Reviews for The Redemption of David Corson

The average rating for The Redemption of David Corson based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-07-18 00:00:00 Layla Moye I checked this book out because I wanted to read something different and I succeeded beyond what I had expected. Besides a passing familiarity with Hans Christian Anderson, I had never read a Danish author to my knowledge, and I knew only that Copenhagen was a city in Northern Europe, so this fit the description of something different. But what exactly this book is still eludes me. I read some reviews and I was somewhat relieved to see that I am not the only reader trying to figure out what we had just read. Some critics even blamed the translator. I could say postmodern, avant grade, I could even say magical realism and then only because the back cover told me that. This is sort of a mystery, thriller, detective case with spiritual, philosophic, theological, mystical, fantastic elements weaved in. The protagonist is a circus clown/pyschic healer/gambler/conman/criminal​ who has the unique, almost psychic, ability to "hear" a different reality, bordering on clairvoyance. So, two thumbs way up for originality and a quizzical shrug for whatever the story was about. Strange thing was, I liked it.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-01-31 00:00:00 Edmund Blash I am a huge fan of Peter Hoeg. He manages to create a strange blend of brittle intellectualism and dreamy philosophy that I find fascinating. The Quiet Girl, like Smilla's Sense of Snow and Borderliners, is a kind of mystery novel with an almost translucent layer of the occult. And as in those books, the supernatural is revealed and translated through thinking; it has to do with people's minds, and understanding of the world, and attempts to establish and clarify their attachments to other human beings. What's the plot? Whatever, read the synopsis from the publisher. Kaspar Krone is a famous international clown and he is searching for a kidnapped little girl with weeeeirrrd powers. The first couple of hundred pages take the story back and forth through time, and it's somewhat confusing, but Hoeg seems to like to keep the suspense as high as possible; it reminded me a bit of that Murakami novel, where you don't even learn the narrator's name until about a third of the way in, I think Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. Like Murakami, Hoeg plays a multilayered shell game while building up the stakes on the characters as you get to know them. And there's no telling where it could be headed; I guarantee the ending of Quiet Girl will be a punch in the gut, whether you are pleasantly flabbergasted or furious. I also loved all the discussion of sound and classical music. Maybe because I don't know much about those things? And there is a heavy emphasis on the Divine, which Kaspar Krone refers to as "SheAlmighty," ha! Hoeg's writing is both precise and emotional, and occasionally brutally explicit. Really, he's unbelievable, I highly recommend any of his books. Anyway here are some quotes from The Quiet Girl: "'When you really listen, all sounds begin to organize themselves into themes. They aren't haphazard. We don't live in chaos. Someone is trying to play something. Trying to create a piece of music. '" "He neared the end of the first section, the number of simulated voices at a maximum; he had never fully understood how Bach did it--sometimes he thought perhaps there was not just one "Chaconne" perhaps there was a flowing tonal virtuality that kept multiplying and would never end. Perhaps people are like that--perhaps each of us is not just one person but an endless series of unique constellations in the present, or maybe that gets too complicated? That's the question the great improvisers ask: Can we find our way back to the theme and the keynote?" And here's one of my favorites, this is just so Peter Hoeg: "'My problem,' said Kaspar, 'is that even if she had killed and devoured a whole family, I'd still love her.'"