--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Anders Engwall"
<anders.engwall@...> wrote:
>
> I agree with Tapani and Juri on THE DEADLY
HONEYMOON, though it was
several
> years since I read it so I don't recall if the
Swedish translation
was to
> blame.
>
It doesn't strike me as a difficult novel to translate. My
memory of it is just as unfavorable, and I read the
original.
I thought THE SPECIALISTS was even worse, however. At the
time I read it,
> it struck me as being sort of like an episode of THE
A-TEAM (no, really)
> except with plenty of very brutal violence and no
humor (or
entertainment
> value) whatsoever.
Curiously, I have no memory of The Specialists, though I know
I read it.
> At the moment I'm about three quarters into THE
TRIUMPH OF EVIL. So
far, so
> good. That's a very bleak and ugly picture of
American society at
the time
> (1971) he paints there.
Yes, and that bleak view is hard to reconcile with Block's
comedies, which are works of art, but of a different art. In
the Bernie series, he creates an almost Wodehousian world.
It's New York, but an idyllic New York (well, within the
constraints of modern life).
It's almost like there are several different Lawrence
Blocks... I don't even see such an extreme writerly
personality split in Westlake, an obvious point of reference
and comparison, or in Leonard, another tough guy who can
write great comedy.
Best,
mrt
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