THE ROAD'S END, by Albert Conroy, is a classic 1952 Gold
Medal.
Dan Ginger is dumped from a bridge into a river with a strong
current flowing into the ocean. By a miraculous coincidence,
Jim Brill sees it happens and drags Dan into his boat. Dan
has lost his memory, but soon discovers that he is wanted for
the murder of a young girl named Elsie Daniels. Brill takes
Dan into town to confront the sheriff, and Dan is released
because of a lack of evidence.More blood is shed and Dan,
hampered by his lost memory, desperately searches for the
killer before he hangs for the crimes.
Although the story line in Albert's THE ROAD'S END is
interesting and reminiscent of Charles Williams (a man
desperately trying to escape the clutches of the law), his
prose is rough and sometimes awkward. But Albert's real
expertise lies in his adamant attention to the women
characters' breasts, and the reader needn't venture beyond
the first two pages for an example: "'Much better,' I said,
trying not to stare at her legs, or the breasts that pointed
through the shirt." Two pages later the main protagonist
takes a more active interest: "I put my hands around her
strong waist and moved them up slowly and held her firm
breasts and looked up at her."
These breasts belong to Carol Brill, the eager and willing
young daughter of Jim Brill, the man who saved Dan's life.
Later, when Dan is reunited with his wife, he is treated to
her "surprisingly full, round breasts that thrust against the
black material of her blouse." For the benefit of the reader,
Albert presents a penetrating, thoughtful and provocative
analysis of the difference between his wife's and Carol's
breasts: "Carol's tiny figure and young, pointed breasts
contrasted with Pat's tall, full-breasted lushness."
But Albert is not complacent with a static breast
interpretation. He portrays breasts in an active and dynamic
roll: "Her big, firm breasts trembled," and
"Her small, conical breasts rose and fell shakily." In total,
a detailed, oft-repeated lest the reader forget, breast
description is given for Carol, Pat, Sandra, and Grace.
My only complaint is that there is no breast details for
Wilma Geismar, the cold, bitchy sister-in-law, or Ma Brill,
Carol's mother. Although it is reasonable that little breast
attention would be given someone that Dan was not attracted
to, it is nevertheless difficult to grasp a female character
without at least some idea of the size and shape of her
breasts. Consequently, Ma Brill and Wilma Geismar must be
seen as insufficiently drawn.
Albert Conroy is one of the many pseudonyms for the extremely
prolific writer Marvin Albert. He wrote the Tony Rome private
eye series as Nick Quarry, of which several were made into
Frank Sinatra movies.
miker
-- # To unsubscribe from the regular list, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # majordomo@icomm.ca. This will not work for the digest version. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 31 Jan 2003 EST