I much prefer Donald Goines, myself. Something about Slim's
work turns me off -- I think his endings, in particular, are
incredibly bad, and often dishonest. In PIMP (if I remember
correctly, it's been awhile since I've read it) he spends
pages describing the pleasures of a pimp's life in luscious
detail, then ends it by saying something like "of course,
pimping is wrong". It sounds forced and phony.
Mostly Goines avoids this, but even when he does append a
falsely upbeat ending, it doesn't seem to grate as much. In
strict terms the ending of DOPEFIEND, for example, is
ridiculous, but there's an oddly dreamlike, wistful quality
about it, too, that I found appealing.
Just my opinion, of course.
doug
--- Roger Dowdy <
rdowdy@sprintmail.com> wrote:
> Keith Deutsch <
keithdeutsch@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> >In a recent, somewhat garbled posting (sorry)
I
> mentioned Iceberg slim
> as my pick for >the greatest overlooked, black,
hard
> boiled, outlaw
> memoir novelist of the 20th
> >Century.
>
> I'd have to agree. _Pimp_ was probably one of
the
> most raw and genuine
> books I've read in quite a while... right up to
the
> last twenty pages or
> so and then I thought it lacked a bit.
===== Doug Bassett
dj_bassett@yahoo.com
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