This year, Louise Penny’s latest Armand Gamache novel, The Madness of Crowds, is not only a difficult book to summarize, as hers always are; it’s a difficult book to read. I understand what she is doing with the book, which I can’t really say without spoiling it, but that doesn’t mean it was easy. It felt as if it was too soon, and, with the resurgence of COVID in the U.S., it really felt as if it was too soon to read this book. I’m going to admit I was upset for the first 150 pages or so. This may sound strange, but, once the murder occurred, I could actually settle into the book without feeling angry and uncomfortable. In other words, I’m sure Penny’s purpose is accomplished when readers are angry and uncomfortable with the message of this book.
Let’s start with the title, The Madness of Crowds. It comes from a book by Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. The overview of that book says, “Whenever struck by campaigns, fads, cults and fashions, the reader may take some comfort that Charles Mackay can demonstrate historical parallels for almost every neurosis of our times. The South Sea Bubble, Witch Mania, Alchemy, the Crusades, Fortune-telling, Haunted Houses, and even ‘Tulipomania’ are only some of the subjects covered in this book.” It’s actually no comfort that there are historical parallels to the concepts in this current book.
It’s between Christmas and New Year’s, and the residents of Three Pines, like the rest of Canada, are celebrating that the pandemic is over. They’re finally able to reopen businesses and hug each other. As Armand Gamache enjoys the time with his visiting grandchildren, he’s asked to provide security at Universite de l’Estrie when there will be a visiting lecturer in the auditorium. It’s only when Gamache watches several videos of Professor Abigail Robinson’s lectures that he becomes concerned. Although she’s a statistician, he knows that her talks have gone viral, and he suspects there may be crowds and violence. He even takes his concerns to the President and Chancellor of the university, asking them to cancel the program. Instead the Chancellor accuses him of cowardice.
Gamache knows Robinson’s theories will stir up emotions. He knows how he reacted, and he knows how upset his son-in-law and second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, was when he saw the videos. Yes, her stats prove there can be better times ahead for the people worn down by the pandemic. But, at what cost?
One minor cost is peace of mind. When Gamache is forced to provide security for Professor Robinson even following her lecture, and she unexpectedly shows up in Three Pines, she stirs up trouble even there. There’s quite a contrast between three people at the village’s New Year’s Eve party, their local “Asshole Saint”, who can be both,; Haniya Daoud, a Nobel Peace Prize candidate from the Sudan, and Professor Robinson. As the story progresses, we learn the backgrounds of each of these people, backgrounds vital to the story.
Even after finishing this book, I still feel it’s too early. And, here in the U.S., it’s too early because of the madness and division following Trump.
My heart broke with Gamache’s at times, but I never saw what he did during the pandemic when his family was sheltering in place and he and Jean-Guy were stuck in Montreal working sixteen hour shifts. I felt as if Robinson’s slogan, “All will be well” violated the Julian of Norwich quote that I’ve come to love because of Louise Penny’s books. Robinson’s context debases that quote.
Strictly on a book level, this one needed tighter editing. There was too much repetition at times. How many times within five or six chapters did we need to read about the animal that might be a ferret or a rat or whatever? The editor should have caught that.
As I said, I understood the book, and the concepts I won’t discuss so I don’t inadvertently write a spoiler. The Madness of Crowds is a book each reader will have to evaluate for themselves. Tuesday is release date.
Louise Penny’s website is https://louisepenny.com/
The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny. Minotaur Books, 2021. ISBN 9781250145260 (hardcover), 436p.
FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent me a copy of the book, with no promises I would review it.
Seems to always be a long wait list for the latest Penny novel at the local library, I’ll be happy to let this one age a bit.
I do agree on repetition being annoying. A recent book had the main character throwing back her shoulders so often, I eventually pictured a back-flip.
Yes, I read one book in which the main character played with her wine glass for 3 pages. It drove me nuts.
Yes, I think you can wait a little for this one, MM.
This made me laugh. I had the same reaction to a book I read where the protagonist “blew out a breath” so many times, I wanted to reach inside the book and hand her an inhaler!
Editing, right, Ellen?
Eliminating that phrase from any manuscript from now on. Not even one!
That’s funny, Connie!
Lesa, thank you for this beautifully written, wise and perceptive, review. It’s going to be interesting to read how people react to this latest Penny novel. I expect many will find it hard to read.
It will be interesting, Kaye Thank you for the emotional hugs I felt through your comments. I went back and read Publishers Weekly’ s starred review. First, there were too many spoilers in the review. I understand what they’re saying. I still have a hard time with the book.
I usually read every Penny book as soon as I get it on publication day, but this time I’ll wait. I’m leery of this, because there is so much dissension around pandemic issues and I have pretty strong options re: masking (yes!), vaccination (yes!), distancing (yes!). So tomorrow I’ll be reading the new Krueger instead.
Rick, My opinions are the same as yours. And, this book starts with the announcement that the pandemic is over, and everything is back to normal. Granted. I know it’s fiction. It was just too soon for me.The new Krueger is excellent.
I always give myself a day to read the new Louise Penny. And, many publications gave it a starred review. I’ll be interested to see reactions when ordinary people (like me) read the book.
This is no way casting aspersions on Louise, who is a wonderful woman, or her series, which is also wonderful. It’s a general comment. Sometimes I wonder if starred reviews are force of habit re: an author or series. I.e., once a reviewer has gone there for a popular author, is it hard to go back?
I wonder, Ellen. I know with Louise’s books, I go into them expecting them to be wonderful. For my own blog, I don’t hesitate to say exactly what I think. I’m a little more cautious when reviewing for a journal because their audience is different. And, I might think a book deserves a star, because I’m looking at it differently. You’re right. What is expected? Excellent question!
That’s really interesting, because about 40 years ago a friend sent me a book he was really impressed with – EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS AND THE MADNESS OF CROWDS. Things have not gotten better since.
You are so right, Jeff. Things have not gotten better.
This Penny does not sound like anything I might want to read. I stopped reading her books a while ago because it was essentially the same book year after year. I know I am in the minority on that opinion as she wins major awards each year. It would be interesting if you circled back to us on what popular opinion is on this book after four or five months. The pandemic is not over – sadly.
That’s what I wonder, Jeannette. Will people who feel as if they’re in the middle of the pandemic feel differently than reviewers did? Will those who read it now feel differently than those who read if after the pandemic is over? I’ve seen some excellent reviews of this book that raved about it. But, the ones I saw also had spoilers, so they gave away the meat of the book. I want to know how someone feels who is shocked by that professor, someone like me who came at with expectations only of a Louise Penny book. Once you’ve read the reviews, or know a little about the professor, it’s hard to have the same reaction.
You are not necessarily in the minority. I have a friend who just can’t get into the books. It’s wonderful that we all have different taste.
I agree with you, Lesa. I still haven’t written my review in spite of having read the book awhile ago. As did you, I found myself shouting “Too soon. It’s too soon.” I also had huge problems with the repetition. The book could have been improved by being 100 pages shorter. There were important and difficult themes, but too many of them. The book became overly complicated and, to me, lost some of its impact. I could go on, but I shan’t. I have loved Penny’s previous books, and this has many excellent qualities. Unfortunately, it is also my least favorite of her books so far.
It’s a difficult book to review, isn’t it, LJ? I agree with you that it could have been much shorter. And, I think the entire “saint” element could have been taken out to shorten the book. Like you, I’ve loved most of her earlier books. I wasn’t fond of the one in which they went searching for Peter, though. I found the art in that one interesting, and the rest of the book a little tedious. Yes, way too soon.
She is excellent in person, I saw her years ago at Book Passage in Corde Madera CA. Charming and beyond delightful. And very engaged with the audience.
Yes, she is. I was lucky enough to host her at my library for the second book, and I’ve been to some of her events in the early years.
Very good review and I’m glad I read this before getting the new book. I’ve read many of her novels, primarily the earlier ones, so I have yet to get to the point where I think it’s the same book all over again. 🙂
I, too, have wondered about those starred reviews, even though I’m thrilled when I get one. But I have read books by some well-known authors that received those precious stars, and I had to wonder why. In my opinion the latest books from an author don’t always stand up as well as the first few that had those well-deserved stars. Since I’ve always counted on the stars from the big four trade publications on reviews to help me decide on a book, it’s kind of disappointing to know they may not carry as much weight as I thought.
Now, I have to say that one friend loved the book, and wrote an excellent review. You can find Kathy’s review here – https://bit.ly/3ziYuyx. This really is my opinion, although I know my friend Kaye felt the same way I did. But, other reviewers loved it. I think people are going to have to decide for themselves with this one.
I haven’t yet read this book but in general terms I think editing has very much fallen by the wayside.
Publishers seem to me to see it as an easy way to economise. With very famous authors such as Louise Penny and JK Rowling I often also wonder if they become so scared that they’ll defect to another publishing house that they do anything to keep them happy. I read all of the Harry Potter series to my youngest daughter (years ago of course!) and with each book I felt more and more irritated by the adverbs and the waffle. I wanted to take a red pen to some of the superfluous paragraphs.
I also found Louise Penny’s overuse of very short sentences increasingly annoying. Their impact was lost when they turned up so often.
I should say I totally agree that both are great writers! It’s the poor editing that is so disappointing.
And in less famous books, I hate it when you can see that some writing course has drummed into the author that ‘all 5 senses must be used’ – so every single one of them gets a mention, whether appropriate or not.
Or the same physical action or reaction is used over and over again – anger shown by veins ‘throbbing’ in the character’s forehead, indecision by her ‘chewing her lip’. Why don’t editors sort these things out?
And even Jenny Colgan wrote one book in which the main players never stopped blinking. I expect she’s another author who’s become too much of a financial asset to ‘upset’ – but I can’t imagine that she would be, as I’m sure she’d rather have a better book than an easy ride.
I suppose the thing with editing is, if it’s been done well you simply don’t notice it. It’s only when it’s been done poorly, or indeed not at all, that the lack of it is so blindingly obvious.
I agree, Rosemary. I’d never consider myself an expert, so I know when I notice that there is a problem. In Louise’s case, she had the same editor for the entire series, and then Hope Dellon died. Her last couple books came out after Hope’s death.
I think you’re right. But, I would think most authors, not all of them, would, as you said, prefer to have a better book.
Lesa, I was waiting to read your whole review until I finished this book. Now I’ve read your thoughts and I must say that I agree with you completely. Louise is probably my favorite author and I’ve loved her entire series. I do have favorite books among it though and ones that are not my favorites. Like you, the one where they searched for Peter was not a favorite. I loved the one set in the monastery (as an example). I was telling another friend that I was struggling with my feelings about this new book and she asked if I thought it would be one that people would either ‘love’ or ‘hate’. I told her that I wasn’t sure it would be that extreme, but I did think that it was going to provoke opinions. I also found it more than a bit repetitive and I became frustrated with the pacing at times. Thought it definitely could have been tightened up. And it was so dark and more than a bit bleak. I will tell people that if you’ve not read her work to maybe not start with this one. I’ll continue to read all her books in the future, but I suspect I won’t be tempted to reread this one. As to my own reading, moving on to find something that will suit me a bit better.
Kay, I wondered how you would react, and other friends who usually love Louise Penny’s books. And, I know she’s a favorite of both of us. I might reread this one some year, if we ever survive the pandemic. But, not in the near future.
Yes, the repetitiveness bothered me. LJ Roberts commented that it probably could have been 100 pages shorter. She may be right. Dark and bleak, and I didn’t feel the hope that she wanted us to feel because I could see so many people in the U.S. agreeing with the professor.
I did the same. I moved on to a romance and then a cozy mystery. I needed a palate cleaner or two.