I need to read more recent Rawlins Mysteries. You comment
about unconventional family structures made me think oof Vachss'
Burke and his "family."
Vachss also makes the point that family does not depend on
blood. Does anyone know who played with this notion first?
Your mention of Mouse helped me remember a point I wanted to bring
out. In a discussion of Parker, someoone said that Hawk and
Spencer were two sides of the same man with Hawk representing a
brutal "psychotic" side. I do not agree wiith this readiing of
Spencer, and consider said readiing racist. Hawk does what he
does, which clearly often involves hurting people, but I have
never gotten the sense that he "enjoys" hurting people.
OTOH, I seem to recall scenes where Mouse defiinitelly seems to
enjoy hurting people, to a point that makes Easy wince. Soo, I
think you could make a case that Easy/Mouse represent a yin/yang
relationship, and could be twoo side of the same person.
Michael Jeter
On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 9:38 AM, <demack5@comcast.net> wrote:
> Michael Jeter wrote:
>
> "Elroy commented, when an interviewer compared him to Moseley, 'I write
> aboout the cops
> who beat up Easy Rawllins.'"
>
> Too true. One of the things that have made this series so interesting is to
> watch Easy develop from a WWII-era black man, doing favors for people and
> trying to stay under the LAPD radar, to a man with a business (I think he
> even refers to himself as an investigator in the later books) who has seen
> the changes brought by the riots of the 60s. One significant development in
> the last couple of books is that Easy can look the cops (and white people,
> in general) right in the eye and not feel as afraid as he used to.
>
> I also like the way he's accumulated his unconventional family. IMHO and
> experience, "family" is often not so much a function of blood relation, but
> of who you care about and vice versa--a point Mosley makes in the series.
>
> These things, along with Mosley's great writing style (its like fine poetry,
> at times) and wonderful characters (like Mouse, who helps Easy when the
> going gets tough, but creates moral dilemmas for him in the process), make
> him a great addition to the hardboiled tradition, yet distinct enough to be
> way more than a Chandler knock-off.
>
> And I haven't even talked about his other books, which cover the gamut from
> mystery to sci fi to mainstream to non-fiction. Pretty impressive, to say
> the least.
>
> I'd like to know what others think about the Paris Minton series with
> Fearless Jones. It's interesting that the titles all feature Fearless, even
> though Paris is the main character. Tells you something about those
> characters.
>
> I may gush a bit on the subject of Mosley. But I really believe the guy's an
> amazing writer.
>
> Debbi
>
> --
> Debbi Mack
> IDENTITY CRISIS
> A Sam McRae Mystery
> http://www.debbimack.com
>
>
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