I used to feel
that I shouldn't like reading Crime Fiction, like I did in 2014, in what I
always remember as my Crime Fiction Year; it was in that year that I sensibly
decided that a well written Crime Fiction novel has as much "intrinsic
value" as any other book, however much the literary snobs may turn their
noses up. Good writing is good writing, whether it's a spy or a SF novel. After
2014 I haven’t read much Crime Fiction. My bad, but as soon as a new Michael
Connelly, or Ian Rankin comes out, I’m already moving them to the top of my TBR
Pile, like I did with this “The Wrong Side of Goodbye, as I’ll do with “I’ll
Rather Be the Devil” by Ian Rankin, coming out on the 1st of
November. I love a good Crime Fiction Novel. This is due to my teenage years,
when I was reading detective fiction by the bucket-load as if there was no
tomorrow (Christie, Sayers, Stout, Allingham, Ambler, Block, P. D. James, Chesterton,
Hammett, Simenon, Rendell, Marsh, Innes, Chandler, Dürrenmatt, Westlake,
Camilleri, Highsmith, Burke, Thomson, Higgins, Crais, Spillane, Leonard, etc.).
And then, in more recent years I discovered Rankin, Connelly, C. J. Samson and
Scandinavian Fiction, and a few other stray Crime Fiction writers like
Ken Bruen. Scandinavian Crime Fiction is still one of my favourites all round.
When I had finished all of Mankell's wonderful Wallander books, I started looking
elsewhere for Scandinavian fiction. Helene Tursten's Inspector Irene Huss is
wonderful as is Ake Edwardson's young, hip Inspector Winter, while Liza
Marklund's newspaper reporter, Annika Bengtzon gets herself into some riveting,
nail-biting situations. Karin Fossum's Inspector Sejer is great, as is Arnaldur
Indridason's Inspector Erlunder. These are all excellent translations (unlike
the earlier Swedish thrillers by Maj Sjöwall/Per Wahlöo, whose translations
left something to be desired; that’s why I read the 10 volumes in German,
because I couldn’t read stilted and crappy stuff).
When I had got
through all the Wallander books I was devastated, which is how I found these
other wonderful Scandinavian mystery writers. There is apparently something
about the Scandinavian climate and temperament that makes for
much-too-my-liking crime stories. Unfortunately, it is looking like there won't
be any more Wallanders since Mr. Mankell has gone to another plane of
existence.
This leads us to
the latest Connelly’s instantiation. Connelly has a very acute understanding of
rhythm and pace, knowing how to let a story unfold without too much interference
from plot devices. So there is a natural feel to the way I’m drawn inevitably
into the world he creates. On top of that he writes wonderful women characters
(his daughter, for example). I don't know who stated that while women can write
men because they occupy a patriarchal society, male authors are completely unable
to write convincing women. I don’t agree. Connelly is able to do it. Is it the way
of things writing-wise that the writing profession will soon only be permitted
to write stories about the writers themselves because they don’t have
legitimacy to portray others?
I’ve been a lot
on Bosch lately. I just binge-watched the whole 2nd season in one
single weekend. I'm still amazed that people still believe it is possible to
faithfully recreate novels to the small or large screen. Bosch is amongst the
best there is. TV and film are a different medium demanding different use. If
they can even evoke a sense of the place or characters they are doing well. It’s
impossible to do a faithful recreation of a novel, but this adaptation is
pretty good (not perfect, but what is?). On the whole, this TV show is still
better than several other shows of recent years, namely Westworld, which
is just a bunch of drivel, no to mention Lee Child's Jack Reacher series being
also totally botched by having a half-pint Tom Cruise. Season 2, much more than season 1,
is a wonderful example of how to slowly unify seemingly disparate ongoing
stories without getting tangled up in contradictions or dead ends, like
Connelly in this latest installment, “The Wrong Side of Goodbye”. In this novel
we get two stories instead of just one, but the final, all-embracing arc is
still compelling and tightly constructed. No major character is wasted, and everyone
ends up with a role that is both a necessary component of his or her sub-story
and a plausible, intelligible part of the master story.
A final note to
say my piece about Titus Welliver. The guy is one of those great TV character
actors who shines in everything he's in but has never been given a truly lead
role until "Bosch." No surprise, whenever someone gives an actor like
that a lead role, they almost always knock it out of the park. He's terrific as
Bosch, and it's a testament to what happens when you give a guy a long deserved
break rather than just embed a movie star into a TV role because they're
desperate.
SF = Speculative
Fiction.
NB: Sorry about
the name-dropping. Couldn’t be helped. I love them all.
2 comentários:
I just replied to your various comments on my blogger site. Do you get a notification email or do you have to remember where you commented?
I watched the first season of Bosch and that was enough for me. It certainly didn't make me want to go read the books. Crime fiction has never really appealed to me though, and even Mysteries don't, so it didn't come as a surprise to me :-)
I didn't get any kind of notifications. My first love was and always wioll be SF. Crime Fiction was a later addition.
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