--- domer <
domer89@sbt.infi.net> wrote:
> I finished "Freaky Deaky" a couple nights ago,
and
> it was something of a
> letdown>
> > The plot still worked well enough and
was
enjoyable
> seemed a bit tired, but,
> these days, it usually
> does.
>
> As for reading it as a hardboiled novel,
my
> impression remains the same
> as in 1992; it's a terrific caper novel
with
> violence, not quite light,
> but not hardboiled, either. Leonard's written
much
> harder stuff than
> this, and I think, after his mainstream attempt
with
> "Touch," "Freaky
> Deaky" might have been the start in the
progression
> toward "Get Shorty"
> (the first Leonard I read, when it was
new),
> "Maximum Bob," "Rum Punch"
> and his other '90s work, which has tended much
more
> toward the comic
> caper subgenre than toward hardboiled, even if
he's
> more violent and
> vulgar than Donald Westlake and less absurd
than
> Carl Hiaasen.
>
Everybody has there own opinion of course(and sharing them
all is part of the fun of this wonderful list) but it seems
to me that everybody is being too hard on this novel. It's
been about five years since I've read it and it still stands
out in my mind as one of my two or three favorite Leonards.
This is the one that had a perfect blend of his older more HB
style and his slightly lighter comic touch which is way too
much in evidence these days. I think it's a perfectly
suitable choice for the reading list. It's also a good one
for first time Leonard readers because it has a little of
everything that makes him great. There was a strong balance
here between strong, quirky characters,tough dialogue and a
solid story. In some of his other works one of those elements
would tend to overshadow the others. It also sticks out in my
mind as one of the more entertaining of his works(and that's
saying an awful lot). I still remember the ending vividly and
I can't say that about many books that I read half a decade
ago. Okay, so his earlier stuff is more hardboiled(and I love
that stuff too)but there's no shame in this one. Even though
his stuff is more comic these days, I would still argue that
he's more HB than most writers out there. The dialogue is
still unbeatable(well...maybe Ed McBain).
If we did another Leonard, I think we should go back to his
earlier period(now that we've covered his middle period). I
would suggest the wonderful SWAG.
> > --
> # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis"
to
> majordomo@icomm.ca.
> # The web pages for the list are at
> http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
.
>
__________________________________________________ Do You
Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com
-- # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 19 Mar 2000 EST