Nevada Barr | Fiction
I enjoy Nevada Barr and her mysteries about Anna Pigeon, a National Park Ranger. I think it is my own fault, and not Nevada Barr's, that I give Boar Island only three hearts instead of four. I am still recovering my ability to focus amidst my grief, and I found myself confused in the beginning of this book as Barr tells two stories that relate to one another, but do not overlap for quite a while.
Anna Pigeon encounters a new experience in Boar Island, the cyberbullying of Elizabeth, the 16-year-ol daughter of her friend Heath. When Anna accepts a position as acting chief ranger at Acadia National Park, she, Heath and Elizabeth take the opportunity to temporarily move Elizabeth away from her cyberbully by traveling to Boar Island in Maine. Except the cyberbully follows, and Anna finds herself immersed in an intriguing Maine murder.
On page 253, the murderer describes her own actions as absurd. Well, yes, they are absurd! And the absurdities begin to make sense when the two stories merge in powerful manner on page 293. I flew through the last 180 pages of Boar Island, once the tales merged. Interestingly, and rather Nevada Barr-esque, ALL of the major characters in Boar Island are women.
So, whether or not this book has a slow start (I don't fully trust my own assessment here) it certainly has a fast and engaging finish!
On the long drive to the cabin, we usually listen to audio books. Having different reading preferences, finding one we both like can be a challenge. Nevada Barr mysteries are ones that work. So I was excited to find Boar Island available from the library to download.
We found this book taking a different approach to developing the main story line and found it very slow and rather dull (the alternate title “Bored Island” was tossed about) and at times, confusing. But the best indicator of how we felt about this book is this. Sometimes we don’t quite finish listening by the end of the trip. So we continue within a day or so, listening in the evening. After being at the cabin for about 10 days, I saw my Mp3 player on the dresser and remembered we never finished it. Never talked about finishing it. We didn’t miss it.
Now that I read your comments that the ending was worth it, wondering if we should go back.
So I think your response to the beginning of the book may not be unusual, Andrea. Even well-established authors have some misses. In my opinion, this was one miss for Nevada Barr.
Thanks for letting me know your opinion. I feel more sure of mine now! I like “Bored Island!”