Whores are Bores - Review of Chapter Three and Four of Deja Dead

In chapter two and three we learn more of Tempe's character. She is an alcoholic. A recovering alcoholic, I suppose. They do say that once you are an alcoholic, you always are, sober or not. She's divorced, and has a daughter in college. When I learned that Tempe didn't start grad school until her daughter was in preschool,  it really gave me hope as to my own education. Granted, this is only a book and not reality, but it did make me feel a little more confident in my ability to go back to school despite having a child.

Tempe also has daddy issues, as she does in the show. In the show, Tempe believes both her parents to be dead. She grew up in foster care. We later find out that her parents were actually bank robbers who assumed fake identities to safely raise their children. Her mom was murdered (though Tempe thinks both her parents died in a car crash) but her dad underwent facial reconstruction surgery and assumed another identity. They reunite in one of the later seasons and begin to work on the inevitable problems caused when a parent abandons you, for whatever reason.

In the book, Tempe's father is a neglectful alcoholic. Her relationship, or lack thereof, has caused her to have issues with men. She needs approval from men - whether in the form of romantic interest or respect for her intelligence and credentials. Detective Claudel does not give her this approval, and so the tension between the two is heightened.

We are also introduced to Gabby, Tempe's best friend. In the show, the artist Angela is Tempe's best friend and co worker. Gabby, on the other hand, is another anthropologist. She studies the lives of prostitutes in Quebec's red light district. It's obvious by Gabby's strange behavior that something is not quite right with her research, though we don't know what. There is some danger inherent to the situation - pimps generally don't like anyone messing with their workers. I am excited to see how this situation is going to shape up.

Through her relations with Gabby, we see a part of the book Tempe that more closely resembles the T.V. Tempe. The autism Tempe. Though the book Tempe certainly has human emotions, she isn't all too good at following others' emotions or their intentions.

I am really fascinated by this and definitely read the book differently knowing that the author herself is autistic.

I agree with Amanda's point from the last entry that the book reads a little like a textbook. The science thus far has not been good. It has been boring. And that makes me sad.

This is not the reaction it's getting from me.

Panda here! 

I'm still laughing from this post, Hel. Your words are truth - ha, ha. 

First I wanna comment on how the book *is* getting better. Really. But...by now I probably would've put it down because I still don't see enough plot. I have to know we're actually going somewhere before I give myself up to a story willingly. There's just so much set up and none of it is really that entertaining (I say this as if dead bodies and prostitutes are something I see every day). 

But since we're talking about plot...

I think that the prostitutes are a major plot device. This HAS to be connected to the plot, right? I mean, come on. Right? Right? Otherwise we just wasted a chapter on whores. Obvious plot point is obvious. My guess is that Gabby is going to be in trouble at some point because of her work and Temperance is going to have to save her ass. Just throwing that out there. lol. 

The closest thing I have to connect myself to this story is Temperance's obsession with Linguistics and an Ancient Meso-American Anthropology class I took in my undergrad studies. Other than that, this doesn't feel like my world/reality. 

Oh, and I forgot to talk about the map at the beginning of this book...

So, there's a map. A MAP. Really? I mean, reeeeally? Is this a high fantasy novel or something??? 

I instantly assumed this book was going be uber complex because of it, and then I started to cry inside because I don't want to think anymore and I just want to be entertained and I'm not even going to use it and it was such a waste of paper and I can barely read the fine print anyways. *Breathes* 

I mean, if I have to follow a map to follow your plot, I might as well study REAL crimes in Quebec, lol. Maybe if they didn't put the map in there, it would have seemed less pretentious. So far, I haven't even needed it. 

To Reichs's editors: How dare you give me a map.  

And now I must go read chapter 5-6.