> Okay, I'm slightly prejudiced in that, half a decade
after Crumley, I
> _enjoyed_ Clark AFB for 17 months, and could pick up
on locations, and
> tropes that rang true. But I put this, along with
Joe Haldeman's fist
> (non-sf) novel, WAR YEAR, and the first volume of
Willeford's
> 'autobiography set' (much earlier than even Crumley,
before it was an Air
> Force base, he also Spent Time there), in a special
category, on my
shelves.
>
> Not to be presumptive, but I really have no idea of
how any of these would
> read to one without military experience, but I do
recommend the Crumley to
> anyone who enjoyed the two films I cited.
I always thought war and hardboiled books share a close
affinity, but nobody seems to read war books besides
veterans. There are some absolute gems in the "genre" that I
would think anybody who has an interest in hb shouldn't pass
by, like the Willeford (which he originally wrote as a novel,
later changing the main character from Jacob Blake to
himself) -- I always liked the Elmore Leonard quote on that:
"Anobody who doesn't recognize this as great writing, doesn't
know shit." I also enjoyed Richard Currey's FATAL LIGHT and
Tim O'Brien's THINGS THEY CARRIED, to name a couple. And I
would not say that I've had military experience, and I
certainly am no veteran, but I did spend 8 compulsory months
in the Finnish army, bored out of my skull.
--Juha.
JT Lindroos / graphic artist / oiva design group /
oivas.com
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