--- Gerald So <
gso@optonline.net> wrote:
> Parker may be keeping Susan around to appeal
to
> women, but a lot of
> female readers find Susan insufferable. They may
be
> more attracted to
> Spenser as the stalwart, faithful man.
I think Susan started as a valuable character. She does not
intrude on (or comprise) the story line in her earlier
appearances the way I feel she does in later works. PROMISED
LAND, for instance, is one of Parker's best, and is largely
concerned with the question of whether or not Susan and
Spenser should marry.
Susan gave Parker a vehicle through which to explore how
romantic love fits into a tough man's life in an essentially
unromatic world. I may be in the minority, but I think Parker
did a good job exploring that territory in his early work.
Somewhere around 1980, however, Parker finished his
exploration, printed the map, and now continues to drive
around the countryside pointing at the same darn landmarks
and saying "Look at that! Remember that?" In fact, to belabor
the metaphor further, Parker's tour bus has run out of gas,
and he's lately been limited to pointing at the few landmarks
within easy walking distance.
But I still re-read the first eight or nine Spenser novels
once in a while, and Susan doesn't bother me at all.
G.
P.S.--"the question of" works even better than "the fact
that" to pad a short essay.
===== George C. Upper III, Editor The Lightning Bell Poetry
Journal http://www.lightningbell.org/
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