In her latest book, Kate Atkinson once again dodges the pitfall of genre to deliver a novel that delivers mystery without becoming formulaic. She speaks to Malcolm Jones about memory—and not taking her characters too seriously.
Kate Atkinson doesn’t think she would make a very good crime novelist. “I don’t think I could write within the confines of a genre, even with the best will in the world,” she says, speaking by phone from her home in Edinburgh. “People keep telling me I’m a crime writer, and I do like crime fiction. But I don’t see myself as writing it. I’ve pointed out before that Dickens wrote about crime, and Dostoyesky wrote crime. But when I’m writing, I’m not conscious of that, and when I’m finished and people say I’m writing crime, I’m like, well, no.”
She has a point. There are indeed mysteries in her seven extraordinary novels. And the last four, including the just released Started Early, Took My Dog, have all featured Jackson Brodie, ex-cop turned private sleuth, And yet, none of these stories could easily be described as a whodunit or in any way action packed. In scope and purpose, they are much more daring than any run of the mill murder mystery or thriller. Their considerable charms lie elsewhere. And that, more than anything, may explain why, despite a raft of critical praise and a shelf of awards (she won England’s Whitbread Prize for her very first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum), she has never been a regular on the best seller lists. You could almost say she’s too good for her own good.
Full story at The Daily Beast.
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