I enjoyed White's Hostage of a Hood.
Mark
> To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
> From: clinton65@comcast.net
> Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 12:53:10 -0700
> Subject: RE: RARA-AVIS: Lionel White
>
> Being the HCC fan I am, I appreciate and trust your editorial insight,
> Charles, but on this one I must say I'm rather puzzled at your take on
> Lionel White. Yes, his later material, like NIGHT OF THE RAPE and THE
> MEXICO RUN, are likely (and rightly) candidates for your disdain. But his
> the novels he released in his prime -- STEAL BIG, THE BIG CAPER, TOO YOUNG
> TO DIE, OBSESSION, LOVE TRAP and a half-dozen others that come immediately
> to mind would not seem, from my recollection of those titles, to fit your
> description. Yes, White often used violence against women as an element of
> his work, but that was typical among many of the older pbo writers; it
> certainly doesn't make him unique or "creepy." I won't try to sway your
> opinion on him, but I would urge you to give him another try one of these
> days (perhaps one of the titles I list above)...you may be surprised.
>
> Ron C.
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com [mailto:rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com] On
> > Behalf Of hardcasecrime
> > Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 4:13 AM
> > To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: RARA-AVIS: Lionel White
> >
> >
> > > By the way, does anybody have any suggestions
> > > on Lionel White books? I read Clean Break
> > > (otherwise known as The Killing) and dug that.
> >
> > Sadly, nothing else White wrote ever came close to the high standard he
> > set in CLEAN BREAK. Not even remotely. A few of his caper novels have
> > decent plots, but they also suffer from the author's slightly creepy
> > attachment to writing rape (or near-rape) scenes that are clearly meant
> > to be arousing for the reader, or at least seem to have been so for the
> > writer, and his tendency to paint black and Mexican characters with the
> > crudest of brushstrokes. (Best of all, of course, are the cases where
> > he combines these two.) I'm the last person on earth to be, or ask
> > others to be, PC, but I find myself wincing in embarrassment when I read
> > much of White's stuff. It's one of the reasons there hasn't been a
> > White novel in our line.
> >
> > But THE KILLING is outstanding. No question about that.
> >
> > --Charles
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
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