advice. Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.