Point Counter Point

Every once in awhile a novel comes along that turns our staff room into something that more resembles a meeting of the debating team. In 2001 Jonathan Franzen published The Corrections which launched two months of heated “discussion” over our Lean Cuisines and now it has happened again with Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale. Like The Correction this novel garnered rave reviews and we all rushed to put it on hold. But then something happened, half of us loved it and half of us hated it. So, we have taken out fight to the streets, so to speak. Now, whom do you agree with?


The Thirteenth Tale: A novel by Diane Setterfield
Hated It!

There is nothing worse than being trapped in a novel with two intertwining stories when you hate one story and like the other. It becomes a battle with yourself as well as the book. How many times will you be worn down by boredom and apathy? How many times, when you are about to GIVE UP, do you turn the page and oh – it’s the next installment in the other story, the good one? I’d like to re-title this book the Thirteenth Nightmare because I tossed it aside about 13 times before I finally called it quits 75 pages from the end. And yes, I can venture an opinion on a book that I didn’t finish (lovers of this book will tell you, it had a fantastic ending). But a novel is a sum of its parts. What good is a great dessert if everyone contracted food poisoning during the entrée?
Plain and bookish were just two of the words reviewers used to describe Setterfield’s heroine, Margaret Lea, and I venture they didn’t go quite far enough in characterizing this little mouse who works in her Dad’s book shop and writes little biographies about obscure people. She spends way too much time “contemplating her navel” (as my practical grandmother would say) and not enough time actually living. When she is hired by an eccentric novelist, Vida Winter to write her biography Margaret’s only concern is how soon she can get back home to daddy, her only friend, apparently. It is Margaret’s research into Vida’s past that is the gripping half of this novel. The ruined family mansion, Angelfield is worthy of du Maurier. The unstable siblings, Isabelle and Charlie, Isabelle’s abandoned twin daughters and the rag tag band of caretakers are straight out of Bronte, but must we drag our less than plucky heroine Margaret (and all of her real and imagined baggage) along with us. Let’s face it, she wanted to go home and hide in her book shop from page one and that is just where Setterfield should have left her
I understand Setterfield is trying fashion Margaret after the classic gothic heroine but something is missing, or perhaps, Margaret has something those woman did not. Margaret has one hundred percent job security, a nice flat above her father’s shop and no earthly reason to get it and keep it together so she won’t starve to death. In fact, she does not need or want the job as Vida’s biographer. It isn’t even really clear why she goes to Vida or why she stays. This lack of tension in Margaret’s life story makes it an unequal match for the tale of Vida Winter’s bizarre family legacy. And in the end this imbalance sunk the book. Now, if Margaret had been forced to accept Vida’s offer because she had a secret drug habit or shopping addiction (anything, please, to make her more interesting) well, that would have been a different story, maybe one I could have even finished. In all fairness, Margaret does harbor a “secret” but eh, so what was my reaction to it.
In the end, my impatience with Margaret’s endless emotional ennui, caused my own case of emotional ennui and this book got tossed back in the book bag to be returned.

Loved it!

Hmmmm….hardly food poisoning. I would suggest people with weakened constitutions, shouldn’t sample such a rich diet. Because that is what The Thirteenth Tale is, a feast for the senses; lush settings, strong characters, and scenes dripping with richness and flavor. I could not put this book down.
Margaret Lea, far from being the plain bookish character my gentle rival suggests, is a strong, intelligent woman who possesses a lively curiosity. She revels in her life at the book shop. When Margaret discovers her erudite father has been sampling a popular novelist’s works, she becomes curious and reads one herself. Soon, she too is hooked and plows her way through all of Vida Winter’s novels. She later finds an obscure novel by Vida Winter in the bookshop’s safe entitled The Thirteenth Tale which does not actually include a 13th tale. She becomes fascinated by everything about Vida Winter and the missing story. The reclusive author has given a different version of her life story to every person who has ever interviewed her. Margaret is contacted by Vida because of her biographical writings and travels down to meet her. She makes a deal with Vida – she will write her biography but only if she is told the truth. Vida reluctantly agrees. Through the course of their interviews Margaret is driven to verify Vida’s claims with her own personal research. She visits Angelfield, tracks down and interviews those who knew Vida’s family, and pours over documents. Every night, when she transcribes her notes she becomes so deeply involved in Vida’s incredible story that she begins to loose herself. All the while, Vida senses that Margaret is hiding her own tragic secret, which she too tries to uncover.
Therefore I must disagree with my esteemed colleague. I loved the characters in this book. I loved the language. I enjoyed how Margaret worked through her own personal demons by discovering the truth about Vida’s horrifying past. Du Maurier, Dickens, the Brontes, and now you can add Diane Setterfield to that list. I suggest that my colleague take a Tums.

And yet another opinion......

I just read an enthralling book and it’s a secret. Well, I can let you know it’s called The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield but I can’t tell you much more without spoiling some of the well crafted twists of this atmospheric tale. Renowned British author Vida Winter summons Margaret Lea, daughter of a bookseller and author of a few obscure literary biographies to write her life’s story. The reclusive Miss Winter has kept her many secrets private by exercising her remarkable skills as a storyteller. Margaret has a few secrets of her own. Ghosts, governesses, orphans, the bonds of twinship, a ruined mansion, intricate gardens, mysterious deaths, insanity, and medical experiments all keep this novel roaring along at breakneck pace. Strongly recommended.

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