What do You think about The Yellow Dog (2014)?
I have been meaning to read Simenon for years, ever since I read an interview with him in one of the many anthologies of Paris Review interviews. But for whatever reason, it wasn't until last week, at my new favorite bookstore, in downtown Morehead, Kentucky, Coffeetree Books, that I bought a copy. And I'm so glad I did. Simenon is a master. A fantastic writer who establishes mood in such quick brushstrokes of prose and who teases the reader with just enough in each chapter to think she knows whodunnit while providing great feints in opposite directions to keep things interesting. I think his creation of Inspector Maigret rivals Chandler's Marlowe and Hammett's Spade. The only reason I'm withholding a star (another reason to have half-stars, Goodreads) is that I thought the finale was a little talky. THen again, aren't all detective novels a little talky in the end?I'm certainly going to read more Simenon, and apparently have only seventy four Maigret novels to go!
—Tom
"Era impossibile indovinare i sentimenti di Maigret, tutto intento a caricare la la pipa con le dita tozze. La sua borsa da tabacco era lisa. Il suo sguardo vagava, attraverso una vetrata, sull'ampio orizzonte del mare". Basterebbero queste semplici parole che sono la summa di ciò che è Maigret e di cosa rappresenta nel panorama del giallo, non solo francese. I romanzi di Simenon dedicati al commissario Maigret si caratterizzano per uno stile semplice, breve, ma essenziale. Poche frasi che puntano diritto all'obiettivo, a quello che si vuole raggiungere e dire. La figura di Maigret si i staglia diventando il protagonista di un giallo con segreti e misteri da svelare. Su questo mondo, si erge la figura di un uomo arguto che fin dall'inizio ci fa entrare in punta di piedi nel mondo di Maigret. "Il cane giallo" rientra in una indagine che si svolge in Francia, nella zona di mare del Concarneau, in cui le vicende delle persone comuni (la cameriera Emma, su tutte), sono la parte migliore di una storia in cui il genio di Maigret è più vivo che mai e il paese è in continua trasformazione, proprio come i suoi abitanti.
—Simona
Like many of the early Simenon’s this book is more an exploration of the atmosphere and culture of a small European town than it is about the solving of a crime. As the reader finds out late in the book, Maigret’s apparent passivity in the early part of the story was due not to confusion but rather was a conscious choice. One wonders if Simenon consciously created a story in which the reader would feel the same frustration with Maigret as did many of his critics in the story. When Maigret reveals in the final chapters that he knew exactly what he was doing at the very moments that others were most unsure of his competence the reader may feel that they have fallen into the same trap. One may imagine that Simenon enjoyed knowing that the reader, who felt such joy at feeling superior to the petty provincial officials would be suddenly forced to realize just how much like them she was.The denouement is both depressing and uplifting. The reader is aware that nothing that Maigret does, indeed nothing Maigret could do, would change the enormous inequities and inequalities of the world Simenon was writing about. Yet those who Maigret considered truly guilty did pay for their crimes and those who Maigret considered the true victims are allowed to escape and make a reasonable life for themselves. It is, perhaps, only after the reader has closed the book for the last time that they realize that Simenon has once again used Maigret, a character who supposedly stands for justice and order, to provide a cutting critic of the social order he is tasked with upholding.
—Mmyoung
