I, Ripper by Stephen Hunter

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Sure seems better than The Yard as it does recognize and mention that people did smoke a lot back then. However, despite good efforts on the author's part to have us feel like we are in Whitechapel at the end of the 19th century, I gave up on the book as something felt off in my perception. I don't know what it is but I just couldn't get into it and gave up after 140 pages, or so.
As the novel features Jack the Ripper's personal diary, maybe what bothers me is the Ripper's point of view on how he perceived and performed his "work", alongside with the sometimes rather gruesome details ? Which, really was, in the long run, becoming slightly disturbing and morbib in its descriptions.
 
Ya' sold me--on not reading it. You know what really ticks me off? Period novels written with modern "sensibilities" in the characters. Any of that sophomoric tripe?...not that I intend to read it.
 
I hear you, Richard. Here in Québec, there was a classic teleserie from 1956 to 1970, very popular, inspired from a novel written in the 1930s and featuring the lives of settlers in the Laurentians (north-west of Montréal) around the end of the 19th century.
They launched a remake at the beginning of the year and it's kind of nice but horrible at the same time because, among other things, the scenarist must have forgotten that the action takes place at the end of the 19th century; among other things, the scenarist depicts the women as extremely outspoken; constantly challenging men in public; etc.
Things did not work that way, then! Yes, women were wearing the trousers inside the house because the men worked their arses off on the land during spring and summer and, after harvesting, they went up into the woods to lumber throughout the winter. The women were left to manage everything and the men did not interfere. As for the public sphere, women were very reserved. So, this kind of historical disconnect really rubs me the wrong way as people that are not conversant with their history think things were exactly the same back then. And miss out on a reality that was extremely different from today.
 
I've been a big fan of Stephen Hunter's book for many years. (All the Bob Swagger, etc.) I really enjoyed "The Third Bullet", swaggers take on the JFK conspiracy. I have "I Ripper" in my Kindle que, but haven't heard good things about this one.
 
This was my first experience with Hunter's books, so I couldn't possibly assess the rest of his work.
 
Interesting, i can't stand those historical fiction books, the real stuff is much more interesting especially in the case of the ripper. Did you know Pipe smoking plays an important part of that case as well? There was a sighting on the night of the Stride murder outside Dutfield Yard of a man lighting his pipe while Stride was thrown to the ground. An interesting character indeed Pipeman. There was also a non canonical victim named Clay Pipe Alice!
 
Bugsahearn":opa980rl said:
Interesting, i can't stand those historical fiction books, the real stuff is much more interesting especially in the case of the ripper. Did you know Pipe smoking plays an important part of that case as well? There was a sighting on the night of the Stride murder outside Dutfield Yard of a man lighting his pipe while Stride was thrown to the ground. An interesting character indeed Pipeman. There was also a non canonical victim named Clay Pipe Alice!
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Wow. I will look this up. Thanks mate!
 
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