historical fiction
Margery Benson has lived a very lonely life. After losing
her brothers and father at a young age to tragedy, she was raised in an
emotionally barren household and grew to lead an emotionally absent life. She finally has a mild breakdown and decides
to do something completely out of character and embark on an adventure across
the world to find the mythical Golden Beetle. She recruits an assistant, Enid,
and they’re off!
Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce is a sweet story about the importance
of having a dream and having someone with whom you can connect. However, it was
slow-paced and lackluster for most of the novel. Margery and Enid are quirky
characters who embark on a quirky quest, both under false pretenses, and they
manage to bumble their way through an adventure. There is a creepy “bad guy”
who doesn’t succeed at being the gripping source of conflict this novel needed.
Rather, he’s an annoyance and a sad hanger-on who is in need of help.
I wanted to enjoy it more than I did. But Margery was uncomplicated and humorless. Enid was the bright spot.
Narrator Juliet Stevenson was outstanding as usual. She won
my Favorite Audiobook Narration of 2019 for her work on Once Upon a River (by Diane Setterfield). Her vocal repertoire is truly astounding and she’s a
terrific voice actor. However, due to her natural low voice, her voice for Enid
often sounded like Monty Python’s male actors pretending to be women. Bummer.
Because she’s otherwise stellar in this production, I’ll give her an A-.
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