On 31 January 2000,
Mbdlevin@aol.com wrote:
: I meant to comment earlier when the book of the month was
being
: discussed more heavily. Since, it's the end of the month,
I'll just
: throw in my two bits.
Same here. I've been meaning to say something about it for
weeks, so I'll sneak in a few words today.
This is a great book. There are quite a few other books on
the reading list that are enjoyable, but this has got some of
the finest prose around. I can't remember right now the
details of the scenes that really stood out, but the bit
where the car comes around the corner, leaking gunfire, was
one. Hammett describes violence in short, punchy sentences
with no ornament, and it's more effective than any
chapter-long pulse-pounder someone like Lehane would do. What
beautiful writing. Great bunch of characters, too, and it had
some of the necessary really confusing parts where it's hard
to keep who's who straight.
There was some talk about Dinah Brand. I liked her and could
see why she and the Op got along so well. She's not described
as any kind of glamour puss, but she's quite appealing.
I picked up Cawelti's ADVENTURE, MYSTERY, AND ROMANCE the
other day and read his section on Hammett, but I don't have
it near me so I can't quote anything he mentions about RED
HARVEST. It's interesting, though.
Bill
-- William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/ : Caveat lector.
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 31 Jan 2000 EST