I am a sucker for Woolrich except in his most purple stages.
My all time favorite is RENDEZVOUS IN BLACK, which was a
reprise of the basic plot device of THE BRIDE WORE BLACK.
While BRIDE is far better known and is very good, I believe
RENDEZVOUS is much superior. The similar plot frame is even
more unlikely in RENDEZVOUS but works better as it
illustrates more dramatically the randomness of fate and
sudden interruption of normality. It is also Woolrich at his
most merciless as the reader's sympathies are pushed and
pulled all over the map. I sympathize and cheer for the lead
character in the beginning chapters and then gradually view
him with complete horror. It also has what to me has always
been a classic opening, a gut-writer on a great riff. The
opening pages as well as a brief discription of a train
carrying home the coffins of dead soldiers are to me Woolrich
at his emotional, florid best.
PHANTOM LADY is almost as good. It does tail off in quality
at the end. Woolrich wrote some very silly novels but these
are two that work very well. Some of his short stories are
also of very high quality, including some of his very last
work such as "New York Blues."
It was unexpected to read a good notice of my fellow Georgian
Harry Crews. Admittedly a cultivated taste, I have liked his
work from his first novel THE GOSPEL SINGER. That one takes
place in Enigma, Georgia, a town I know pretty well. It's
midway between Tifton and Willacoochee. I've also been to
Mystic, Georgia, setting for A FEAST OF SNAKES. If anyone is
planning a holiday, there are other towns in Georgia with
better rattlesnake roundups than Mystic. Personally I prefer
the chitlin' festival in Climax, Georgia. I've enjoyed every
trip through there.
Richard Moore
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