I'd already read Guilt-Edged Blonde in The Name is Archer.
Macdonald is
one of my favorite authors, and I was expecting to enjoy this
story
greatly, and decided to put off reading the story by that
other writer.
I was surprised to find that Blonde lacked the punch I had
expected, while
Mama's Boy impressed me greatly. Alexander's portrayal of
this character
was chilling and thorough. The fact (as the introduction to
Blonde states)
that Macdonald consciously attempted to keep Archer as
nondescript as
possible in order to be a lens for the reader into the world
around him
lent itself to this dichotomy. Archer, of course, is a moral
hero in (was
it Fred Willard or Etienne Borgers who described it as?) an
existential
hell. But Alexander took us inside Crowley's soul, or what
passed for it,
which made for a much more satisfying read.
Anyone feel differently?
Kim Colley
kcolley@eastky.com
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