Laurie R. King Virtual Book Club discussion
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The Game
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The Game by Laurie R. King - VBC December 2019
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The Game has one of my all-time favorite sections for reading to an audience--as you can probably hear in the video:https://www.goodreads.com/videos/1054...
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I'm interested in what you think of the India in "The Game" as contrasted with "A Rising Man" and "The Widows of Malabar Hill." Looking forward to further discussion!
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https://www.goodreads.com/videos/1054..."
That's a great video! "As real as I am," absolutely.
One of my favourites too. I so enjoyed King’s Kim.
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I loved his relationship with the little boy - in fact I thought the boy was a stand-out character from the beginning.
This is probably my favorite of the Russell/Holmes books, with the exception of "Apprentice," and possibly "Locked Rooms." What an action-adventure movie it would make!
The Game is one of my favorites as well. Because of it, I was inspired to finally dive into R Kipling's Kim (narrated by Ralph Cosham --wonderful!).
We had been talking about how A Rising Man felt oppressive...rereading the sequence of when they arrive in India made my skin crawl. I love travel, but all I could think was "I NEVER EVER EVER WANT TO GO HERE!!!"
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Tara, I know what you mean, I am one of those people who really suffers from heat and gets overheated easily and I suspect I would flat-out die in that climate. Incidentally, I'm reading a book right now about The Great Mutiny and the descriptions of how the British survived in mid-19th century India, and it's mind-boggling. Of course, typical of many colonials they also refused to make any concessions to the climate!
I had never read Kim before but was inspired after reading this. I loved it. I haven't read The Game in several years, I don't know if I'll have time for a reread this month but I'll try!
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I highly recommend the audio version if you've never heard it. Jennie Sterlin does an amazing job with all the books, and I always find that I pick up details that I'd missed when I read the book.
Merrily wrote: "l highly recommend the audio version if you've never heard it. Jennie Sterlin does an amazing job with all the books, and I always find that I pick up details that I'd missed when I read the book. "Total agreement!
Oh, and a sweetheart mention in a recent WaPo article by Michael Dirda:In his sonnet “221B,” Vincent Starrett describes Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson as two men “who never lived and so can never die.” Certainly the great sleuth and his chronicler are among the most vividly realized fictional characters of all time.
There’s a passage in Laurie R. King’s “The Game”— one of her Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes novels — that charmingly shows this. Sherlock and Mary have been summoned by the detective’s older brother Mycroft, the sedentary denizen of the Diogenes Club who “sometimes is the British government.” One of the spymaster’s best agents, Kimball O’Hara, has gone missing in India. Mary — suddenly remembering “Kim” and its hero’s full name — exclaims, “He’s real then? Kipling’s boy?” To which Sherlock replies, “As real as I am.”
The rest of it, with Bonnie McBird and Nick Meyers, is here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...
That's real enough for me. The trailer is lovely. <3I had read this several years ago. Much was fresh in re-reading, but that final hunt had remained vivid.
Mary wrote: "That's real enough for me. The trailer is lovely. <3I had read this several years ago. Much was fresh in re-reading, but that final hunt had remained vivid."
It's funny what sticks out and what doesn't, which differs for each person. I found I remembered the final airplane ride vividly, but not at all the final hunt!
Hey all, sorry this didn’t come on the first of December, but if you’d like an ebook of The Game, it’s currently $2.99–Kindle https://www.amazon.com/Game-suspense-...
Nook https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/game...
So if spoilers are now permitted, can I ask about the one truly shocking event in the book? How did you react to her haircut?
Tee hee, I'm only at the part where they're at the zoo, gleefully looking forward to that part! A favorite moment in the series. Weird....there are now more books where Russell has short hair than long!
Merrily wrote: "Ellen wrote: "I had never read Kim before but was inspired after reading this. I loved it. I haven't read The Game in several years, I don't know if I'll have time for a reread this month but I'll ..."Last year I started listening to all the Russell novels, which I had never done before. My Audible app shows I finished A Letter of Mary (though I don't actually remember finishing it). But I really enjoyed listening to them; I started listening to other things and have forgotten to go back to them, but I think I will go back and start again!
Laurie wrote: "So if spoilers are now permitted, can I ask about the one truly shocking event in the book? How did you react to her haircut?"
Well, what choice did she have if she needed to go back in disguise? (Although I'm amazed that disguise worked. Perhaps, if she had not been so tomboyish in her youth, it wouldn't have.) Although many people have fixated on Russell's long hair, IIRC she has always viewed it as more convenient than something that has to be constantly cut and styled somehow, so the expedient of cutting it off seems like something she can do without feeling trauma.
The emotional content of the haircut is in her awareness that Holmes would hate it. The book sets up evidence that he is attached to her long hair (for example, the scene where he brushes her hair before the costume party). In later books there are further references to Holmes’s fondness for her long hair. Mycroft is aware of it and not surprised when Russell relates to him Holmes’s reaction to the haircut. As to her disguise as an English officer, I think the reader must suspend disbelief.
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Priceless.
So, Laurie, have you ever had short hair? As an adult? As someone who goes back and forth between long hair and short, I find people's emotions about their hair rather interesting. Perhaps because it's such a highly visible way of asserting one's identity? Although cutting her hair doesn't seem to have any real impact on Russell's view of herself.
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OMG, I think you're right! Island of the Mad was book #15, right? So that's 8 books with short hair and 7 with long!
An interesting point, though. IotM takes place in June 1925, right? And GAME is January 1924, so it's been well over a year of hair growth by now. And now that I think of it, I would have expected there to be more complaining about that really frustrating grow-out period after a short haircut, LOL. Perhaps after having jumped into a pixie cut, she's maintained it this whole time rather than growing it out.
The in-betweens of short hair trying to grow out really are the worst, unless you have a great hairdresser and go frequently. Somehow I don't see that as one of Russell's priorities...
No, I see her as a "Take the nail scissors to it" sort. Maybe Mrs Hudson helped? In which case she's now without a cook, housekeeper AND hairdresser!
Surely Holmes, master of disguise, can help neaten the hair. <3
I rather doubt Russell really cares. Women wore hats in those days when they went out, and eventually it got long enough that it was a stylish chin-length cut.
Laurie wrote: "So if spoilers are now permitted, can I ask about the one truly shocking event in the book? How did you react to her haircut?"
It was just a haircut. Many women i 1924 had short hair, all the flappers and at Mary's age, I believe she's 26, it would be old-fashioned for her to have kept her long hair.
Cathy wrote: "The emotional content of the haircut is in her awareness that Holmes would hate it. The book sets up evidence that he is attached to her long hair (for example, the scene where he brushes her hair ..."I agree that the reader must suspend disbelief at the disguise of Mary as an army officer.
OK-shifting topics: Here we have one of several books in which Russell is paired/contrasted with a young woman of about her own age.It seems to be a recurring theme throughout the series-Russell as existing outside her own age matched peer group. Of course we don't actually meet many of her academic friends, but it is intriguing to see her forcibly assume the outward attitudes of the "Bright Young Thing" when it's clear she's really more of the anthropologist observer type.
MaryL wrote: "OK-shifting topics: Here we have one of several books in which Russell is paired/contrasted with a young woman of about her own age.It seems to be a recurring theme throughout the series-Russell as..."I think Sunny is quite a bit younger than Russell, so Russell's anthropological view is natural, and I really don't think she joins the "bright young things" in this book. But I think it is natural for Russell to have different interests than many women in her age group because she is 1) married to an older man and perforce engages with his interests; and 2) a detective and theology scholar, which most young women the reader meets are not. In MREG she is very like many of the bluestocking women that surround Margery Childe. And in another book (Alas, I cannot remember which one.) we see her answering letters from her fellow scholars, which would be her natural habitat.
Mary is courteous and concerned about the young women, almost a guardian, not actually friends, but not overly critical either.The hair cut was needed to complete the disguise (no half measures) and probably simplified so much of life's tasks also. She pulled off the deception by boldly acknowledging and joking about the resemblance, "oh you've met my sister. What did she do this time?"
The hunting of Holmes had me on the edge of my chair, even on the second reading. Horrifying villain!
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Erin wrote: "Looping back to comparing against previous reads: Perveen Mistry from last month's book would have been at Oxford at about the same time as Russell. Do you think they would have been friends?"Assuming they had met, I would think they would be. My recollection -- not always reliable -- is that Russell was in Somerville College and Perveen in St. Hilda's, and I don't know how much interchange there was among the residents of different colleges. In the second Perveen Mistry book, The Satapur Moonstone (which, by the way, was even better than the first), Perveen has a lot of views about women's rights and the negatives of the raj system (conspicuous consumption and not much care for the peasantry, absence of real authority that leads to resentment) that are quite similar to Russell's in this book.
What an interesting concept. Would 2 emotionally injured very shy women find each other and become friends? I think after she returned from Jerusalem Mary just focused on work and didn't socialize much.
Laura wrote: "What an interesting concept. Would 2 emotionally injured very shy women find each other and become friends? I think after she returned from Jerusalem Mary just focused on work and didn't socialize ..."Russell returned from Jerusalem in 1919, and certainly immersed herself deeply in her books during the period of her faux estrangement from Holmes. But according to BEEK, even then she made a few friends, and by the time she returned to Oxford in 1920, after recovering from the wound she received from Patricia Donleavy, it seems to me that she had returned to normal life, and could possibly have met Perveen and had some conversations with her.
Hi all, love this book and appreciate the discussion. I have a question about the resolution of the traitor who was getting other agents killed, three in the 9 months before Russell and Holmes arrived. Kim is emphatic it wasn't the friend who got his amulet out ("it was not he who put the knife to their throats").
He acknowledges the Maharaj was preparing to use the boy "to open me up. So I offered to give them what they wanted.... and moreover I told the Maharaj I would offer him a great prize..."
Kim tells us he admitted he was a British agent and the famous Kipling character (the 'prize,' which, given the use of 'moreover' above, I took to be _in addition_ to the opening up).
So is Kim the traitor? The way it's written, you could argue for an assumption in either direction, but if Kim isn't the traitor, who is, and if Kim is the traitor, where is the acknowledgement and/or repercussion (interaction with Kim doesn't alter after his confession, and his participation in the upcoming mission is welcomed)?
There is reference to Nesbit having "little choice at the moment but to put aside the question of the traitor in the Survey ranks, and go on," however, that tidbit was an observation of Russell's _before_ Kim confessed to what happened when he got caught.
What am I missing? It's vexing me, though I admit, I'm likely overlooking a subtle resolution, neatly tucked between the beautiful descriptions and driving action. These books are so well done, I'm consistently surprised to discover a sly reference here, an overlooked thematic thread there, entirely missed before, despite repeat readings (well, listens).
I didn't personally read it as Kim was the traitor, but took it more as a look at his ability to read people (i.e. his friend who was not the traitor) as well as Nesbit and Holmes' willingness to believe Kim. I also took it as a realistic example of how all loose ends aren't always tied up at the end of a case. However, you may be onto something and I may be reading that section too naively.I've always thought I'd enjoy this book more after I'd read Kim, to have that deeper understanding of the character....but alas, I haven't gotten around to it yet. Perhaps next time.
Mod
In comparison to the other books we read, I was struck by how apolitical Russell is in The Game. She seems to be playing historian, and is very pointedly NOT sharing her own beliefs or stances on colonialism, the Labor government, etc. I don't know if I would've necessarily noticed this if we hadn't talked about that so extensively before!
I’ll just add, too, I found it interesting that in this installment, Russell seemed to let the men steer her a bit more than in others. Holmes talks her into the costume party after first suggesting she (not he) go (her retort, if I have to go, you’re going too, rather than arguing against her going at all). When Nesbit suggests they come out of character to infiltrate the Maharaja’s party, Holmes volunteers Russell, and rather than push back with him, she takes up with Nesbit for suggesting, as a woman, she might get hurt and thus shouldn’t be separated from Holmes.
Later, when Holmes and Kim go outside to plot kidnapping the Maharaja beyond Nesbit’s ears, Russell catches them up, and while she does challenge any notion of leaving her behind, she acquiesces to a test of her value in the field, proving she‘s can navigate the secret rooms and passages.
Not the norm for her, I don’t think, but as the first espionage mission since Jerusalem, and with Holmes clearing taking the lead given his background and experience, perhaps a natural tendency for her to fall back into a more familiar apprentice dynamic?
I agree with you, Joanne! Part of what I like about the timing of OJER is that it is right when Holmes is starting to see her as a partner, and not as an apprentice. However, because of the location and his experience, she is put back in the apprenticeship role and has to prove herself over again. In comparison, I felt that this book at times tried to show how the Russell of OJER was different to the Russell now; learning a new language and culture in a month is run of the mill, she even talks to Bindra in Hindi a few days in, in comparison to OJER where she doesn't speak Arabic to a stranger until near the end of the book to a little boy on the street. That said, whenever something came up in this book Russell didn't want to do; she whined, and then instantly caves. And you're right, more than once went from protesting about doing the thing at all, to fiercely wanting to do it because no one believed she could.
Hrm, I wonder how many times Holmes has used that blatant reverse psychology on her, haha?
Agreed. Those two books are great for juxtaposing, given their nature, and of course, it's interesting in general to have 'watched' Russell's reactions evolve through all the books. I've not done so in any analytical way other than generally noticing Russell maturing and coming more into her own, but that reminds me, while I'm familiar with the Letters to Mary group, is there a Russell wiki? If not, that would be a lot of fun to develop, though not sure if prohibitive from a copyright/character ownership POV.
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Mycroft approaches Russell and Holmes with a mysterious packet containing the papers of a missing English spy by the name of Kimball O'Hara, and Mycroft fears him captured or dead. Mary and Holmes travel incognito to India to investigate, and their adventures there embroil them in the mystery, danger, and gamesmanship of The Game.
Enjoy!
P.S. Please, no spoilers through December 10th!