∎ [PDF] The Manual of Detection Jedediah Berry 9781594202117 Books

The Manual of Detection Jedediah Berry 9781594202117 Books

Download As PDF : The Manual of Detection Jedediah Berry 9781594202117 Books

The Manual of Detection Jedediah Berry 9781594202117 Books

As other reviewers have noted, the ending of the book does not live up to the promise of the earlier pages, but until it gets there, the book is very enjoyable. Berry's protagonist, the punctilious clerk and unwilling detective, Charles Unwin, is a delight as he attempts to unravel the peculiar mysteries that bedevil him. In addition to Unwin, there's a whole bunch of wonderful characters wandering through the story and it's been awhile since I read a book and felt that I would miss the characters now that their story was over. This is a book where I will miss Unwin and his assistant, Emily, as well as Cleo Greenwood and even the Rook brothers.

Berry has written a book that transcends a number of genres and I imagine some readers of traditional crime fiction may be turned off by the surreal elements to his story, but I loved those parts--they're particularly creative and imaginative and set the book apart.

A very fun read.


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The Manual of Detection Jedediah Berry 9781594202117 Books Reviews

It all started with the theft of November 12th.It's a mind-stretching detective novel after that. The humor is dry. I enjoyed the book, but don't expect it to be within the Agatha Christie /Carl Hiaasen range of the genre.
This is one of my favorite books, and I've read many books.

I hope the author writes more novels so smart people have something to read.

Great characters that remind me of a sort of film noir meets Sherlock Holmes.

Have read 3 times, and I've only done that with maybe 2 other books.

Love it.
Among the authors that Berry lists as his favorites are Calvino and Chesterton, and I think that it really shows in this work. A twisting, whimsical plot where clever lines abound characterizes this debut novel, which is probably why some people don't care for it. The storyline does indeed become quite complex after the halfway point of the novel, and to be fair there may have been one or two twists too many, but this isn't a Kafka piece as so many reviews have suggested it has a Kafkaesque feel sometimes but Berry wraps his story up by the final page, in a way that I found both intelligible and satisfying. The characters are well constructed and the writing made me smile, and although at times Berry toes the line with feeling like he's trying too hard to be clever I don't think he ever crosses it.

My praise may sound reserved but let me assure you that I love this book, and I'll definitely be picking up whatever Berry decides to write next. There are people for whom this won't be a great book, but if you like detective stories with a dose of the fantastic, smart writing (although not always aiming at a purpose), or books that manage to construct their own distinctive world then I highly recommend "The Manual of Detection." Fans of Chesterton and Calvino, and to a slightly lesser degree Kafka and Borges, should especially take note.
Noirish detective novel with fantastical elements. The writer created a fascinating alternative world where people use typewriters, dumbwaiters, phonographs, and a steam engine truck.

Some of the plot is a little confusing, especially in the second half of the book. I had to go back and read it a second time after finishing it, to fill in my understanding (Oh, so THAT'S why he said that!). Not sure if that's a good or bad point. Characters are fairly standard types the mousy clerk wedded to his routine, the hard boiled detective, the gun moll with a heart of gold, etc.

But even with those caveats I thought the book was very entertaining. It's well paced and difficult to put down. I found the recurring motifs dreams, the rain, the gray city, enchanting.
Charles Unwin is not a detective. He doesn't know how to be a detective. (Although he has been making unofficial trips for unofficial reasons...) He's merely the clerk who reviews and files all the reports of the Agency's star detective, Travis Sivart. But when Unwin finds himself suddenly promoted to the rank of detective, he reluctantly decides to solve just the one case that will return his life to the status quo Where is Sivart? He will allow himself to read just enough of his new copy of "The Manual of Detection" to do the job and no more. But as the case becomes deeper and wider in scope than Unwin could ever have forseen, and the future of the city is threatened, he finds himself rising to the challenge--and when people's dreaming lives overtake their waking ones, Unwin must follow...

I bought this book because I saw the author read two selections from it and was excited. I knew I had to read it, and suspected it was something special. I was right. The premise is fantastic, the characters are sympathetic, the action is exciting, the ideas are fascinating, the writing is excellent, the mysteries are interesting...I honestly can't say enough good things about this book. Also, I don't have a single complaint. Oh, and the cover is beautiful.

Seriously, this amazing book defies both summarization and categorization, but I'll do my best. It is both mystery and fantasy. There's no magic and nothing actually supernatural, but the nameless city Unwin lives in seems surreal in its noir-ishness and it's constant rain. The setting and characters and locations are hard-boiled, but its detective is not. It is also humerous--but while there are some moments of great humor, but there are no specific laugh-out-loud lines to point out, because it's situationally hilarious.

Unwin's lack of real experience with detecting and with the gritty city outside of his apartment and his office, and even with the hierarchical world of the Agency, allows us to learn about them along with him--and yet his academic knowledge of them, via his close reading of Sivart's reports, allows him to sometimes be a step or two ahead of us and to keep us guessing.

Then there's the dream detecting. This book crosses into similar territory as the movie Inception, but from a different angle, and with a different science. In both concepts, your dreams can be used against you. But in The Manual of Detection, everything that happens in dreams can affect what happens in real life--might even be happening in real life. There is dream surveillance, dream communication, and there are dreams within dreams within dreams within dreams. The dimensions of sleeping and dreaming that the book gets into are new and interesting.

I love this book and recommend it to anyone who has an open mind and likes quality writing.
As other reviewers have noted, the ending of the book does not live up to the promise of the earlier pages, but until it gets there, the book is very enjoyable. Berry's protagonist, the punctilious clerk and unwilling detective, Charles Unwin, is a delight as he attempts to unravel the peculiar mysteries that bedevil him. In addition to Unwin, there's a whole bunch of wonderful characters wandering through the story and it's been awhile since I read a book and felt that I would miss the characters now that their story was over. This is a book where I will miss Unwin and his assistant, Emily, as well as Cleo Greenwood and even the Rook brothers.

Berry has written a book that transcends a number of genres and I imagine some readers of traditional crime fiction may be turned off by the surreal elements to his story, but I loved those parts--they're particularly creative and imaginative and set the book apart.

A very fun read.