Ned Fleming (ned@cjnetworks.com)
Tue, 03 Aug 1999 03:21:51 GMT
This ("They Shoot Horses, Don't They?") is something of an
interesting read, as an anachronism, though Syverten's
motives for killing Gloria are beyond understanding. The
thread between Gloria's death wish and Syverten's willingness
to carry it out are tenuous at best. I suppose dancing for
800+ hours (or reading 800+ Peter Walker messages) would
drive anyone to the brink of insanity, but the brevity of the
book does not make this clear. I doubt that McCoy understood
the dynamics of sleep-deprivation, for this is mostly ignored
in the book.
Gloria's unremitting death cant is tied, obviously, to the
relentless pounding of the surf Syverten senses beneath his
feet. Though why this is, I don't know. Gloria has been
abused sexually, or has submitted herself sexually to a
number of zchlubs, but I can find no ties between Gloria's
misuse and stupidity and the (obvious) theme of the
sea.
I vaguely remember the movie, from when it first came out,
and thought it utterly depressing. It did, however, as near
as I can remember, give a greater sense of the stupefying
length of the marathon.
Perhaps equally interesting as the story itself is the volume
I read this in: "Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and
40s," Robert Polity, editor, which includes novels by Cain,
McCoy, Anderson, Fearing, Gresham, and Woolrich. A companion
volume of 1950s work is also available. These books were
obviously lovingly created, for they have the ribbon markers
one usually finds in Bibles, with similar quality paper. They
look like they're well worth stealing.
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