RE: RARA-AVIS: Grofeld

From: sakana@stlnet.com
Date: 19 Nov 2000


i agree with doug, to a certain extent. THE MAN WITH THE GETAWAY FACE was my first parker, so i certainly will withhold judgment on the series as a whole, but i found the first half (the planning and execution of the robbery) of the book very dull. it took me several weeks to get through that part, since i would read only a few pages at a time. but as soon as the focus change to the plastic surgeon, the "punch-drunk" driver, and parker's efforts to prove himself not guilty of the murder, i was completely absorbed. i flew through the second half of the book and, on the strength of those pages, ordered the other 3 of the opening quartet. perhaps i should have asked which half is more typical of the series first...

in other parker news, i saw about 40 minutes of PAYBACK on cable this morning and was *very* impressed. i need to check the archives for the list's general reaction to the film, but i found the look, the style, and even mel gibson's acting to be quite captivating. but why was gibson's character called porter instead of parker?

martha fischer sakana@stlnet.com <mailto: sakana@stlnet.com>

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca [mailto: owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca]On
> Behalf Of Doug Bassett
> Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2000 7:13 PM
> To: rara-avis@icomm.ca
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Grofeld
>
>
> Oddly enough, I feel exactly the opposite. Just read
> _The Man with the Getaway Face_ and while I liked it,
> more or less, the whole thing left me rather cold.
> Although I think I understand what Westlake was trying
> to do here, I think, oddly enough, that he's almost
> too successful doing it. Hard for me to put it into
> words, but I actually find the Parker novels (I've
> read a couple of others) sort of dull. I think the
> Grofeld novels are much more entertaining -- maybe
> because Grofeld is a more appealing character. At
> least to me.
>
> I realize this is a completely eccentric opinion.
>
> doug

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