The Sculptress | Minette Walters

The Sculptress | Minette Walters | Who's in control?

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The Sculptress

	The Sculptress Minette Walters Macmillan Audio Books, 2002 average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The facts of the case were simple: Olive Martin had pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering her sister and mother, earning herself the chilling nickname 'The Sculptress'.This much journalist Rosalind Leigh knew before her first meeting with Olive, currently serving a life sentence. How could Roz have foreseen that the encounter was destined to change her life-forever?

Walter's Mission

Minette Walters is recognized by many as the Queen of the British psychological mystery and for good reason. I would not hold them in the same class as Elizabeth George's fine novels but they are close and for sheer invention, they are superior. It is the hallmark of a great author that they can transform a rather overworked subject (woman chops up family) into an intense thriller and who should be the star but an obese woman who may or may not be telling the truth.

Ms Walters's writings remind me of the what the producer said about "The Thomas Crowne Affair" - it was a movie of, for and about adults. That could be said about Walter's writings that have intelligent, complex individuals far from their high school years. In this case, the heroine is a reporter who, through chance and pressure, decides to write a book about a famous crime for which the woman confessed. She is drawn (like the reader) into the real story of what happened and her convictions begin to form almost against her will. Is she being manipulated or is Olive Martin an innocent victim.

Along the way we are introduced to another character, a former cop now a restaurant owner and a a quirky romance develops (the best). Walters will most likely never have a hero or heroine walk into a bar, "eye a stranger" and bounce the bed springs two minutes later. Yes, that's the calibre of writing for most of today's movies and books, admittedly easier but such a copout. Instead, her characters develop, think, change and only slowly admit their deepest passions. A tremendously satisfying work - A+

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Who's in control?

The Sculptress is a superbly plotted and terrifyingly good read from one of the UK's reigning mystery goddesses, Minette Walters. As inept as I am in composing plot synopses, I'll give it my best shot here. I apologize for its length, but rest assured I have no spoilers to diminish prospective readers' enjoyment of this novel.

After a profound personal loss, Rosalind `Roz' Leigh, an author of some renown, is finding it difficult to carry on with her writing and life in general. She's entertaining thoughts of suicide and agent and friend, Iris, would like her to get on with it, at least to assuage Roz's publisher. Reluctantly, Roz accepts the publisher's ultimatum--a book covering the grisly story of Olive Martin, who's incarcerated after confessing to the slaughter of her mother, Gwen, and her sister, Amber. Olive earned the nickname "sculptress" for having rearranged her victims' body parts after cutting them up and a later penchant for carving small wax figures in prison. Roz is put off at her initial sight of Olive. Olive is described as a "grotesque parody of a woman," and is made even more repulsive by the very gruesomeness of her crime. As the singsong rhyme of Lizzie Borden reverberates in her head, Roz soldiers on, and as she painfully coaxes bits of information from Olive, becomes convinced that Olive is innocent. What ensue are her all-consuming attempts to piece together an intricate puzzle out of the morass of characters, primary of which is Olive's dysfunctional family. Adding to the challenge is the abundance of conflicting and puzzling accounts of those whose lives were in one way or another connected to the tragedy. As if this weren't enough, she has fallen in love with Hal Hawksley, Olive's arresting officer, whose life is being threatened by thugs determined to oust him from his restaurant.

Ms. Walters' writing style is contemporary, far removed from the elegant narratives of British mystery icons like Josephine Tey or Dorothy L. Sayers (even when said icons were writing about carnage, their language was very much "drawing-room prose"). Neither is it nightmare-inducing as a good Mo Hayder novel would be, despite its subject matter. Instead, The Sculptress' lingo immediately establishes the grittiness and no-nonsense characteristics of the present day and its inhabitants. It effectively conveys (a) the various characters' human frailties, (b) Olive Martin's alienation, crippling loneliness, and disturbing cunning, and (c) the gruesomeness of the crime, but without the aid of a Dramamine. It is descriptive without being overdone. It's also a refreshing compromise for a reader like me who sometimes alternates between the extremes of classic mysteries and horror.

Ms. Walters is very much the mistress of her novel. She provides the clues when she's good and ready and not any sooner. She leaves the reader perplexed about certain details even when the reader fully comprehends the story. She offers no excuses for the ambiguity of her ending. Unlike some readers, I actually prefer this as I revisit the story in my head, hoping to infer a conclusion very near that of the authoress'. But this preference of mine is not absolute; thus, I can understand how the ambiguity would bother some readers, especially fans of neatly resolved mysteries. There are stories that would indeed suffer if the answer to the mystery was not properly revealed at the end. However, The Sculptress, in my opinion, is not one of them. A recurring theme in the narrative is Olive Martin's intelligence, which translates really into cunning. There is constantly, somewhere in the back of the reader's mind, a suspicion that Olive is surreptitiously controlling Roz through her revelations, imagined or otherwise. But we really do not know, do we, who is controlling whom? With Olive Martin, what you see isn't necessarily what you get. Having said this, I find it only fitting that the ending be as oblique as Olive herself. It also offers the added bonus of giving you the creeps.

The only reason I could not give The Sculptress five stars is due to the subplots of Hal Hawksley's fight to retain his restaurant and the blossoming love between Roz and Hal. I can be a sucker for a fine romance laced with intrigue myself, but these bogged down what was an otherwise brisk pace and contributed no relevancy to the main narrative. If anything, they took attention away from what was already a riveting story and their tangential connection to the main plot was a weak effort. It is not too sore a point with me so, I still consider the novel a winner.

(Incidentally, the made-for-TV adaptation of The Sculptress is equally good and worth the nearly four hours of viewing. The English are faithful in their adaptations and no detail in the book was sacrificed. For those who enjoyed the book, I highly recommend the film as well.)

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Intensely good!

The story is intense, sometimes disturbing and completely gripping. The characters are unique, complex and have both character flaws and assets, which makes them believable. A touch of romance adds some humour and lightheartedness contrast well with the rest of the dark story.

Above average and Overrated

The premise of the story was interesting and the prose makes for smooth reading. But given the award and glowing reviews, I was expecting it to be much more than above average. The ending does not floor the reader as it should, given the nature of the ending. All in all, above average but overrated. Nevertheless, I'm still game to try another book from this author in the future.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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