Book Nook: Signed, Mata Hari

What could be more captivating of the imagination than the story of a beautiful dancer turned enemy spy? I was thrilled to check Signed, Mata Hari by Yannick Murphy out of my library, but ultimately was disappointed with the story of a woman who should have been easily able to capture the attention.

First of all the writing is technically good, but I found it very difficult to read through the jumble of short vignettes that Murphy loosely tied together. I like more depth and detail in my books and this novel is striking in its absence of details, mostly focusing on emotion and a dream-like quality that seemed to surround Mata Hari. A lot of the time names weren't used and two or three paragraphs would go by only referring to "her" meant to mean Mata Hari but I was never completely sure if it was Mata Hari or if Sister Leonide and Ana Lintjens were supposed to be the focus of a passage.

Historically I think that Murphy tried to stay true to the facts of Mata Hari's life, her early marriage, life in Indonesia, death of her son etc, but I felt no connection to these events as I felt like a biographical novel should have. This could have been about anyone or someone completely made up, nothing seemed unique, except the one phrase that repeated itself over and over "I have walked across the sea." One of the things that I did appreciate was a woman writing about another woman who was seen simply as a sex object without any hint of hidden feminism or a subtext that it was somehow wrong. Mata Hari chose that life, and to her it was what she needed to do to escape the monotony and brutality of her life. 

This book read too much like a rambling death row confession and it just wasn't appealing to my desire to sink into a story and inhabit the world an author creates. Too much of this story was simply dark walls and black stone beyond which lay a world of white. Characters seemed flat and the pace was very slow even though the chapters were never more than a few pages. I would probably not recommend this book in the future and I wish I hadn't had to finish it for a discussion group. Worst of all I picked this book out for myself expecting a sumptuous tale of dancing, sex and espionage.

*This blog is part of a grant Medfield has been awarded through the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Library and Services Technology Act administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.