RARA-AVIS: I Was Dora Suarez
Mbdlevin@aol.com
Fri, 4 Dec 1998 21:26:38 EST
I might have missed earlier discussion of the Raymond novel,
but I did catch
Mari Hall's criticism of the novel. I agree with her in some
respects--the
novel is different from at least the two others that I have
read (He Died with
his Eyes Open, and How the Dead Live), and didn't work as well.
The killer
perspective stuff didn't work too well for me. I do, however,
think that the
book reads earnestly. I have mixed feelings about the series,
but I find the
tone refreshing in its strangeness. Raymond is at once very
dark and bleak,
but also sentimental. In some respects, Raymond seems largely
interested in
writing a sort of angst-ridden, existential novel in the
trappings of a police
procedural. (Notice, for instance, that the killer in Dora is
found simply by
accident--not much plot device at all.) (Of course, there's no
reason a
police procedural cannot be an angst-ridden, existential
novel.) The anger
and fury that comes pouring out of Raymond's books is quite
remarkable.
Finally, just to stir the pot, and maybe those on the eastern
side of the
Atlantic can respond, I take the books to be some sort of
indictment of
Thatcher's England. Perhaps someone can elaborate on nameless's
musing about
how the "council" has screwed up this neighborhood or
that.
Doug
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