BOOK REVIEW: KINGDOM OF THE BLIND

The epilogue that Louise Penny writes for this book is in itself worth the read. In difficult circumstances, she paints the picture of how she sat down at her dining room table and slowly wrote this book. Titled after the quote from medieval Erasmus, "In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king", the cover reminded me of the dystopian movie Blindness.

I read this book after investing the time to read all the previous ones. It's a series that requires this investment. It requires an understanding of the development of the characters. Some of the friends are expanded, and the family that is Gamache's work family comes together in this story, that is a dénouement of a number of books, some of which I found myself disliking.

In most of the past books, there are usually a couple of ideas that are meant to work out as clever constructs, but sometimes are darlings that should have been killed (glass houses and Spanish Cobradors, as potential examples).

In this case, there are some original, and potentially too unrealistic constructs, but I found the ones in this story more subtle, and woven together more carefully than others in the last books.

A couple of ideas that I enjoyed a lot were:

Gamache's idea that we all have a longhouse of experiences. None can be walled off. All make up the complexity of our existence. In Armand's words:

"...my mentor had this theory that our lives are like an aboriginal longhouse. Just one huge room....He said that is f we thought we could compartmentalize things, we were deluding ourselves. Everyone we meet, every word we speak, every action taken or not taken lives in our longhouse. With us. Always. Never to be expelled or locked away....if you don't want your longhouse to smell like merde, you have to do two things---Be very, very careful who you let into your life. And learn to make peace with whatever happens. You can't erase the past. It's trapped there with you. But you can make peace with it. If you don't,...you'll be a t perpetual war,...and the enemy you'll be fighting is yourself."

The character of a billionaire investor based on Penny's acquaintance with Janislowsky.

A group of people chosen as strangers to be executors of a will.

A young naive couple with romantic ideas and a delusional elderly pair that referred to themselves as Baron and Baroness, who are just as romantic, a play on the name Rothchild (Kinderoth).

I like to imagine the paintings that Clara paints, and the books of poetry Ruth writes.

I prayed to be good and strong and wise,
for my daily bread and deliverance
from the sins I was told were mind from birth
and the Guilt of an old inheritance.

I like to have to look things up: like what is primogeniture? What is the movie A Shot in the Dark about? What food is lemon posset? What is The Wreck of  Hesperus about? Is Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds an actual book? What else did Marcus Aurelius say in the book he is quoted as saying: It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live?

I wish that I could have the wherewithal to think of my favourite things when stressed or scared, like Armnad  lists them in his head, like a rosary.

 Clean sheets. The scent of wood smoke. Feeling Henri's head on my slippers. Flaky croissants. The scent of fresh croissants. Holding Reine-Marie in my arms, in bed, on a rainy morning. Driving across the Champlain Bridge and seeing the Montréal skyline. The scent of fresh-cut grass. Walking along the Seine, holding the little hands of Flora and Zora. Reine Marie in his arms on a lazy Sunday morning. Laundry on the line. The scent of Honoré. Sitting in the garden with an iced tea. Reine-Marie. Croissants. The first log fire in autumn. The scent of fresh-cut grass. Croissants.

I like the silly ideas of opening a local carnival with Justin Trudeau and running a contest around the village green in bathing suits, wearing snowshoes!

It also may help that this story concludes many uncertainties about the character of the beloved Inspector Gamache. I thoroughly enjoyed this read. Even if you have yet to start the story arc of this series, this book is worth you starting Still Life, reading the preceding thirteen in total, just to get her.

It is worth mentioning that this book rates as parental guidance for violence, homicide (no surprise there!), and vulgarity (F.I.N.E has officially become a darling to be killed!).

OBSENITY WARNING:

They fuck you up, your mum and dad. 
They may not mean to, but they do.

Man hands on misery to man. 
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can 
And don't have any kids yourself.

Or as read to a kid as a bed time story:

Man hands on happiness to man.
it deepens like a coastal shelf. 
so love your parents all you can,
And have some cheerful kids yourself.

This was a well woven tapestry of intellect, justice, hope, irreverence, trust, community, and love. I enjoyed it thoroughly.