Things In Jars starts off with Bridie, a private detective, being presented with a most baffling case. Sir Berwick's daughter has been kidnapped and he wants her found, but he won't share any relevant information with Bridie, including why he keeps her hidden away. So what's Sir Berwick hiding? The more Bridie learns, the more unusual this puzzle becomes. She prowls around dirty Victorian London trying to piece this together, accompanied by a motley crew, including a faithful ghost companion, a tall giantess housemaid, and a friendly police inspector.
This story is definitely... unusual. I found the mystery itself to be the most compelling part of it. When I'm in those parts of the book, I'm totally riveted, gobbling through it, wondering what's going and what I'll learn next. The fantasy element existing within the real world made this a most surprising and interesting mix. Bridie's friends are also a sweet and funny bunch, offering her physical and emotional support in ways that only loyal friends do.
But I almost gave up on this story multiple times, especially at the beginning. I found the writing style to be extremely difficult to understand, to the point where I had no idea what was going on in the first 50 pages. The excessive descriptions just don't do it for me. Every time a person is introduced, we read extensively about every feature on their face, every article of clothing, their posture and body shape, all using florid metaphors that don't make any sense to me. Each time this happens, I would lose my train of thought halfway through or forget the point the author is trying to make. Then I'd have to go back and reread it multiple times before I can even make heads or tails of it.
It's so frustrating when a good story is mired in this overwrought style of writing. I also found the sentences to be weird in construction and the vocabulary obscure. So I was often looking up multiple words in every sentence. Once I got about 100 pages in and the plot started taking shape, I went back and reread the first 50 pages, at last understanding what was happening. But a good story shouldn't be that way. The writing should keep the reader engaged in the story, not take them out of it in confusion every few sentences or attempt to impress them with verbal gymnastics.
This is also an extremely gory book, with plenty of bodily fluids, internal organs, pus, festering, blood, poo... you name it, it's in this book. While it didn't bother me for the most part, I do like to indulge in reading while eating, and this is definitely not good for that.
In the end, this was both an interesting but also extremely frustrating reading experience for me. I don't want to discount or sell this story short. No doubt, without the verbal gymnastics and the florid descriptions, this would have been easily a 4-star read for me. But as it stands, it's a story I like, but with lots of reservations. I can't give this more than 3 stars, especially as I'm not sure I understood half of it even though I read most of it multiple times.
Readaroo Rating: 3 stars
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