I responded to a post about him earlier today. (or yesterday, depending on your time zone)
really, in addition to his vivid characters and tight plotting, there is no better prose stylist working the genre EVER
only Winslow could even conceive of writing the following sentence:
Is is is.
and in the context in which it is written, not only is it coherent, it is profound
John Lau
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
John Wooden
-----Original Message-----
From: Walker <wamartin2@verizon.net>
To: rara-avis-l <rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Jul 12, 2010 5:13 pm
Subject: RARA-AVIS: Goodis novel OF TENDER SIN
-----Check out www.mysteryfile.com/blog/ for a favorable review OF TENDER SIN by
Goodis.
-----Walker Martin
--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Ron Clinton" <clinton65@...> wrote:
>
> Not a fall, per se, and I probably overstated that by comparing him to
> Brewer, but certainly an uneven finish. THE WOUNDED AND SLAIN and FIRE IN
> THE FLESH, for example, are two later books that are far cries from the
> brilliance of his earlier work. Having said that, as you rightly point out,
> THE BLONDE ON THE STREET CORNER and SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER/DOWN THERE
> sandwiched these two lesser works, and both are quite good. His final one,
> SOMEBODY'S DONE FOR, was a generally unremarkable capstone, but certainly
> better than WOUNDED and FIRE. So again -- yes, more uneven a career end
> than a linear decline.
>
> Ron C.
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com [mailto:rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com] On
> > Behalf Of Mark Sullivan
> > Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 6:15 PM
> > To: rara-avis
> > Subject: RE: RARA-AVIS: Where have you gone Rara-Avis (Brewer)
> >
> >
> > When exactly was Goodis's fall? I have not yet read all of his books,
> neither his
> > first nor last, but have read both early and late and don't see a decline.
> Now I'm not
> > implying all of his books are great, but the better and the not so good
> seem to be
> > side by side. For instance, The Wounded and the Slain, not one of his
> best, comes
> > right between The Blonde on the Street Corner and Down There, two
> particularly
> > good ones. And his faults, like the over reliance on coincidence, run
> throughout his
> > career. Of course, in his best books, like Street of No Return, Goodis
> could make
> > you overlook those coincidences.
> > Mark
> >
> > > To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
> > > From: clinton65@...
> > > Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:34:10 -0700
> > > Subject: RE: RARA-AVIS: Where have you gone Rara-Avis (Brewer)
> > >
> > > I'll throw in my comment along with the others for conversation...
> > >
> > > I just read Gil Brewer's MEMORY OF PASSION (Lancer, 1962, pbo), and I
> can
> > > now safely say -- and with not a little amount of regret -- I know
> precisely
> > > where Brewer's decline began.
> > >
> > > I was really looking forward to this novel since it's the Brewer that's
> > > evaded me for some time, but it was a disappointment on many levels.
> The
> > > decline into alcoholism, hackwork and sleaze porn novels...in hindsight,
> > > MEMORY painfully foreshadows all that's to come. 'Course, even judged
> on
> > > its own merits in a contextual vacuum, it's a slogging mess...and you
> won't
> > > find a much bigger fan of Brewer than me.
> > >
> > > The decline in quality from his brilliant '50s novels to MEMORY is
> stunning;
> > > I can't think of another pbo author whose decline parallels (let alone
> > > exceeds) the degree to which Brewer fell. Some come close, perhaps
> (Goodis
> > > comes to mind, as does Woolrich), but none reach Brewer's extreme.
> > >
> > > Ron C.
>
------------------------------------
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