nerd teacher [books] reviewed Urn Burial by Kerry Greenwood
Fairly Solid Mystery, Frustrating Narration
3 stars
Something that bothers me about Greenwood is that her writing would be at home as having been produced simultaneously to early Agatha Christie, and even Christie was less likely (not unlikely, because she most certainly did) to use various epithets or certain racist phrasings with the readiness that Greenwood does... and those things really detract from the story.
Because I skipped books in the series, this is the first time that I encountered the characters of Lin Chung and Li Pen, and... Can I just say that this is such an odd naming conventions for Chinese men? It's mostly the double-surname problem all over again, especially since both men are referred to in formal settings as "Mr Lin" and "Mr Li," while Phryne refers to Lin Chung as "Lin" in more intimate settings (and he uses her personal name).
There are also narrations that include phrases like "an …
Something that bothers me about Greenwood is that her writing would be at home as having been produced simultaneously to early Agatha Christie, and even Christie was less likely (not unlikely, because she most certainly did) to use various epithets or certain racist phrasings with the readiness that Greenwood does... and those things really detract from the story.
Because I skipped books in the series, this is the first time that I encountered the characters of Lin Chung and Li Pen, and... Can I just say that this is such an odd naming conventions for Chinese men? It's mostly the double-surname problem all over again, especially since both men are referred to in formal settings as "Mr Lin" and "Mr Li," while Phryne refers to Lin Chung as "Lin" in more intimate settings (and he uses her personal name).
There are also narrations that include phrases like "an oriental hold" (for Li Pen being able to hold a dangerous and fighting man) and having the narration refer to Lin Chung as "the Chinese." It'd be one thing if a character said it (still not great), but why does the narration need to continually remind us that he's Chinese? I know he is. I haven't forgotten.
And all of that really just makes it frustrating to read, even if the story is largely well-constructed and engaging. There's no reason for the narration to remind me of things, especially if there are going to be pieces of dialogue where Phryne is correcting people for their racism (even if done in ways that feel strange but could be forgiven for their early 20th century landed gentry sort of setting).