›

March Book Club: Innocent Blood, by PD James

finelinefineline Shipmate, Host Emeritus
in Heaven
Hi book club ship mates. For the March book club, we are reading Innocent Blood, by PD James.

I am not sure what to say about it, because I can't find my copy of this book, though I know for certain I have it somewhere. But I can say I haven't yet read any PD James books and I've wanted to for a while, and I know this book is about a young woman called Philippa, who is adopted and goes in search of her birth parents. It's apparently more a psychological thriller than a detective novel, which is why it appeals to me. Anyway, I will either find my copy of it or get another copy, and read it and write some questions on 20th March.

Apologies for this being a couple of days late - I lost track of time and didn't realise it was March already. However, despite my lack of organisation, I am looking forward to reading this book and I hope people will join me in reading it.

Comments

  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    I probably read this sometime in the past as I’ve read quite a few of P D James’ books. I’ll try to read it by the 20th but if not I’ll chip in when I’ve finished it. I have quite a ‘to read’ pile at the moment.
  • MiliMili Shipmate
    I'm trying to borrow rather than buy books and could only get an audio book from the online library, but am listening to the book that way. The topic is quite confronting and tense, but the psycological aspect is interesting. It is also interesting to see the characters' views on adoption and adoptee rights to personal information, crime, reformation and nature vs. nurture from a late 70s/early 80s standpoint.
  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    Ms. C. found our copy. It is in my to be read pile.
  • finelinefineline Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I decided to try the audiobook, though I don't normally listen to audiobooks, as I tend to zone out or fall asleep, and lose track of where I was. But after listening to, and falling asleep during, the first chapter several times, I decided to try listening while walking, and that works much better. It's a very interesting and engaging book - I'm enjoying it.
  • finelinefineline Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    This will sound like a daft question, but in the first paragraph/page of chapter 6, is there a word 'underbleb'? It sounds like this - 'an underbleb of soft, pale pink' - but I've never heard this word and it's not in the OED. Google has it as a technique in glaucoma surgery, but that seems unrelated to the inside skin of the lips.
  • Lamb ChoppedLamb Chopped Shipmate
    edited March 7
    A bleb is a tiny bubble of something liquid. I've usually heard it with regards to blood.
  • finelinefineline Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Lamb Chopped wrote: »
    A bleb is a tiny bubble of something liquid. I've usually heard it with regards to blood.

    I think it's being used here to describe the inside skin of the lips, that you see when someone is talking. This character has reddish lips, but you see the pale underbleb when he talks. There is quite a bit of focus on his mouth.
  • Lamb ChoppedLamb Chopped Shipmate
    hmmmmm, interesting!
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    I found that description rather horrible when I read it @fineline.
    I'm still reading the book and can't remember if I've read it before or not. I've just got to the bit where one of the characters doesn't like the idea of living somewhere like Kilburn. That made me laugh as that's where I grew up and I quite liked the place though my mum was never very keen and told everyone she lived in the much posher Maida Vale.
  • TukaiTukai Shipmate
    I know I am a slow reader - certainly much slower than my wife, not least that I need more daytime sleeping than her. But this one seemed to me as a very slow book for one "billed" as a thriller. I would have given up at half-way, except it was billed for the Ship of Fools. It will be interesting to find out if others had the same feeling.
  • finelinefineline Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Sarasa wrote: »
    I found that description rather horrible when I read it @fineline.
    I'm still reading the book and can't remember if I've read it before or not. I've just got to the bit where one of the characters doesn't like the idea of living somewhere like Kilburn. That made me laugh as that's where I grew up and I quite liked the place though my mum was never very keen and told everyone she lived in the much posher Maida Vale.

    Yes, the descriptions of that character make him seem very unpleasant, almost animal-like with the focus on his mouth. I suppose it is all exaggerated from Philippa's perspective, as she doesn't want him there to begin with.

    The perspectives of snobby characters can be quite funny, I find, especially Philippa with her naivity. I laughed out loud at the bit where she said she doesn't read crime novels except for Dostoevsky and Dickens - it felt like meta humour on PD James' part, to have created a character who wouldn't read her novels!
  • finelinefineline Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Tukai wrote: »
    I know I am a slow reader - certainly much slower than my wife, not least that I need more daytime sleeping than her. But this one seemed to me as a very slow book for one "billed" as a thriller. I would have given up at half-way, except it was billed for the Ship of Fools. It will be interesting to find out if others had the same feeling.

    I suppose I like slow books in general, if they are character-oriented, but I'm actually finding this quite suspenseful. Perhaps this is partly an effect of it being an audiobook (read by Katie Scarfe - she's brilliant - does all the different voices and accents). The pace is dictated by the narrator, it's not like reading words on a page where you can slow down to process or speed up to find out sooner what will happen, and I can feel the suspense in my stomach. Maybe it's more emotional suspense - I feel very aware of Philippa's vulnerability and nervous on her behalf, and also just really curious about the lives of these people. I'm only on chapter 10 so far though, so my impressions may change.
  • finelinefineline Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I have finished listening to the audiobook, I found it interesting, quite surprising in some aspects (though not the usual thriller-related surprises one expects! I now see what @Tukai means about it being slow). I will be curious to hear what other people thought of this book - I'm looking forward to writing some discussion questions.

    For people who like reading reviews, I found a review from the NYT, written in 1980, the year the book was published (archived and therefore not requiring an NYT subscription).
    https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/04/29/specials/james-innocent.html
  • finelinefineline Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I also realise I should have done trigger warnings, which I didn't realise until I read the book. Trigger warnings for pedophilia, victim blaming, and dated ways of depicting people of different races and disabled people. (I figure murder is a given, because of the genre.)
  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    I finished the book a few days ago. I come from the area of London depicted in the book so some of the descriptions and the mention of the number 16 bus were rather nostalgia-making.
    Looking forward to the discussion.
  • TrudyTrudy Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I've just discovered I can get an e-book of this pretty cheaply, and as I've had bad luck so far this year with either accessing, or finding time for, the book club selections, I have downloaded this one and will likely have it read in time to join the discussion.
  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    I shall be starting to read the book this evening. I have read every P.D. James book although I can't remember when I first read this one.
  • SandemaniacSandemaniac Shipmate
    Funnily enough, I walked past St Barnabas in Oxford last night, which is the church that inspired the location of A Taste For Death.
Sign In or Register to comment.