I'm not a student of hardboiled. Sure, I read most of the
"classics" as a kid. Most readers did. I came to the list
because I noticed that quite a few of my favorite authors had
links to this group and who doesn't want to find out what
motivates their favorite writers. That is my disclaimer for
the ignorance I'm about to show. I'm putting my thoughts out
here in the beginning of this discussion so that you can all
teach me. I like to learn after all. RED HARVEST is a very
good book. One of the reasons I enjoyed it so are the
politics of Poisonville. Union strife , position strategy,
corrupt gaming. Themes that although they might be written
differently by today's writers are certainly worthy of and in
fact are being written. I appreciate too going back to
Hammett's earlier writing. I'm fascinated that by far, the
most "real" scenes of the book are the violent ones. While
his violence is always written matter of factly in RED
HARVEST it seems almost raw.Was he doing this to try and wake
his readers up to the fact that life wasn't the hunky dorey
they all assumed? Was it because as a veteran he knew of the
senseless violence that did/does indeed exist? Or was his
genre writing simply not quite as polished? The scene where
everyone is shot after following the "rules" and coming out
with their hands up made me think he was trying to let us
know that there are no rules anymore where money and power
are concerned. I even appreciated his female characters
without getting too mad. Cynical!! You have the girl who'll
do anything to keep that wad of cash in her pocket and you
have the girl who stripped of her beauty and dying is willing
to finally reveal the truth surrounding an older crime. Why?
Well she's been stripped of her beauty. Sixty years later
looks are still one of a female's most marketable attributes.
I saw the theme of outsider taking on a corrupt town myself
in the beginning of this book. However, I think that by the
end our Op was certainly as corrupt as any of the citizens of
Poisonville. For wasn't he doing anything he had to to make
sure the story came out the way he believed it should? Is it
even possible to work for the "greater good" without
corrupting yourself in this world? Who's to say what the
"greater good" is? And just what the he** is the "greater
good" anyway? So , Poisonville is a town where everyone has
selfish motivations including our Continental Op., jockeying
for position is a time honored sport, and nobody ever wins.
Sounds like an allegory to everyday life to this rather
illeterate reader. r.f.
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