in an interview with Georgie Lewis of Powells Books in
Portland, OR, Connelly discussed his relocation out of Los
Angeles in relation to his work: "... the biggest change is
that, although I'm still writing about (contemporary) Los
Angeles - now I'm writing about (it) from memory. Which is a
bit of a different way than I used to write in my previous
eleven novels. My process was to hang out, observe, research
what I was writing about and almost immediately go back to my
office and write those sections. So it was a very close
transfer between observation and writing. ... Now that I
can't do that kind of research the challenge is that I am now
required to pull it out of my...'creative memory' ..."
pulled from the author's "creative memory", the book he was
writing at the time, LOST LIGHT is an exhilerating homage to
one of his greatest influences, Raymond Chandler. Connelly
had experimented with writing Bosch in the first person
before, in his short stories. two of his stand alones, Blood
Work and Chasing the Dime were told from that more intimate
perspective as well. but up until that point, the Bosch
series had always been related in a detached third
person
also up to that point, the detective had been a gun and badge
carrying member of the LAPD. now, like Chandler's
iconographic Philip Marlowe, Harry Bosch was a private eye on
the mean streets of Los Angeles. and the character's inner
musings infused the story with a richer emotional
texture
"Hollywood was always best viewed at night. It could only
hold its mystique in darkness. In sunlight the curtain comes
up and the intrigue is gone, replaced by a sense of hidden
danger. It was a place of takers and users, of broken
sidewalks and dreams. You build a city in the desert, water
it with false hopes and false idols, and eventually this is
what happens. The desert reclaims it, turns it arid, leaves
it barren. Human tumbleweeds drift across its streets,
predators hide in the rocks."
one could almost hear the detective admonish himself that he
wasn't human tonight
in contrast to the decidedly old school Lost Light,
Connelly's follow up-- THE NARROWS is every bit a modern
thriller. still working private, Bosch is hired by Terry
McCaleb's widow when it appears the former FBI agent's
passing may not have been by natural causes after all. like
in A Darkness More Than Night, Bosch is mixed with characters
who have appeared in other Connelly stand alones. Cassie
Black, the cat burglar from Void Moon goes unnamed, but
shares a friendly if cryptic balcony conversation with the
detective at a Las Vegas hotel. in a funny but somewhat
fourth wall breaking moment, McCaleb's hapless sidekick Buddy
Lockridge complains about his character's depiction in the
Clint Eastwood film about McCaleb solving the murder of his
heart donor. most integral to the plot however, Bosch teams
up with disgraced FBI agent Rachel Walling in pursuit of The
Poet. it's concept nirvana. Connelly's two greatest creations
pitted against one another
some of the authors contemporaries, Robert Crais and T.
Jefferson Parker to name two, have mixed first and third
person narratives within the same story, usually with the
third person reserved for chapters featuring the
antagonist
in The Narrows however, Connelly takes the technique a step
further, with protagonist Bosch relating his story in 1st
person, while the chapters featuring both The Poet and
co-protagonist Rachel Walling being told in the 3rd. the
result is very much like two separate books colliding with
one another. strangely enough, the more extensive use of the
technique actually feels more fluid and organic and less
jarring than the more limited technique practiced elsewhere.
odder still, even though relations between Bosch and his
beloved Elea nor Wish are more estranged than ever, one feels
his melancholy more profoundly from the more distant 3rd
person of Angels Flight, than in his first person recounting
of it here. in the 3rd person, seeing the character's sadness
is voyeuristic. told about it by the character himself, it's
more matter of fact
Bosch never feels comfortable working without his badge in
either Lost Light or The Narrows. early in the latter book,
he's offered the opportunity to reclaim his position in the
department and pursue his true calling. there's never a
question that the detective won't take it, and in the end, he
does. both he and his creator had accomplished what they had
set out to do when they changed their lives
it was time for one of them at least, to go home
TO BE CONTINUED
John Lau
************** It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on
AOL Money
& Finance.
(http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 11 Mar 2008 EDT