RARA-AVIS: Re: Robert Parker

From: Gerald So ( gso@optonline.net)
Date: 30 Aug 2001


Hello, all.

dc wrote:

> I DON'T think [Parker]'s a particularly good writer...his characters > are stereotypes (and bad ones at that), his situations bogus. His > particular command of the language isn't anywhere near as spectacular > as he seems to think it is.

Parker's characters and situations have *become* stereotypical, a far fall from the early years of his educated professional thug. His command of language has eroded to overly clever linguistics and old jokes. Recent Parker compares well to recent Elmore Leonard. The language is trimmed to a minimum, only once in a while showing a glint of their old form.

MrT wrote:

> Perhaps he has become lazy, or the ideas just dried up, I don't know.

to which Jean replied:

> Hard to say that about a guy who is writing three series books nearly > every year plus the occasional, and less successful, voyage beyond the > three series.

IMO, it's more like Parker is "producing" three books a year. His non-Spenser books, touted as great changes of pace, often read as shufflings of the same rhetoric: eternal love and commitment with a few words about autonomy and the silent male code. Though Parker puts out three books a year, they are a lazy three in that he doesn't explore new ideas.

Gerald http://odo6140.s5.com/

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