Bill Hagen (billha@ionet.net)
Fri, 24 Dec 1999 22:20:16 -0600 (CST)
Finally got to Fred Willard's DOWN ON PONCE (1997, Longstreet
Press), and had some thoughts on it. [Fred had been an active
member of RARA-AVIS, but recently withdrew to get some work
done.]
Thought at first that the short chapters would make the
novel too
"light," but then realized I had wolfed down about 12 of 'em
without blinking. "Bite sizes" lead to overeating.
SPOILER ADVISORY (I try to conceal, but...) Sam Fuller (nice
name choice) and Charley are full bodied creations,
distinguished by voices and phrasing that you can "hear."
Bob, Lloyd, and Bug support well, although I was worried that
three such noticeable characters would make blending in after
the job a difficult task. Fred solved that problem through
careful body accounting, and the sort of understandings you
believe will hold, even in the world of Ponce (Atlanta
& points south). And the Jacksons are out there
somewhere, lest we imagine the world has stabilized.
The plot moves well and most everything seems plausible. It
helps, in terms of narrative, to have one crazy for each
side. And Fred times certain characters' entrances to lift
the level of tension. [Reader thinks, "Wait there are too
many of them! We've just upped the potential for screwing
up!"]
Atlanta, or maybe just Ponce, seems a small, comprehensible
place in the novel, as compared to New York, LA, or just
Harlem in other novels. But that's how I think of Atlanta
anyway--a small town ringed and sliced by interstates. The
rest is sprawl. As someone living in the South, I certainly
liked the punches at/below the Bible Belt.
Longstreet Press did a fine job laying it out and A. Graham's
cover is just right, seems to me, even down to the "FOOD"
inset on the back cover. I hope it's getting distributed.
(Bought mine from amazon.com.)
Let's hope Fred will publish another novel soon.
Merry Christmas to all as you read through the
night....
Bill Hagen
<billha@ionet.net>
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