MrT wrote:
"For example, Hope to Die (which I finished this afternoon)
has a good story in it --Block is an honest writer who
doesn't write unless he has a story. But the ramifications
and extraneous material strike me as filler, not as an
ambitious broadening of the genre."
I absolutely agree. What the hell was all of that stuff about
the death of Scudder's ex-wife and his relationship with his
sons? Yeah, there were a couple of parallels with the main
story, but I agree that it was just boring filler. I still
enjoyed the book, but would have enjoyed it more if it had
been chopped and channeled. And considering Everybody Dies
(which also could have been streamlined in my estimation)
seemed like such a conscious effort to wipe the slate clean
(although
"Everybody" who dies did not include any of the central
characters) and rebuild, I was amazed at how little
difference it made.
Mark
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