While I never considered it either mystery or hardboiled, I
can
certainly see the connections. I clearly remember how the
setting
was vivd and full. I remember the quick slipping of the
main
character in Sumatra. These novels also contain the tapistry
of how
the seedier underbelly is inextricably connected with the
uppercrust.
Often, over the years since I read these books, I have
recalled the
short paragraph at the beginning of Sumatra when it described
the man
trying to flee his own destruction. I have certainly seen it
played
out.
Not only all this, but I got a new appreciation for the role
of
dancing.
On 6 Feb 98 at 6:36, Doug Bentin wrote:
> I recommend beginning with APPOINTMENT IN SAMARA.
This was O'Hara's
> first novel. The starting point is a man throwing a
drink in a
> richer man's face during a Christmas party at the
country club. A
> simple thing, almost out of a western, but the
downhill slide after
> the incident is inevitable and tragic.
>
> One of the glories of O'Hara is that he is bursting
with character
> studies. Every time he introduces someone new, he
loads on the back
> story. The man was over flowing with stories. (You
might also try
> a volume of his short tales, most of them written for
the New
> Yorker. They are like a tough Chekhov, if you can
imagine such a
> thing. Here are some favorite lines from stories in
the collection
> THE CAPE COD LIGHTER:
>
> "The land that had been intact for a million years
was now
> capriciously bulldozed and gouged out to make a site
for a silly
> house for a silly woman, who had nothing better to do
that decorate
> herself with paint and let the sun darken her skin to
falsify her
> age."
> "Justice"
>
> "There is something about the words rogue and rascal
that brings a
> smile to the eyes of people who never spent any time
with rogues and
> rascals."
>
> "One man with half his face shot away and curled up
in the back of a
> sedan looks much the same as another man who died in
the same
> circumstances."
> "The Sun-Dodgers")
>
> dgb
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---BaxDeal@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > >What O'Hara books would you
recommend?
>
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