The Blue Place

The Blue Place
Nicola Griffith | 1999-06-01 00:00:00 | Harper Perennial | 320 | Lesbian
A police lieutenant with the elite "Red Dogs" until she retired at twenty-nine , Aud Torvigen is a rangy six-footer with eyes the color of cement and a tendency to hurt people who get in her way. Born in Norway into the failed marriage between a Scandinavian diplomat and an American businessman, she now makes Atlanta her home, luxuriating in the lush heat and brashness of the New South. She glides easily between the world of silken elegance and that of sleaze and sudden savagery, equally at home in both; functional, deadly, and temporarily quiescent, like a folded razor.

On a humid April evening between storms, out walking just to stay sharp, she turns a corner and collides with a running woman, Catching the scent of clean, rain-soaked hair, Aud nods and silently tells the stranger Today, you are lucky, and moves on--when behind her house explodes, incinerating its sole occupant, a renowned art historian. When Aud turns back, the woman is gone.

But Julia Lyons-Bennet will return seeking Aud's help and pr

A police lieutenant with the elite "Red Dogs" until she retired at twenty-nine , Aud Torvigen is a rangy six-footer with eyes the color of cement and a tendency to hurt people who get in her way. Born in Norway into the failed marriage between a Scandinavian diplomat and an American businessman, she now makes Atlanta her home, luxuriating in the lush heat and brashness of the New South. She glides easily between the world of silken elegance and that of sleaze and sudden savagery, equally at home in both; functional, deadly, and temporarily quiescent, like a folded razor.

On a humid April evening between storms, out walking just to stay sharp, she turns a corner and collides with a running woman, Catching the scent of clean, rain-soaked hair, Aud nods and silently tells the stranger Today, you are lucky, and moves on--when behind her house explodes, incinerating its sole occupant, a renowned art historian. When Aud turns back, the woman is gone.

But Julia Lyons-Bennet will return seeking Aud's help and pr
Science fiction writer Nicola Griffith, winner of the Nebula and Tiptree Awards, proves that good writing transcends genre. The Blue Place is a spare, cold suspense thriller--Norwegian noir--with the kind of strong, enigmatic characters that made Griffith's Slow River such a great read. Aud Torvingen is a former cop, martial artist, and Scandinavian to the core. She stalks powerfully through the streets of Atlanta and the fjords of Norway in search of an art thief and killer. At first, she frightens us a bit, because she insistently imagines how easy it would be to kill almost everyone she meets. Having descended more than once into that dark, cold psychic realm wherein violence provides primal pleasure, Aud is constantly wary of her fellow human beings. But our fear turns to fascination as she finds herself falling in love with Julia, a smart, beautiful art dealer mixed up in the crime, and getting closer to finding the center of the danger in the icy north.

As in Slow River and Ammonite, Griffith's attention is often on the bodies of her characters--their awareness of skin and muscle, sinew and bone suffuses the action. Griffith closely scrutinizes their deeper inner workings, their emotions and logic, as well. The story is tense and gripping, as a good thriller should be, but the best part of The Blue Place is Aud's fascinatingly familiar search for self. --Therese Littleton
Reviews
I enjoyed this book. Unfortunately I read the sequel 'Always' before I read this one so I was aware of the ending beforehand. Too bad this book wasn't written with the depth 'Always' was but still it was interesting, particularly how the main character Aud discussed her Norwegian roots through troll symbology. Aud is a rock for a reason notwithstanding her emotionally isolated upbringing.
Reviews
I have read The Blue Place several times and will probably read it several times more. The main character, Aud, was fascinating, strong and sexy. Because I enjoyed the book so much, I bought more books by Nicola Griffith. I've enjoyed them all - but truly loved The Blue Place and Aud. I would be thrilled to see this book made into a movie and I know loads of other women who would love to see the same. If you want a great read with a fantastic female lead character, The Blue Place is the book for you.
Reviews
I have now read all three of the Aud Torvingen books and they are engaging from beginning to end. Griffith uses words like a paintbrush and language like a sword. I can easily visualize what is happening (even when I don't particularly want to)and I feel pain Aud, because her pain is so real. It's nice to see books about a lesbian main character where the sexuality doesn't overpower the personalities of the people inhabiting the book.
Reviews
Nicola Griffith's The Blue Place sucked me in and never let go. The imagery of a simple walk, the descriptions of what would be otherwise unpalatable violence, every sentence is a gem in it's own right. Aud is magnificent; a rich, engaging character. She works so hard for perfection that I found myself loving her for her flaws. As characters go, Aud was decidedly one of the best I have met in a long time. I was less engaged with Julia, her love interest. This may be because the story is told in a first person narrative and I think that Aud herself was emotionally detached so even while she was falling in love, she was critical & analytical.

I also really enjoyed how matter of fact the lesbian themes were addressed in the book. Aud is gay, Julia is gay. There is no angst or need to beat the reader over the head with it. As a gay woman, I have read a great deal of lesbian litereatue and I found Griffith's approach refreshing.

I've read "The Blue Place" several times now and each time I read the first page, I am hooked; unable to put it down because the images come to me so clearly.

My only criticism of Nicola Griffith is that she's not written more.
Reviews
The Blue Place begins strongly, with beautiful prose from an author with an obviously strong command of the language and a unique voice. From there, however, it rapidly flatlines.



The main character, Aud Torvingen, is a lesbian ex-policewoman from Norway now working as a bodyguard and self defense instructor in Atlanta. I mention the character's sexuality because she is appears to be some sort of idealized Nordic fantasy: tall, strong, beautiful, wealthy, stylish and deadly to the point of absurdity. She comes across as some sort of lesbian version of James Bond; able to go anywhere, do anything, conquer anything and bed anyone, all of it effortlessly and very little of it believably.



A particularly stark example of this occurs in the first half of the book when one character tells another how he met Aud: They were skydiving, and his parachute didn't open. Aud saw what was happening, cut her own chute, dived to catch up to him, wrapped her legs around his torso and pulled the ripchord of the reserve chute, setting them both down safely. But only after staring him in the eyes and telling him to "feel it" - "it" apparently being the rush of a near-death experience.



Uh... right.



The language of the novel is exceptional. Unfortunately, the plot isn't particularly gripping despite the promise of its premise, and worse, the characters are two-dimensional, unrealistic, cartoonish, and in Aud's case, so arrogant and self-impressed that it is difficult to care about or root for her. Considering that Aud is the protagonist, that's a shortcoming the book can't overcome.



PS.

The author attempts to add depth and realism to her character by having her talk about her martial arts training and techniques, but there are several glaring inaccuracies (e.g. the idea that bones in the nose can be driven into the brain to kill a person - see http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=511 for a quick explanation) that will be easily picked up by anyone who has studied martial arts in depth that it only serves to undermine the credibility of both the character and the author.

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