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briandice's review against another edition
5.0
In his afterword to this novel, William T. Vollmann opines "As technology and corporatism impel us more and more to treat one another like things, loyalty and decency approach irrelevance, except between intimates, and sometimes even then." Dirty Snow is certainly a book that compels a reader to feel much the same as WTV does about what happens to the human soul in the trash compactor crush of Money and Civilization - but there are many books that tell this story. So why read this one?
Simenon's particular genius is giving us a protagonist loathsome yet relatable and portrayed with a subtlety that belies his horrific actions. Frank is like the rest of us - his need to count, to be known / recognized isn't anything new. Simenon puts us in the mind of a creature that - by the end of the story - we find real discomfort in just how human a monster can be. The snow falls where it wants, when it wants, whether mankind wishes it or no. In the end all we can do is make it filthy.
Simenon's particular genius is giving us a protagonist loathsome yet relatable and portrayed with a subtlety that belies his horrific actions. Frank is like the rest of us - his need to count, to be known / recognized isn't anything new. Simenon puts us in the mind of a creature that - by the end of the story - we find real discomfort in just how human a monster can be. The snow falls where it wants, when it wants, whether mankind wishes it or no. In the end all we can do is make it filthy.
michael5000's review against another edition
2.0
A bit like a home-court version of The Stranger. The Acquaintance, maybe? It's the dirty story of a dirty man, and his clinging mom doesn't understand. A lot of fun, if you like reading grim novels with very little emotional range.
andreimoldo24's review against another edition
3.0
Reminded me of Camus's The Stranger, but a noir version. Not necessary what i was expecting, but the second half is much better than the first, so I'm glad that I finished it.
mrosenberger97's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
giupu's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
nick_jenkins's review against another edition
4.0
What is truly impressive about this novel is how well Simenon simulates an existential novel without really writing one. Noir is always more or less about existential themes—the absurdity of making moral decisions in the face of an indifferent world, the necessity of making them any way, the loneliness of the soul—but to really get the most out of those themes, noir needs either to be grounded in a recognizable real landscape or in a wholly mythic world detached from ours. Simenon's story takes place somewhere in between, in a city that could map onto a number of European cities, but that isn't sharp enough or detailed enough to actually resemble any of them.
That lack of specificity cuts out the ground from under the characters: they seem to be suspended in midair, and their movements therefore seem awkward and ineffectual. Nor does Simenon seem to want to make the novel into a grand allegory: this isn't really a novel about the human condition or the "crisis of man" so much as it is, rather like Brighton Rock, a novel about amorality, seemingly written out of a curiosity about how to make an amoral character into a protagonist. I don't particularly like novels that set themselves that challenge, but this is at least a very good effort at performing such an experiment.
That lack of specificity cuts out the ground from under the characters: they seem to be suspended in midair, and their movements therefore seem awkward and ineffectual. Nor does Simenon seem to want to make the novel into a grand allegory: this isn't really a novel about the human condition or the "crisis of man" so much as it is, rather like Brighton Rock, a novel about amorality, seemingly written out of a curiosity about how to make an amoral character into a protagonist. I don't particularly like novels that set themselves that challenge, but this is at least a very good effort at performing such an experiment.
amarezza's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0