The Plunge - Review of Chapter One and Two of Deja Dead

Wow. So much to say about this.

So far I am a weee bit disappointed. I wanted to read this because 1) I love crime related things. Forensics are awesome and if I thought I was smart enough, I would most certainly pursue a career in the field. 2) To compare it to the show. Which is amazing. Wonderful. Swoon worthy. LOVE LOVE.

But, as of yet, the book is not much like the show at all. I had heard this ahead of time, but thought that at least the characters were the same. So far all we have is Temperance and a detective she is working with. I assume, but it has not been establish yet, that this is supposed to be Seeley Booth. It's hard to tell because his name isn't Seeley - it's Claudel.

Other differences:
1) It's set in Quebec, Canada. Not Washington, D.C.
2) Tempe is divorced, whereas in the show, as all us fans know, she has commitment issues and doesn't really believe in marriage.
3) Tempe's personality. In the show, she never lets her emotions interfere with her work, however macabre. She rarely struggles with this. The Tempe in the book is much more "human". The book Tempe also talks about how she often makes plan in her head but they never come to fruition. For some reason or another, she puts them off. The TV Tempe would never be dissuaded. Adventure calls and she answers. Period.
4) Her work. It's hard to tell because Reichs does not go into much detail as to the look of the facility, but I get the impression it's not as high tech as the Jeffersonian. Then again, nothing is. Not to mention that she TV Tempe can look at the body and tell you its age, etc., whereas the book version has to perform fancy tests and whatnot. I am not complaining about this - Hollywood will distort reality. Simply noting the difference.

As for the crime featured in this book: the body found has the hilt of a plunger shoved up to the "hilt" in the pelvis of a young woman. Ouch.

All in all, I like the book so far as a book. It falls short when comparing it to the show, but it's early yet. I am hoping to see some more flare and character, and more SCIENCE.

~Helena

Amanda Panda here (finally). I must apologize to Hel for taking so long to get to this! When did I stop being on top of things?!?

Okay, so, first of all I ordered a used book off Amazon and expected the cover to look like the one in the picture. But no. It's ugly and plain and looks like a common paperback you'd see at a garage sale. Not that I judge a book by it's cover or anything, but I don't want people judging ME when I'm reading it. lol. 

Also, it's so fat it doesn't stay open at the page I need, so reading and typing my annotations is a total b*tch. 

But I'll stop complaining about things the poor book author can do nothing about...

I hate the first person point of view. Give me omni-presence or give me death. I feel limited and restricted to their body and perspective. Granted, some of my favorite books are first person POV, (like _Perks of Being a Wallflower_), so we'll see. 

At first her descriptions of Canada and the weather made me scream, "SHOW, DON'T TELL!!!" but then it got better. However, Reichs also goes into A LOT of historical details about Canadian places. When I read a book, I don't want it to be a text book. I don't need a lesson. I'm not sure I remember half of what the first chapter was about because I zoned out so much. lol. But hopefully that's the last of it. 

Also, I'm already having trouble keeping the characters straight. I'm going to have to pay closer attention. 

However, some facts about her job are really interesting. It's almost like I'm her co-worker observing her work...not that I really understand anything she's doing. 

Side note, I'd rather work with dead bodies than live ones, lol.  

I found her oddly interested in Linguistics: "I wondered if Constable Groulx was capable of a compound sentence." And, "I'd never heard him use a contraction." If she's noticing these things, maybe she should change career fields. lol. 

At one point she mentions Beatrix Potter, and that made me happy. 

I thought that one of her points was very profound: "Violent death allows no privacy. It plunders one's dignity as surely as it has taken one's life...The victim becomes part of evidence, an exhibit on display...It is like looting on the most personal level." 

So, yeah, remind me not to die violently, okay? *shivvers* 

I can't really compare the book to the TV show. I'm not sure I've ever watched a full episode. I prefer comedies over crime shows. But in the show previews, Bones seems like someone with a form of Asperger's, but in the book she's capable of emotion.