Get Your Hands On Le Voleur De Temps Composed By Tony Hillerman Presented In Brochure
is an early Hillerman Novel for me and it hooked me onto this type of writing, I live in New Mexico, so I know so much about what he is writing about and where, The Navajo culture seems to come alive and you see the fine line they live between their and our cultures, The mystery seems to come alive on the reservation and high desert of Arizonia, I'm always glad when Leaphorn and Chee work together, They are a good pairing,
Perhaps more of a,. The mystery didnt get a lot of attention, although it was decent, The real story was Leaphorns slow progress through mourning and perhaps the real beginning of Chees and Leaphorns partnership, The description of his grieving was absolutely spot on, It is one of the best descriptions of the grief process Ive read in fiction, Im looking forward to the next in the series, As a New Yorker born and bred, a city girl through and through, the only Native American settlements that have ever appealed to me are these:
"Nice location," I always think.
"Sunny in winter, shaded in summer, this spacious apt has great views, Exclusive gated development convenient to community gardens, grocery stores, schools, houses of worship, craft shops, Highfloor unit boasts magnificent original murals and fine adobe detailing, Must see to appreciate. "
"Sold!"
Who were the people who made the cliff dwellings of Chaco Valley Scholars call them the Anasazi, The river valleys of the Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado border country are filled with tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of these highrise communities where runoff irrigation helped agriculture flourish even in the arid high desert.
The many villages were linked by complex land and water routes for trading pottery and other artifacts, Many of the bowls and other ceramics carried from one canyon to another were true works of art with sophisticated glazes and firing techniques, The most beautiful might be the work of just a few individual crafts people making their wares in specialized centers, Here are examples of the late style St, John Polychrome ceramics that figure in Hillerman's eight LeaphornChee mystery,
Here is a closeup showing the highglazed version of St John Polychrome,
The Anasazi also left behind extensive petroglyphs, wall murals depicting gods and ceremonies, Here is one depicting the nearly ubiquitous kokopelli figureswho also turn up in the Hillerman story,
Did the Anasazi really vanish someyears ago Why Can a few shards of St, John polychrome lead to an undiscovered Anasazi site And could it be that here was the workshop of a single artisan with a fine, distinctive style These questions seem to link a missing anthropologist, a damaged archeological site and a series of unsolved murders Eventually the questions bring Lt.
Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee together in one of Hillerman's most satisfying outings,
I can never resist historical and cultural stuff like this, especially when it comes packaged with a terrific mystery, vivid characters and a very clever denouement.
Five.
Content rating G: a clean read,
I had reservations about reading A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman, The story is set in the Navajo Nation where Ellie, an archaeologist suddenly vanishes, Two Navajo officers, Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee must figure out the mystery, Leaphorn and Chee meander around the area looking for clues, interviewing other dull and boring characters until suddenly they solve the mystery, Hillerman, who is supposed to be an expert in the area had several inaccuracies which could have been resolved if he would have done just a little bit of research.
I tried to find at least one character, who would redeem the story, The old timer rancher Harrison Houk or is son Brigham comes close, but neither were interesting enough to save the story, The book is like giving someone something and then taking it right back, And who wants that
A Thief of Time really describes what happens when a reader reads this book, The reader could be reading a really good book but instead chose Hillermans dull and boring story of the missing archaeologist instead
I've heard it mentioned several times that this was author Tony Hillerman's own favorite of his Leaphorn/Chee series.
It is now one of my favorites of the series, too, Once the arc of the story is established, there is a satisfying combination of action and character development, The introspection of the primary characters and some of the minor characters as well actually complements the plot and makes the action more believable,
The only thing that would have made it a more enjoyable read would have been finding a good unabridged audio version, I could not find any unabridged audio at all, Loved all Hillerman books with Leaphorn and Chee, Just out of plain curiosity, I have read many of Hillermans books, but this one escaped me, so now, I am checking it out for many reasons,
Oh my goodness, how I have let Hillermans writings slip past me for so long I have no idea! I received a gift card to Barnes amp Noble and yesterday went to the store and really stocked up on his books.
He is so talented in his writings, and so sorry he has now passed away and no longer will we be blessed with his works.
But "A Thief of Time" is amazing and kept me on the edge of my seat, I found myself waking up on and off all night long, switching on my little reading light, and keeping my hubby awake, reading the book.
I have started once again, "Skinwalkers" and already it is riveting in the firstpages,
Having lived in the South Eastern part of Utah foryears, I related so much in "A Thief of Time" of the area and the archeological sites found, not to mention probably thousands not yet found.
I highly recommend this to anyone interested in this genre, Love Tony Hillerman, sad he has passed away, The Four Corners Region is just mystical and these mysteries portray that and so much more, I love the relationship between Leaphorn and Chee, gives it another dimension,
Great light reading. Another terrific Leaphorn and Chee story, The mystery is not very hard to figure, but Leaphorns grieving and Chees Romantic nature are wonderful, And there should always be a map, I am starting to enjoy this series more as Leaphorn and Chee are beginning to work together in a way I like, It wasn't the sort of friendship that needed answers,
This was a great Hillerman novel, I really enjoyed it,
This is the second book where Leaphorn and Chee are teaming up to solve a mystery, Both are going through some problems,
Leaphorn is struggling to deal with This has left him a heartbroken, miserable shell of a man, He's even decided to quit the force, now just working out his last two weeks before it's all over for good,
Since then, nothing had interested him, Someday, he would come alive again, Or perhaps he would. So far he hadn't.
Therefore, Leaphorn is really surprised when something awakens his "cop interest" a prominent archaeologist has gone missing a month ago, Where is she What happened to her Is there ANY possibility that she could still be alive
, . .
Chee is working the same case from a different angle someone has stolen a backhoe and is using it to illegally dig up priceless artifacts.
When Leaphorn finds out Chee is on the same basic trail as he is, they team up to solve the mystery and arrest the bad guys.
Chee is going through some shit, too, although not nearly as heavy as Leaphorn's problems,
His relationship with Mary is ending Saints be praised! and it's really tearing him up because he loved her heaven knows why!!!!! I hate her.
"But you know, I've decided, I'm giving up. You can't go on forever, " As he heard himself say that, he was amazed, When did he decide that He hadn't realized it, He felt a surge of relief, And of loss. Why can't men cry he wondered, Why is that not allowed
He's taken a bit of interest in lawyer Janet Pete, He likes her legs and he doesn't want to disappoint her or make her sad, And he relishes their little conversations,
As she described it, the lawyer in Janet Pete fell away, The girl emerged through the delight and enthusiasm, and Janet Pete became absolutely beautiful herself,
But Janet and Chee both Navajo are having a hardtime getting over their respective shitforbrains white lovers, and it might be a long time before we see actual kissing between these two.
The book also has a little bit of humor in it, which is surprising I don't usually get that from Hillerman, But the beginning of the novel when Chee has taken Janet's car out for a test drive and uses it to chase down bad guys.
. . it was pretty funny.
Leaphorn's intense cynical grumpiness can be smileinducing as well,
When circumstances allowed, he would talk to a man whose very existence annoyed him,
Leaphorn may be grumpy as hell, even before but the first three books of the series have shown us that he's also a protomensch.
Even though he's not very menschlike in this book, I still have hope that the kickass man in sitelinkDance Hall of the Dead is going to reappear sometime.
Am I asking for too much Jeez, I hope not, These books are never going to get above a three star rating for me if Leaphorn and possibly Chee, although I don't have as much hope for him doesn't start acting like a mensch, and soon.
I did NOT see the twist or the ending of this one coming! Loved that loved being surprised and not being able to put all the pieces together.
Hillerman genuinely surprised me this time, Good job on him.
And you can FINALLY see in this book that Leaphorn and Chee are going to be friends, The book ends with a very telling sentence that makes you realize that these two
men are going to be walking together on the road of friendship now.
FINALLY. Jeez. I feel like I've been waiting forever! Leaphorn is such a stubborn man, always thinking Chee is too religious and too idealistic not grumpy and cynical as is proper for a cop.
But I feel like finally the men are seeing eyetoeye on some things, and even Leaphorn has to grudgingly admit that Chee is smart as a whip.
Progress.
Now if only we could get Leaphorn to express his mensch tendencies again, this would be a stellar series,
Tldr In the hunt to find a missing archaeologist, Leaphorn and Chee are finally starting to warm up to each other, Bonuses in this novel include a bit of humor and a surprising and satisfying conclusion to the mystery, .