RARA-AVIS: The John D. MacDonald Irony

From: Bludis Jack ( buildsnburns@yahoo.com)
Date: 26 Jan 2006


I'm glad to see more people are reading J.D.MacD.

It's ironic: for years I had him ranked up there with Chandler and Hammett, but most of my reading of him was in the 60s and 70s.

I had an occassion to reread him and found that each book was more of the same, although I still think his style is excellent. Where it fails, I think, is in its lack of reality--the style that is. His McGees are told first person yet he pauses periodically, actually sometimes at the beginning of a book, to write long, elegant description that would never be in a persons mind unless they were conscious of "writing."

Just a comment and an observation of how time sometimes changes our perspective.

Jack Bludis

http://www.jackbludis.com Shamus nominee for "Shadow of the Dahlia" Amazon.com / BN.com / MysteryLovesCompany.com

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