Discussion - Still Life by Louise Penny

[vicki]

Welcome to the VBC discussion of Still Life by Louise Penny, the first volume of the Three Pines mystery series, a favorite of many VBC denizens. Louise will be joining us to respond to questions and comments and to add her thoughts to the mix. So if you haven't read this fantastic series, jump on in and join us this month.

To get us started, we have some fantastic introductory material from our discussion leaders. To set the stage and underscore the unique atmosphere of the book, John (aka jtb1951) writes:

Still Life, with Fruits, as Ruth Zardo might say! Our discussion book for September is Still Life, by Louise Penny, the first novel in her Three Pines series.

I did not really know much about Ms. Penny until last year's BoucherCon when I heard her as a panel member discussing the Dilys award, and the importance of the bookseller in the book production process. I found her to be a charming and engaging speaker, and her brief comments about the setting of her books grabbed my interest enough that I made a note to look them up at the library when I returned home. I quickly read all five novels and enjoyed them so thoroughly that I eventually went out and purchased first printings of each!

Still Life introduces us to the rural hamlet of Three Pines, a quaint village hidden away in the hilly folds of southern Quebec, near the U.S. border. A body of a woman has been discovered in the woods surrounding the town - Miss Jane Neal, a long-time resident, well-respected and beloved stalwart of the community - under circumstances suspicious. And we're off!

The suspected murder engages the involvement of the Sûreté du Quebec and Armand Gamache, Chief Inspector of Homicide. The first few chapters of the book introduce a cast of characters as enigmatic as they are interesting. From the Sûreté we have Inspector Jean Guy Beauvoir, Gamache's right-hand man, debonair, ambitious, and loyal to a fault; Agent Isabelle Lacoste, competent, dependable, and thorough, an agent's agent; and Agent Yvette Nichol, a trainee newly assigned to Gamache, intelligent but naive, socially inept, and perplexing.

To investigate and solve the mystery of the death of Jane Neal the Sûreté team must navigate the complex maze offered up through the foibles and idiosyncrasies of the good (?!) folk of Three Pines. We meet Clara and Peter Morrow, artists of differing talent and temperament, barely able to make ends meet through their work; Ruth Zardo, nationally-renowned poet, but locally-renowned crank, an irascible old woman and curmudgeon; Olivier Brulé and Gabriel Dubeau, partners in business and in love, owners of the local café and bed & breakfast lodging; and Myrna Landers, former big-city psychologist turned small-town bookseller and earth mother.

The murder investigation involves all of the folks mentioned above, in addition to a fascinating (and sometimes disgusting) cross-section of other Three Pines locals. I can't describe the plot to any great extent without cheating you of the joy of reading, but suffice it to say that it involves an art exhibition, bows and arrows, dysfunctional families, love and hatred, a last will and testament, a hunting blind, books, an unlikely sea shanty, French Canadian expletives (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLMN4U1FMNM for an irreverent primer), a reference to The Shadow radio program, antiques, the village green, long walks on the beach (oops! got carried away - no beach!), and lest I forget, licorice pipes!

And... for the first person to find the mention of a member of the Chicago Seven in the story, one of my rare virtual awards (virtually nothing, bien sûr!) Enjoy!!

John.

And long-time Three Pines fan Laidee Marjorie contributes some introductory thoughts and reflections on the series, as well as some helpful information on pronunciations:

I’d like to start off with the fun of a French lesson directly from Louise Penny. On her website, she gives us the pronunciation and meanings for many of the French names and phrases used in Still Life. Use this link and click on Still Life:

http://www.louisepenny.com/pronunciation_guide.htm
If you are as hopeless with French as I am, it is a great help to hear the characters' names spoken correctly! (For weeks I was saying Armand's last name as Gah-mosh-ay. So wrong!)

I would like to continue by letting Louise’s beautiful prose speak for itself. Her style is so thought provoking and witty and wise. Here is an excerpt from chapter 9 of Still Life:

“Every fall, at canning season, Suzanne’s mother Marthe would come over with her shopping bag of old family recipes. The two women would ‘put up’ the preserves over a couple of days and invariably Marthe would ask, ‘When does a cucumber become a pickle?’
"At first he’d [Martin Croft] tried to answer that question as though she genuinely wanted to know. But over the years he realised there was no answer. At what point does change happen? Sometimes it’s sudden. The ‘ah ha’ moments in our lives, when we suddenly see. But often it’s a gradual change, an evolution.”


I like reading mystery books and I love Louise’s books, not only for the ‘who done it’, but for her delicate and complex unraveling of why. Still Life does not feature a crazed serial killer roaming the Canadian woods (although those kinds of books have their place on my reading list). Instead, Louise gives us a small village where everyone seems to co-exist peacefully (even if they aren’t always kind, nice or generous. Ruth Zardo comes to mind!). So when one of their own has crossed the line and taken a life (and gone from a sweet fresh cucumber to a mushy inedible sour pickle to continue with Louise's idea), Louise asks herself and her readers, how does this happen? She, mainly through her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, peels back layer after layer to uncover the hearts and minds and spirits of these people. They all have secrets, but what secrets do any of them have that are worth killing for?

I love that Still Life creates a fully believable world filled with good food (cafe au lait, croissants and licorice pipes) and good friends and beautiful landscapes (no matter how severe the weather). I also accept that here is a world that contains hate and greed and homophobia and fear and ignorance, but ultimately never hopelessness and that, for me, is Louise's greatest gift. I know that Three Pines will go on and I will be there for every step of the journey.

--Marjorie

And from Pat Floyd, some observant impressions of the book and the thematic threads woven into it.

Thanks to recommendations here, I discovered Louise Penny’s books this year and join Marjorie and John in my enjoyment of them. A characteristic of the world and people Louise Penny creates that I especially like is their unexpected dimensions and meanings, spirit as well as material. For instance, the village of Three Pines south of Montreal doesn’t appear on any tourist map. “Like Narnia, it was generally found unexpectedly and with a degree of surprise.” In other books it’s described as being found like Shangri-La or like Brigadoon. In one it’s said to be found only by those who are lost. Yes, it’s a real village, but is it more than that? During the Revolutionary War, the three pines were used as a symbol to show British loyalists when they had safely reached Canada. The original three pines are gone, but they continue to be replaced as needed. Perhaps the village itself is always changing, but always remaining the same.

The people are not to be taken for granted either as being types or as being static. As book and series develop we see many of them in new ways and we see them change. They also invest their world with a variety of meanings, with rituals, poetry, and art. In Still Life art is central, and very unexpected art it is with an ingenious function in this mystery. The title of the book itself is a term usually applied to art, but its greatest significance here is in regard to the kind of lives some people live. Myrna left her psychology practice in Montreal because too many of her clients didn’t want to get better. She told Gamache:

‘L

I’ll leave it to you to discover how this observation speaks to who murdered Jane Neal.

Thank you to John, Marjorie, and Pat for this great kickoff material!!

[MaryL]

Best line in the book: Gabri says "Now, can I interest you in a glass of wine, or perhaps a chandelier?"

[Jessara]

I can't separate the story in this book from the entire series. As I read each book, I moved further into the world presented until it lives inside me, and a better compliment to an author I cannot give. This is not going to help me analyze this book, though. Perhaps if I could find a local source for licorice pipes-. That's another problem; the books all make me hungry.

[jtb1951]

Originally Posted by Jessara

I can't separate the story in this book from the entire series. As I read each book, I moved further into the world presented until it lives inside me, and a better compliment to an author I cannot give. This is not going to help me analyze this book, though. Perhaps if I could find a local source for licorice pipes-. That's another problem; the books all make me hungry.

Can you remember the first time you read Still Life though, Jessara, and what it was about the story that grabbed you?

John.

[jtb1951]

Originally Posted by MaryL

Best line in the book: Gabri says "Now, can I interest you in a glass of wine, or perhaps a chandelier?"

To me, it's a book of wonderful lines, Mary, and that one is certainly a great one!

John.

[Strawberry Curls]

Originally Posted by Jessara

Perhaps if I could find a local source for licorice pipes-. That's another problem; the books all make me hungry.

Licorice Pipes You can always buy them over the net.

[Pat Floyd]

Thank you, Alice. I had trouble visualizing licorice pipes. Since I don't like licorice, I don't need to know what they look like, but I was curious. I read or heard somewhere: "Licorice is wonderful. Nobody is wishy-washy about it. They either love it or they hate it."

MaryL, I absolutely love that line too.

[Jennifer]

Pat,
In India, fennel seed is a regular digestive aid after dinner. It tastes like a nutty version of licorice and it's pretty addictive. Next time you stop by an Indian grocery, ask them about fennel seed. I didn't like the idea of licorice flavor until I found it in this form.
Jennifer

[Millie]

I just picked up my copy from the library, so I'll be joining in soon.

[The Grey Badger]

My library's first comment was that a book group at the main library would be discussing it, but they still have plenty of copies. On hold; to be delivered to my local branch from whoever sends it first. But now you have me intrigued enough to want to read the entire series!

And thanks for picking one already published. "Sweetness at the bottom of the pie" was all over the bookstores a month or two after the discussion closed. Sigh.