One Good Turn evades the G word

Last week I ran out to Pegasus in my lunch hour and bought the new Kate Atkinson, One Good Turn. This spate of harcover indulgence led me to reread Case Histories, aweing me anew at Atkinson's ability to sew disparate characters into a seamless narrative.

My first reading of Case Histories impressed me enough to buy Not the End of the World and Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Neither book was as accomplished, and if we consider Scott Esposito's ideas about context and aesthetic territory, we can see Atkinson taking an enormous leap with Case Histories. I hope One Good Turn is as satisfying.

A quick comment on a recent litblog dustup--Atkinson is a great example of a genre-jumper. I do not generally read romance, westerns, self-help, any chick-lit related to shopping for Manolos, or mysteries. But writers like Atkinson, or Natsuo Kirino, author of Out, transcend labeling. They are good writers, period. That the reader cannot wait to turn the page (unless using a Sony Reader, in which case you must wait) is testimony to their talents and has nothing--nothing--to do with the G-word.

Authors, Books