The Suicides Club - Tumblr Posts
Book Review: The Suicides Club, Robert Louis Stevenson.
To surprise of my forgetful memory, I had already read this short novel, but given that I didn't quite remember the specific details of it, I took great pleasure in reading it again.
The plot is quite simple, really: prince Frorizel of Bohemia is a man quite brave but easily bored, always on the hunt of new adventures. Fortune puts him on the path of a stranger acting extravagantly on the streets of London, gifting people cream cakes or eating them if they refuse it. When asked about his behaviour in private, the man reveals to the prince and his confidant, colonel Geraldine, that he's a member of a private and very secret club, the Suicides Club.
The Club is exactly that: a group of men who want to die but for one reason or another can't muster the will to take their own lives. But the real kick is how they decide who dies next and how they solve the problem of the suicide: homicide at the hands of a fellow member of the club.
I don't want to spoil any further the story, so I will just give a general overview of the structure and what I liked.
This short novel is divided in three chapters, each one from the perspective of a new character. The first, that of Florizel. The other two return eventually to the storyline of the prince, but succeed somehow into generating confussion in the reader about where the story wants to go or why it changed so drastically its perspective.
Given the collection this book is part of, I am a little puzzled at why would someone consider it a Crime and Mystery novel, at least in the traditional sense associated with Sherlock Holmes and Herculè Poirot.
Even more so considering this particular edition of the novel includes another short one: "The Misadventures of John Nicholson". I found it a very funny story on itself, but it stumbled like its main character through the plot without much thought or point to it.
I include the first chapter because it has a stellar hook for a reader, and a translation below:
"John Varey Nicholson — one has to admit it — was what one could call a stupid man; nonetheless, men much stupider than our friend sit today at the Parliament [...] [John was] a creature totally abandoned by the Gods."
Overall, it was a pleasant and rather quick read, but not one I'll think much about in the future.
Again, I apologize for any crude error in my writing, I'm trying to practice more my English skills and this proves a helpful challenge.
My other readings of 2023.