Bruce wrote:
"I found "The Confession" a frightening and fascinating
insight into the mind of a sociopathic serial killer that has
the reader fooled right to the last page. That's the stuff of
great literature, up there with "The Postman Always Rings
Twice," and other greats."
While I enjoyed The Confession, I wouldn't put it anywhere
near that height, or as high as Hughes's In A Lonely Place,
which I've already mentioned it reminded me of. It was a good
read, but the suspense for me was the outcome of the legal
manuveuring. I didn't think of it as even having a surprise
twist at the end.
"Notice to authors: be sure to avoid ambiguous, noirish
endings because your book will then be banned by the
simple-minded."
This reminds me of the controversy over Mickey and Mallory
getting away at the end of Natural Born Killers (hope that
isn't a surprise to anyone). Many, including John Grisham in
the Oxford American (Unnatural Killers, where he advocated
suing the filmmakers under product liability laws to sidestep
First Amendment protections, a strategy that has since been
used, so far unsuccessfully, against several movies, books,
CDs and video games), saw their getting away as advocating,
even glorifying their violence. Amazing. I thought Stone was
so overbearing and manipulative that no one could possibly
miss it was satire. I guess for many, depiction will always
equal endorsement.
(Oh, for the record, I liked Confessions much, much more than
NBK.)
Mark
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