Rating: 3/5
Review:
A disappointing Maigret
I have enjoyed most of these new Penguin translations as I make my way through the series, but I wasn’t so keen on this one.
Partly it’s the original story: Maigret goes to investigate a very curious murder at a crossroads outside Paris where there are only three buildings and a limited number of suspects. Somehow, the atmosphere which Simenon usually generates wasn’t there for me this time, though, and the structure seemed rather clumsy with a wholly implausible denouement where the criminals confess and rat on each other. Simenon usually has rather more class and subtlety than this.
This time, the translation really didn’t help. It seemed rather clunky to me, with some stale usages and infelicities and sometimes almost literal translations of French idioms where an equivalent but different English idiom would be far better. The criminals often spoke in the sort of corny slang you’d find in a bad 1940s gangster B movie and the whole thing just didn’t gel.
I’m sorry to be critical, but ths was a disappointment for me in a usually excellent series – but I have no doubt that things will look up in the next few books.
Partly it’s the original story: Maigret goes to investigate a very curious murder at a crossroads outside Paris where there are only three buildings and a limited number of suspects. Somehow, the atmosphere which Simenon usually generates wasn’t there for me this time, though, and the structure seemed rather clumsy with a wholly implausible denouement where the criminals confess and rat on each other. Simenon usually has rather more class and subtlety than this.
This time, the translation really didn’t help. It seemed rather clunky to me, with some stale usages and infelicities and sometimes almost literal translations of French idioms where an equivalent but different English idiom would be far better. The criminals often spoke in the sort of corny slang you’d find in a bad 1940s gangster B movie and the whole thing just didn’t gel.
I’m sorry to be critical, but ths was a disappointment for me in a usually excellent series – but I have no doubt that things will look up in the next few books.
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