Book Review

[kenjari]

The Quincunx
by Charles Palliser

This extremely lengthy novel is like throwing the works of Dickens and Collins in a blender and adding a few i9ngredients of one's own to create a complex and heady cocktail. The narrative follows the story of John Huffam through his childhood and adolescence as he and his mother contend with a very convoluted inheritance mystery that potentially puts John in position to be the heir to a vast estate, but also puts him in grave danger from those who stand to benefit if he is removed from the equation.
The plot of The Quincunx is extremely intricate, involving various members of five interconnected families and their associates, many twists and turns, several betrayals, and a seemingly endless supply of secrets to be revealed. In the process, we see John's slide into an ever more desperate destitution, his interactions with a large cast of colorful characters, and his increasing ambivalence towards his role in the inheritance mystery. Although I occasionally felt a bit exasperated at the constant twists, the intricacy was overall quite clever and delightful. The many quirky characters were indeed worthy of Dickens, and I particularly enjoyed the forays into some of the less well-illuminated aspects of the 19th century (e.g., making a living by searching the sewers for coins and other small valuables). Palliser has done a wonderful job of evoking 19th century Britain and its literature.

Comments

[aedifica]

I started reading The Quincunx, but stopped around the time they moved out of their house in the village because I was tired of the main character as a little boy being so sure he knew better than his mother. Does that aspect get better?

[kenjari]

Not exactly. He does continue to think he knows better than his mother, but as he gets a little older and things become more desperate for them, sometimes he's right.