Okay, so I don't plan on making a habit of this, but every now and again I want to talk about the books I've read. I recently finished up Sweeney Todd: The String of Pearls by James Malcolm Rymer.
I want to say this first. Off the bat, when I ripped the book from the packaging it came in, I just loved the cover. The feel of it, for one, was quality. The cover might not be to everybody's liking, but I've a bit of a dark side and this is right up my alley. I own a few other books by this publisher, Wordsworth Editions, and their books are often very well done.
Okay, but what's on the inside? Is the story any good?
Yes, but not great, at least, not great all the way through. There are moments I loved, moments that dragged, and outstanding and memorable characters that surreptitiously passed from the narrative as the author tired of them.
The great draw, of course, for horror enthusiasts, is Sweeney Todd himself. In this, the story doesn't disappoint, though its ending does. I was surprised, as I read, that he really isn't the focus. He is a main character and has many chapters dedicated to his exploits, but I think his hapless assistant, Tobias, gets more attention than he does.
There are three major faults I found. The story is listless. Every time the author seems to be going somewhere, the narrative suddenly loses focus making it far too long.
This problem is perhaps due to the next. A parade of interesting side characters tramples the narrative underfoot, and though each is enjoyable in his turn, not one seems to provide any reason for being in the story, even when obvious thematic reasons could be developed. For instance, there is Big-Ben, who appears early in the narrative to save the book's ingénue. He seems almost the negative of Sweeney Todd, and their strong similarities and even stronger dissimilarities seemed to suggest that one would be the foil to the other. Nope. He's there for a chapter then gone.
The biggest problem, and a real turn off, is the ending, or lack thereof. The book just ends with a few summary notes about the particular fates of the characters. These would be good endings if they were actually presented in a narrative. No, the last two pages of this book feel more like an outline than an actual conclusion.
This story is what I would call campy, and the redeeming feature of it all is that I was totally invested anyway. I complain about the distracting side characters, but they were distracting because they were interesting. My complaint is really that they weren't developed or woven into the narrative enough. My complaint with the ending is that it wasn't developed. My complaint is that this book which I have already called "far too long" isn't longer.
I enjoyed it, but it is definitely not for everyone.
