In re "Phantom Lady": After finally reading it, I got a
different
impression.
I have more than enjoyed Woolrich's books for many years and
was
especially anticipating the pleasure of reading P.L. after I
had seen
the (IMO brilliant) film several times. My interested in
Woolrich was
moreover boosted by a well-researched documentation about him
that
was recently shown on TV in Germany. All in all the choice of
the book
for the rara-avis reading-list came just in time for
me.
After reading the book, I have to admit that I was a bit
disappointed
in the sense that P.L. is the first book of Woolrich I found
inferior to
the film version.
I found the first halve of the book a bit dated, sentimental
and even
long-winding. It gets much better as soon as the main action
starts
after Lombard turns up but I had trouble to withstand the
court scenes
and the introspections of Henderson during the first third of
the
book. It may be the wrong attitude to reading mystery fiction
but I was
always inclined to think: "People do not really think ornate
things like
that."
This is just my personal opinion of course and perhaps I
would
have enjoyed the book more had I not seen the film
before.
(BTW, I would agree with James that "The Window" is the
best
film adaptation of a work by Woolrich.)
Frank
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Frank Glenewinkel
frank.glenewinkel@uni-koeln.de
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