When Sane People Believe Lies
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, a book written in 1841, spawned the title for Louise Penny’s latest book.
In her author acknowledgement, Louise Penny explains that the original book by Charles Mackay “offered a series of nonfiction essays looking at why sane people believe the nuttiest things,” begging the question, “What happens to tip people over into madness?” (434).
People do behave differently in crowds. Crowds begin small, adding numbers like wood to a fire. Words that influence crowds can serve as a weapon.
Reading that Disturbs the Peace
The Madness of Crowds, (#17 in Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series), takes place back in the tiny village of Three Pines––a place like Brigadoon that does not exist except in the imagination and hearts of readers. In this remote setting, post-pandemic members of the community reel from the effects of lockdown, loss, and lingering fear.
In this book, Penny also referenced a website, “Spurious Correlations,” the myth of the 100 monkeys, a book “How to Lie with Statistics,” and a book of French fables.
“Then let us all turn
eyes within
And ferret out the
hidden sin”
Les Fables de La Fontaine
Turning my eyes within …
I had preordered this latest book for delivery on the day of its release. As a fan of this series, I have dedicated an entire shelf in my library to Louise Penny’s engaging, re-readable books. Late to the party reader of her crime mysteries, I had to purchase copies of used books once I set out to read them all.
After reading this latest book, I took notes. I needed to think and process before venturing to share my thoughts. And I’m still thinking. Today, I received Louise Penny’s October newsletter, which linked to her website.
According to her website, “The latest, THE MADNESS OF CROWDS has arrived! And not just arrived – it debuted at #1 on the NYTimes, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star etc, bestseller lists, making it the top selling book in North America for it’s first week out!“
A few days ago, reading Amazon reviews, I discovered readers who objected to the pandemic context. Ironic, since Penny described characters in her story as “shell-shocked, desperate for hope following the pandemic” (15).
This book was not the light, escapist story readers have come to expect. While the majority of reviews are positive (Penny has a massive audience worldwide), the negative reviewers agreed the book was depressing.
Still, positive reviews abound.
Library Journal: “This book has layers within layers: good versus evil; our duty to the weak; the nature of power; the fact that good people are not always likable, and likable people are not always good. Penny’s familiar characters are back, along with some intriguing visitors. The mystery will keep readers absorbed until the end and might make them realize how this unprecedented pandemic has changed the world.”
Times of London:
starred reviews on Louise Penny’s website, https://www.louisepenny.com/index.html
“The Madness of Crowds is a grown-up, timely thriller that considers the nature of cowardice – ‘there’s no peace without courage’ – and how to find and defend ‘that spot between freedom and safety‘.”
The Situation and the Story
The question raised early in this book, “. . . how any academic institution could possibly allow a talk by expert Abigail Robinson [fictional character central to the story], a person many, most considered a lunatic.”
Abigail Robinson, a charismatic speaker, emerges following the pandemic with a message she promotes on the Internet. Based on spurious correlations of statistics, this character uses these statistics to measure dwindling resources heightened by the pandemic. “Crawling into people’s heads,” she paints a bleak picture to offer a simple solution.
Chief Inspector Gamache, assigned to protect Abigail Robinson, questions the Chancellor of the university who invited her to speak. Arguing freedom of speech and thought, the Chancellor defends a position that Gamache considers dangerous.
“Abigail Robinson did it not with histrionics, but with a voice so quiet people had to almost strain to hear. It was a kindly crayon voice that carried conviction because it apparently didn’t try.”
The Madness of Crowds, p. 97
That kindly crayon voice stayed in my head as I read, thinking how penetrating messages can come not from the one who shouts loudest but menacing words spoken softly.
“ça va bien aller“––French for “All will be well”
Louise Penny has used this quote by Julian of Norwich, (also quoted in T.S. Eliot’s poem “Little Gidding”), in previous books. But in this novel, the phrase becomes twisted by the character Abigail who uses these words to mask a sinister, mad plot. “A phrase meant to comfort” gets coopted and “twisted into a code, a subtle threat” with “a dark core,” that attracted a fringe movement (16).
Too close for comfort: Where the Delusions of Lunatics Continue to Influence the Madness of Crowds
“After studying the statistics on who died in the pandemic, and doing the cost-benefit analysis, she’d concluded there was a way to kill two birds with one stone. And Abigail Robinson was, in her pleasant way, happy to throw that stone.”
The Madness of Crowds, (70)
Can you guess where this stone points?
Louise Penny describes the target this way.
“If Professor Robinson’s findings were implemented, it meant the right to die became the obligation to die, but sacrifices needed to be made. In a free society. And recently, emboldened by growing support, Professor Robinson was delicately turning her attention to the other end of life. Babies. With birth defects.” [empahsis mine]
The Madness of Crowds, (70)
Timing and Timeliness: Are we there yet?
Penny explained that she set her story post-pandemic, “[believing] that we would emerge. That families, friends, strangers could get together again unafraid. Unmasked. That we could embrace, and kiss, hold hands and have meals together.” [2]
Penny is an excellent writer, and I admire her writing and the basic belief she promotes in all her books, which comes from W. H. Auden’s elegy to Melville.
“Goodness exists.”
Was it a good idea for Penny to create a story that centers around the pandemic? Or to highlight the voices of those who seek to infect people with ideas in order to gain a mad following? Could the book’s controversial subjects reflect the writer’s own viewpoint?
Will readers think through some of the serious questions raised in this story?
Excerpt from World news magazine this week:
“Another one down under: Queensland became the fifth Australian state to legalize euthanasia on Thursday. Almost two-thirds of the 93-member Parliament voted in favor of allowing terminally ill people to access ‘assisted dying’ services. The legislation will go into effect in January 2023. During the debate, premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who promised in her reelection campaign to prioritize the legislation, shared about the painful deaths of her own relatives who would have preferred euthanasia. But the Catholic archbishop of Brisbane called the vote ‘a real defeat for Queensland … a defeat for life. Now we await the dark spectacle of unexpected consequences.’ New South Wales is now the only Australian state that hasn’t legalized euthanasia.“ [1]
The all too real madness of crowds extends far beyond 1841. By forsaking what the Bible teaches about each life as precious and sacred in God’s sight, these life and death questions move ever closer to home.
[1] https://wng.org/roundups/one-by-one-australian-states-legalize-euthanasia-1624904082
[2]Acknowledgements, p. 433, The Madness of Crowds