Doug wrote about Girl with a Long Green Heart (and implies
about The Gutter and the Grave):
"Book suffers a bit from the fact that the big reveal is
obvious as all get-out: this is most notable around the 3/4
mark, where if you've read any of these things you'll likely
be screaming at the protagonist to get a clue."
I, too, figured out the mysteries of both of these books when
I read them a couple years ago (not that my enjoyment
suffered, since the characterization, in particular, more
than compensated). However, I always wonder about endings of
older books that are now obvious "if you've read any of these
things." Were they so obvious when these books were first
published? Or were they early in the histories of what would
become cliches? For instance, it's now a given that a corpse
whose face is destroyed will turn out to be someone other
than the person everyone assumes it to be. But was it so
obvious when Laura, for instance, was published, and made
into a movie?
Mark
ps -- also agree with Doug about the great Hard Case Crime
covers.
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 05 Jan 2006 EST