The Mystery Play - Grant Morrison
In a small English village of Townely, a revival of a medieval mystery play is being put on, when suddenly the man playing God is murdered just offstage. Enter Sergeant Frank Carpenter, a bearded, taciturn detective, coming to solve the murder in a rather peculiar way: "I don't want to examine the smashed pieces of an event, you see what I mean? Fragments are no good to me. I want to see it whole, in relation to everything around it." Carpenter uncovers some rather unsavory practices in the local politician, and a reverend who lost his faith and didn't get along with the deceased very much, but none of it adds up to anything. Then a reporter uncovers a macabre secret about Carpenter, and things start to get weird. Carpenter is haunted by his past and every clue he finds. I didn't really engage with this one much, despite Morrison's erudition and the interesting twists. I liked his clever coat motif and the mob frenzy at the end, but I'm not wholly onboard with Morrison's ideas that we're all part of a collective organism or story, and the individual pieces don't matter as much. And the symbolism is just so heavy handed. I mean, his name is Carpenter? and he gets a wound on his hand? "The house is empty"? It's all a bit on the nose. This book has some interesting themes and exciting moments, but ultimately I found it just a collection of ideas rather than a complete work. [3.5]
