The Transcendental Murder

Kuang aims her furious and brilliant pen at mid-19th century Britain, a country turned empire, underpinned by the greedy and often nonchalant exploitation of the rest of the world. Oxford is portrayed like Hogwarts, but one in which Dumbledore and McGonagall and all the staff and other students are in cahoots with Voldemort, the resistance feeble and badly outmatched. Can Luke and Leia outwit the immensely powerful yet complacent Empire to salvage the remnants of the Rebel Alliance and free the galaxy (i.e. China and India)?

As with The Poppy War, the story is set within a historical context and embellished with magical elements, in this case it's the beginning phases of the Opium Wars with China. She doesn't hold back with her portrayal show more of the banal evil of the contemptible high-born Brits, but the depictions of racism, sexism, abuse, and bigotry are a bit heavy handed at times, and become so monotonous that after a while it loses its impact. We get it, colonialism is bad, Victorian society was haughty and malignant, living conditions for the lower classes were abysmal (often needlessly so) and it took many decades of struggle to gain even the most basic freedoms (e.g. abolition of slavery, women's suffrage). Repeating the same message 34 times doesn't make the point any stronger than the powerful first scene of brutal depravity did.

But ultimately the book is about determining one's own boundaries when faced with oppression, especially when it doesn't directly impact you. Do you turn a blind eye to the suffering of others because you're not involved, or do you put yourself at risk to hide your Jewish neighbours in the attic? Do you stay home, march peacefully in a BLM protest and get beaten, pepper sprayed, and arrested, or don a black bandana and torch a McDonald's? In other words, under what conditions is a violent response justified, and when does "conscientious freedom fighter" morph into "radicalized terrorist"? Here Kuang is a lot more subtle, after setting the stage for a violent showdown she largely steps back and lets us agonize along with her characters as they debate their actions, determining not only their own fates, but that of countless others. Did they make the right decisions? Read the book and let me know. show less

I'm surprised (given how much I loved the Langton family series) that these books should be so "meh" for me. I read a later one, and reviewers mentioned it had lost some of its earlier sparkle, so I went back to the beginning, and still, "meh." (Less than "meh," really). None of the characters engaged, there seemed to be no plot to speak of (in the first 1/5 of the book, which ought to be enough to get things going), and it only came alive in one sequence when a gullible dupe began quoting forged letters from literary luminaries--not enough to save it for me.

On to other books--there's no shortage of them!

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at show more picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! show less

I discovered this series from a conversation I had with someone on a trail in Lincoln, MA. She had actually met the author, Jane Langton, who I wish I'd been able to meet.

This is the first in the Homer Kelly series, where Homer is working for the DA's office in Cambridge, after having worked as a detective.

Homer is in Concord because of his interest in Henry Thoreau and the Transcendentalists. He gets involved with the townspeople over the murder of one of the important people in town who is also a jerk and a bully. By the end of the story, Homer's life will be changed. I enjoyed reading about the Concord of 60 years ago, what has changed, and what has remained the same.

I've decided to read all of the books in the series that are set show more in New England. show less

I think this is a remarkable book and a stellar narration which enhanced my appreciation of the book. I am grateful for my habit of reading mass media book reviews after I’ve read a book rather than before — particularly in this case, because they are generally not as enthusiastic as I am. I think, on the whole, most of the reviewers I checked out failed to appreciate the totality of the world Kuang created for the reader, footnotes and all.

I loved all the quirky characters and all the history that was added in. There is a great sense of what it was like to be in 1960s Concord Massachusetts.

The year: 1967. The place: public library, Tulare, Calif. The book: The Transcendental Murder. I had just learned about the Transcendentalists in high school English, and here was the big word in the title of a mystery novel. I read it and loved it. More than four decades later, I can still remember the thrill of discovering Mary and Homer, Alice Herpitude (what a great name!), Mrs. Bewley's message from Jesus—even the anecdotes involving upside down violin music and decorating Homer's tie with cucumber and banana slices. This is Langdon's first published mystery and one of her best.

Started pretty slow but by the time the crime was committed I was hooked, it's the first book in the series and I'll be reading more of them.