> I haven't read anything by King, and I'm surely
not
> going to start with THE COLORADO KID.
Too bad -- it might make for a good discussion on this list.
I think King's a pretty sharp writer when he wants to be (and
his tendencies to over-indulgence are reined in). Of course,
you count the entire book as self-indulgence, for which a
case could certainly be argued.
After all, only a writer of King's commercial stature could
sell a mystery without any real solution.
But maybe that was part of the point. King's a pretty sharp
observer of pop culture, and he's savvy enough to acknowledge
that he's become a part of it himself. It adds a whole other
layer to the question of why we read stories.
As for his hard-boiled creds, some of his best work does have
very dark if not always hard-boiled overtones. I could easily
imagine MISERY filmed in the forties, maybe as an RKO
quickie, starring William Holden and Gloria Swanson or Bette
Davis? Creepy? Yes...
And King's Chandler pastiche was pretty good, as well. And
some of his novellas. Which is why I was hoping COLORADO
would be more hard-boiled. I think he has it in him, and
judging from everything I've read about him, he's certainly a
fan of the genre.
Still, over all I enjoyed COLORADO KID quite a bit and I
think in he does raise some of the same questions Vicki
herself raised about the nature of mysteries and whether the
solution matters.
Kevin
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
--------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite
Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page
http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 13 Nov 2005 EST