As I mentioned earlier, provoking several people to disagree,
I feel Lehane's Mystic River is an excellent novel and
innovative in the noir field. What makes it innovative for
noir is that it tells a very dark story through multiple
viewpoints, a coming of age story, as well as the changing
character of South Boston. Perhaps Shutter Island is more
unusual as a psychological story and as an example of the
unreliable narrator. Another interesting piece of writing by
Lehane is his short story "Until Gwen", originally appearing
in the Atlantic Monthly, and reprinted in Penzler 2005. It is
written in the second person. Now to really stick my head
into the noose, I thought the movie version of Mystic River
was excellent, among the finest Eastwood has produced as a
director.
Tim
On Mar 26, 2007, at 1:34 PM, Patrick King wrote:
> The character in Shutter Island is not so much
a
> villian as he is a victim of circumstances that
caused
> a psychotic break. The reader doesn't understand
this
> until the end of the book. You think you're
reading
> one story, and it turns out to be a very
different
> story. It's very well done. While critics
and
> publishers give Lehane his due, this list has
been
> lambasting him so anyone reading these comments
would
> think he was on a level with Dan Brown:
hyped
> mediocrity. In my experience, this is certainly
not
> the case.
>
> Patrick King
> ---
DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net wrote:
>
> > Patrick:
> >
> > "I don't think I've ever read anything
that
> > completely reversed the
> > entire view of the story in the last third of
the
> > book. I really thought
> > it was brilliant. To set up a character as
a
> > protagonist, and then turn
> > him into the focus of the problem. I think
it
> > approaches 'great
> > literature.' Can't really think who it's
derivitive
> > of, can you?"
> >
> > I haven't read Shutter Island, so I can't
say
> > whether of not it is
> > derivative, but there is certainly precedence
for a
> > seeming protagonist
> > turning out to be the antagonist, a
seemingly
> > reliable narrator turning
> > out to be very much the opposite. For instance,
I
> > can think of at least
> > two private eye books, one vintage, one
pretty
> > recent, in which the PI
> > is investigating a crime or series of crimes he
had
> > committed, trying to
> > cover them up and/or frame a fall guy. I'd
been
> > wanting to bring this
> > up here, ask about others, but couldn't think
of a
> > way to discuss them
> > without spoiling them. How do I ask for books
in
> > which the narrator
> > turns out the be the bad guy without
knowing
> > whodunnit? Would kind of
> > kill the suspense.
> >
> > "I think Lehane may be the most under-rated
writer
> > of the present day."
> >
> > Lehane underrated? How do you figure? He
sells
> > well and gets rave
> > reviews -- the cover of my paperback copy of
Mystic
> > River, for instance,
> > proclaims it was a New York Times Bestseller
(and
> > this was before the
> > movie, which probably led to even more
sales);
> > inside are five pages
> > filled with excerpts of raves from most of
the
> > respected book reviews.
> > I'm sure many authors wish they were so
underrated.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> >
>
>
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