"Une abbaye bénédictine peut-elle décemment attirer les foules sans reliques consacrées ? Non, répond le prieur de Shrewsbury, en cet an de grâce 1138. Qu'à cela ne tienne, le pays de Galles voisin a des saints pour chaque jour de l'année, et même plus ! Sainte Winifred, bien négligée par ses voisins, apparaît alors à un jeune moine. Un signe du ciel. L'abbaye envoie donc une délégation au village gallois. Lequel n'entend pas se faire enlever sa sainte, comme le proclame haut et fort le seigneur du lieu... qui meurt le lendemain. Vengeance divine ou bien les hommes s'en sont-ils mêlés ?"- Les chroniques de Frère Cadfael ?! Sont-ce des histoires de crime et de vice au Moyen-Âge ?- ...- OUI, JE PRENDS !En trois ou quarte phrases, je dirais que j'ai beaucoup apprécié cette lecture introductive aux aventures de frère Cadfael que je considère déjà avec gourmandise, et ce que je lui reprocherait (hormis sa brièveté qui, d'un côté, m'a permis de plonger directement dans l'histoire) serait, peut-être, le manque de l’élément "surprise" (/choc) auquel le polar a pour coutume.La maîtrise de la langue d'Ellis Peters nous a permis d'imaginer avec précision les différents endroits où se déroule l'action. Les textes sont fluides et et les personnages, même les secondaires, ne manquent pas de volume. J'ai particulièrement aimé le caractère de Cadfael, sa façon de voir les choses, sa logique, quand bien même l'auteure a jugé inutile de nous faire un étalage de ses talents m'as-tu-vu-je-suis-détective, et ça a contribué à donner encore plus de crédibilité à son caractère.J'ai aussi aimé la façon dont elle dépeint la religion, et les desseins des individus qui s'en servent pour manipuler la crédulité des gens au profit de leur propre intérêt. L'intrigue progresse régulièrement et avec souplesse à travers le texte, et on ne se lasse jamais de répondre (ou essayer de répondre) aux questions qui se posent au fur et à mesure que le récit avance, pour qu'à la fin, on arrive au climax, ou les voiles tombent et que tout se dévoile, et c'est ici que j'aurais aimé un peu plus de "twist".Quant à la traduction, (car j'ose espérer qu'à présent, vous avez pu deviner que j'ai lu la version en Français du livre) je trouve que Nicolas Gilles a fait un bon boulot en retranscrivant l'effet musical de certaines descriptions dans le texte.Enfin, et somme toute, nous avons un personnage solide, pourvu d'humour, plein de ressources et avec un passé encore peu exploré, et (cerise sur le gâteau) une époque (ma préférée) riche, laquelle laisse de côté tous les outils qui constituent le terrain du roman policier moderne, et j'ai hâte de savoir comment c'est ; je sens qu'avec Frère Cadfael, c'est bien parti pour de longues, longues heures de plaisir...
Ah ha! We meet at last Brother Cadfael. Pray tell, Brother, was it as boring for you as it was for me?I have heard much about the Brother Cadfael series and heard plenty of good reports on the books, including the first book in the series. This one. A Morbid Taste For Bones. Having been one of the only English speaking persons in the world to have never read any of the books or watched any of the tv shows I have had A Morbid Taste For Bones on my radar for a goodling amount of time. Always putting it off for whatever reason...I am not sure now what they were.My Ellis Peters blooding was a successful one and came in the form of one of her historical fiction books written under her other pen name, Edith Pargeter, which I read last year. That was A Bloody Field By Shrewsbury. The memory of her incredible writing in that book still makes my toes curl to this day. I loved it. It became one of my all time favourite historical fiction books.It was this lingering taste of the author's work that made me clear the schedule this month and finally read the first Cadfael. But next to the Classicist nature of A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury, I am afeared A Morbid Taste For Bones presents like the poor, country cousin. The writing quality I recognised, although it was more Shakespearean than Classicist in this historical mystery. For me there was no story of interest propped up by the intelligent writing. It took far too long to get to the crime and then I really couldn't care less who killed whom and why. The scenes kept reminding me of a drawn out Shakespearean play. Good for someone watching in the back seats of a dusty old theatre with their mouths agape, leaning forward, their fists clenched in anticipation of events, but for me as a reader, it was more like a two hour train ride. Very little bumps and very little entertainment unless I bring it myself.This may seem sacrilegious to those who love these books and the tv series, but I could easily have given this book 2 stars instead of 3. If it were not for my immense admiration for the way Ellis Peters strings her old fashioned words together, I would not have been so kind to A Morbid Taste For Bones.
What do You think about A Morbid Taste For Bones (1994)?
"...Brother Cadfael had come late to the monastic life, like a battered ship settling at last for a quiet harbour." He'd traveled the world and had many women. "He could not conceive of coming to this stasis having done nothing else whatever." How could you not be enamored of a monk like that? He gets mad when his holy duties take away from his gardening. He sleeps through chapter. He pokes fun at his fellow brothers: Brother John "was a handsome, lusty, good-natured soul, who seemed to have blundered into this enclosed life by some incomprehensible error, and not yet to have realized that he had come to the wrong place." "Brother Columbanus...in spite of his admirable body equipment...had for some while since proved that he had a mental structure of alarming sensitivity, and was liable to fits of emotional stress, crises of conscience, and apocalyptic visions far removed from the implications of his solid skull." The sarcastic witticisms of Brother Cadfael are without a doubt the most enjoyable parts of this book. So are the detailed depictions of life in the Middle Ages. The plot isn't particularly strong but that's ok with me. Brother Cadfael makes up for it! I can't wait to read other books in the series as well as watch the BBC TV series which I received for Christmas.
—Colleen
This is the first book in the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, a monk at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury, England, in 1137. In this story, one of the monks. Prior Robert, is desirous of having a saint's relics at this abbey. He has been searching around for an available (yet unclaimed) saint and has found one in Wales. A group of the brothers travel to Wales to obtain this saint's bones. They have permission from the prince of the land and the local bishop, but they want to get the consent of the local people, too. And, there is the rub. The locals want to keep their saint. While the monks are hoping to obtain the bones of the saint, disagreements flare. And, a murder occurs - the one man standing in the way of Prior Robert is found dead.Brother Cadfael is Welsh himself. He observes the relationships of the locals and is in sympathy with many of their feelings. Of course, he solves the crime...and prevents several others, but with a devious twist that is unexpected in a monk.Delightful read!
—Bea
I've been meaning to reread these for a while. I don't think I can improve on my first impressions: it's a believable enough portrayal of both medieval Welsh and religious life, from what I know of either, and I particularly liked the portrayal of the women of the story, even the dead woman. I like that there's a hint of mystery and sacredness, too, that things turn out alright and it might be human effort or there might be a hint of divine intervention as well. It suits the time period.I also noticed the quality of the writing, this time round. There are some gorgeous bits.The mystery itself -- well, I remembered how it panned out from before, so that wasn't exactly revelatory, but I think it was well done, and all the clues were there to solve it for yourself.
—Nikki
