People Like Us (The Keszthelyi Chronicles) - Zichao Deng

People Like Us (the Keszthelyi Chronicles)

by  Zichao Deng

Story rating - 3
Editorial rating - 4 

The story is written in first person, a fairly egotistical man sending a letter to recount his adventure as a British ex-pat in the South of France. He's an antiques dealer of questionable moral standards who doesn't intentionally try to break the law. On his trip to view an antique at a convent (and we never do know what it is he was so enamored of) he runs into a colleague of even more questionable standards (although he prefers not to think about that part) and decides to stay a while. What follows is a walk through adultery, breaking and entering, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and even murder.

Written in a European style (I might compare him to Oscar Wilde), some of the idioms were at the edge of my reach. The author generously provided translations of the foreign phrases he uses (with the exception of the quotes that begin chapters). There were two characters in the book named Brian (near as I can tell, since one showed up after the other one was off the page) which was confusing. The plot felt a little thin to me. The narrator, while presented well, was still not really a likable sort. For the most part, he prefers to turn a blind eye to the events happening around him and does not accept any responsibility when he is drawn into some of the intrigue. At the end, he is invited to take a shower in the letter-recipient's hotel room, in spite of the fact that she clearly doesn't like him, which didn't seem at all plausible. And in the course of the book - his discourse to her - he decides at the end that there are things he wants to leave out of the story, and yet the entire story is his letter to her (so clearly he HAS told her).

The pacing was good, this wasn't a book I slogged through. The action/adventure sequences were well drawn and had me reading to find out how they would be resolved and how he would be involved or not involved. Several plot points were left dangling (what happened to Estrade/Anguillar? what happened with the antique? What WAS the antique?) So yeah, mixed review on this one.