hi everybody!
some time ago, after i had just finished spillane's _i, the
jury_, i mentioned in a discussion that spillane didn't do a
very good job of fleshing out his characters. someone replied
that back then books were half or a third the length they are
now, and that is why the characters aren't as developed. at
the time i accepted this as a reasonable argument, but after
reading david goodis's 1956 novel, _shoot the piano player_,
i realize that's not true. goodis can introduce a character
and write a deep and profound and impressive portrait of them
in the space of a few pages.
the book is about a piano player who leads a lost and lonely
life after, years before, turning his back on his wife when
she needed him most, and indirectly causing her suicide. he
walks away from his stellar career as a celebrated concert
pianist, fighting and brawling for years until he finds some
peace of mind playing piano in a rundown bar. but even this
small comfort disappears when he becomes unwillingly caught
up in his brothers' criminal activities.
the blurb on the back cover of the black lizard copy that i
have states that this is the way that kerouac would have
written a crime novel. i read the blurb before i started the
book, and i had to search my memory for kerouac's style. i
would have pulled out
_the dharma bums_ or _on the road_ and read a few lines to
get a feel for it, but we're doing some remodelling and,
alas, most of my books are boxed up. anyway, goodis's style
in this book often involves some circuitous internal
ramblings, and i think this might be what the kerouac comment
referred to. although it was an effective way of describing
the protagonist state of mind, i occasionally found it
annoying.
the ending is nothing short of superb.
miker
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