Classic Trash discussion

This topic is for those who wish to discuss the book in progress. No spoilers please!

I had nominated this book because I liked the film it was made into: La Ceremonie ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112769/... ). I had seen it a few years ago on Turner Classic Movies, and I saw in the credits it was based on this Ruth Rendell novel.

I’ve finished the book and will say that the film was a bit different from the book, but the basic story was the same. It took me a bit to get into the writing style, but by the 30% mark I was pretty interested in it.

One thing I’ll be interested to see is how much other readers agree with the book’s opening statement about the reason for the crime. I’ll wait to express my opinions about it in the Spoiler folder, after others have finished reading the book.

I have to admit, I'm struggling with this one. First off, I never enjoyed the "this what happened, now let me tell you how/why" format. It's OK, but none of the characters, setting, situations, etc is catching with me. This is turning into a slog for me.

I think this might be our most divided book. (And I'm often the person who bugs out.) It's not controversial in any way, but some of us have been real bored.

Adelaide wrote: "I think this might be our most divided book. (And I'm often the person who bugs out.) It's not controversial in any way, but some of us have been real bored."

Ruth Rendell writes well, but her books also have alot of unlikeable characters in them. The books are mainly character-centric. I haven’t read her police procedurals with inspector Wexford, but I’ve read a few of her other books, including those written under the name Barbara Vine. Some I liked, some I did not.