***** The (almost) thriller you don’t expect
I
had never read anything by Allende, it just had not happened until this book
ended up in my hands. I was curious that an author like her, who certainly
didn’t write genre fiction, had tested herself with a thriller. How was it
possible?
But,
as I read, I realised that “thriller” was little more than a label given to a
book that is hardly labelable.
Of
course there is a serial killer, an investigation and in the end a considerable
amount of suspense, even some action and the discovery of an unthinkable
murderer, but the core of this novel isn’t the plot, but its bizarre characters
and the way in which Allende paints a picture of their outside of the box (and
surely funny) life, immersed in San Francisco daily life. Unlike many thrillers
that seem to be created by using the same schemes, “Ripper” is a wide-ranging
novel, full of digressions that, like the tiles of a puzzle, fit into the
general picture. They are so distant from each other that we cannot guess what
we will see in the final image, but in the end we don’t care much, because each
one of them entertains, inspires and somewhat enriches us thanks to the almost
endless inventiveness of the author in creating the strangest of characters,
using a simply wonderful prose.
It
is without doubt one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.
Ripper on Amazon.
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