RARA-AVIS: Get Carter
stephen holden (sjholden@hotmail.com)
Wed, 31 Mar 1999 07:21:04 PST
Some first thoughts on 'Get Carter.' It surprised me how
leisurely the
book is to begin with. Jack Carter spends 100 pages ruminating
on his
childhood, and on the town itself, before the 'action' actually
starts.
Everyone he encounters (or even observes) in the town is a
nasty piece
of work in some way. If they're not actually criminals, then
they're
involved on the peripheries of sordid crime, or seen as picking
fights
or behaving badly. It's not poverty either that makes the
people seamy
because he emphasises how comparatively rich the town is
because of the
steelworks. The only character with redeeming qualities is
Keith the
barman, and he's the only one who refuses the money that Carter
seems to
think will make people forgive him.
-Stephen-
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