Highbrow Magazine - Jane Smiley https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/jane-smiley en Tracking Down a Killer in Jane Smiley’s ‘A Dangerous Business’ https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/23473-tracking-down-killer-jane-smiley-s-dangerous-business <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 03/14/2023 - 14:46</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1smileybook.jpg?itok=HdN7cORn"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1smileybook.jpg?itok=HdN7cORn" width="480" height="318" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>A Dangerous Business</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>By Jane Smiley</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Knopf</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>224 pages</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Monterey, California, 1851. Two women, Eliza Ripple and Jean MacPherson, work in different brothels in the city, at some personal risk (“being a woman is a dangerous business,” as one madam, Mrs. Parks, puts it). The perils of life as a prostitute in California’s gold-rush era become alarmingly clear as, one by one, the bodies of murdered sex workers are found in the area. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Jane Smiley, a prolific author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, <em>A Thousand Acres</em>, is certainly eclectic in her chosen subject matter. She has ventured far and wide in her fiction, from the wilds of 14<sup>th</sup>-century Greenland<strong> </strong>(<em>The Greenlanders</em>) to the “wilds” of academia (<em>Moo</em>) and the intrigues of horse racing (<em>Horse Heaven</em>).  </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2smileybook.jpg" style="height:435px; width:652px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Smiley’s new novel, <em>A Dangerous Business</em>, is no exception to her wide-ranging interests, though the result seems a lesser addition to her oeuvre.  </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">For one thing, there’s a lot of exposition in the opening pages. We learn about Eliza’s late husband, Peter, and how his violent death led her to work in a house of ill repute. We meet several of her clients, men from all walks of life in this frontier outpost. Later, Eliza and Jean undertake their own amateur scrutiny into the killings—aided by a reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and the investigatory techniques of C. Auguste Dupin, its legendary detective. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The ensuing action, however, takes a long time in coming. At one point, these female sleuths go for a buggy ride around the Monterey peninsula:</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3smileybook.jpg" style="height:416px; width:650px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“First, they went past the dock and headed up along the bay. Eliza was on the left side, and enjoyed looking out at the curving, pale beaches with the waves of the bay simply lapping, not crashing. The water was blue as blue, since the sun shone from behind the hills. The dunes were interesting, too; Eliza had never seen a dune, though she had heard of them. There were four ships visible in the bay, one apparently heading toward the docks, two heading away from the docks, and one moored, for some reason, perhaps a quarter of a mile out in the water—the sails of that one were down, and Eliza could make out some figures standing on the bow, looking toward the docks.” </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">While this is evocative of the region, the slackness in some of the phrasing (“water as blue as blue” and “The dunes were interesting” and repeated use of “docks” and “heading”) suggests a lackluster prose that’s unfortunately evident throughout. The novel’s pacing suffers, again due to the leaden exposition. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Scenes with Eliza at her job are rendered in oddly understated language as well. Her interactions with the roughshod clientele seem not especially risky, a bit surprising given the ruffian behavior of the times. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4smileybook.jpg" style="height:600px; width:392px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In the end, the mystery behind the serial killings is resolved, but only after Eliza and Jean have taken many long walks and buggy rides, in pursuit of inconclusive leads. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">For some readers, <em>A Dangerous Business </em>may fall short of expectations. Uneasily blending historical and crime fiction, Jane Smiley’s novel lacks the urgency of her previous work, and its chief protagonist, Eliza Ripple, isn’t compelling enough to carry the story on her own. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Lee Polevoi</em>, Highbrow Magazine’s <em>chief book critic, is the author of a new novel, </em></strong><a href="https://www.lpconfessions.com/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong>The Confessions of Gabriel Ash</strong></a><strong><em>, coming in May. </em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Image Sources:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--PublicDomainPictures (<a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/knife-stabbing-stab-kill-murder-316655/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Judith Scharnowski (<a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/monterey-ocean-california-norcal-1571091/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--GDJ (<a href="https://pixabay.com/vectors/woman-carriage-travel-vehicle-7443757/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Knopf</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/jane-smiley" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Jane Smiley</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/dangerous-business" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">A Dangerous Business</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new books</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new fiction</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/murder-mysteries" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">murder mysteries</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/novels" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">novels</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/gold-rush-era" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">gold rush era</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Lee Polevoi</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Tue, 14 Mar 2023 18:46:12 +0000 tara 11733 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/23473-tracking-down-killer-jane-smiley-s-dangerous-business#comments