> I'm reading Shame the Devil by Pelecanos.
>This is my first Pelecanos and I must say I am
disappointed so far. The
book is fast paced at >first but then slows down in
endless getting to know different characters. The
> characterization is poor with cardboard people that
seem like characters
in
> a book, they just don't come alive. Sometimes less
is more and something
a
> character says or does can let you see that
character for what they are
> better than fact fact fact about a person. After the
first few pages this
novel becomes >pedestrian, uninspired and down right
boring. Is all Pelecanos like this?
No. In fact, THIS one isn't like "this." I don't know what
your mindset is here, and maybe there's something to be said
for different tastes, but I find your thoughts here so off
from the reactions I have to Pelecanos' work. Cardboard?
Boring? But you think the Faulkner book is exciting and
inspired and not bogged down? Having read a lot of both, I
just shake my head.
The characterizations are what drew me into Pelecanos' books,
long before he gained his current noteriety. I wanted to read
about the lives of these people, *not* like they were
characters in a book, but living breathing souls. I've always
thought his pacing works very well.
As for your complaints about the details of the pizza joint
heist--huh? I don't make the same connections you did here. A
good criminal would care less about procedure because he's
robbing a restaurant instead of a bank? These days?
Running across Pelecanos' BIG BLOWDOWN by accident in the
library six years ago broke a stalemate in me, as I had
turned away from writing fiction, more specifically crime
fiction. This book brought me back, and I went to find his
backlist and then awaited each new one. While I've got a wide
reading palette in both literary and crime fiction, the next
GP is the book I always look forward to.
In the time since I came back to writing after reading BB,
I've published over 20 short stories, both crime and
literary. Today, I defended my dissertation (a short story
collection) for a Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing.
Seems to me a pedestrian and boring writer wouldn't inspire
anyone that much. But hey, different tastes, different
folks.
Neil Smith www.plotswithguns.com
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