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marcomywords's review against another edition
1.0
Half-way through and still nothing about fascism, and very little about corruption. I'm tired of hearing of Dolan's loveless sex life and his constant threats of domestic violence towards the many women (who for some very mysterious reason seem to find him irrestisble). This attitude is framed as inconsequiential, almost endearing.
He's also really horrible about money, honestly, and that's not something I usually cringe about but damn everyone is so nice and generous with him and he's such an asshole. He constantly sees poeple as a means to an end, which makes it very hard to believe that he would be so shocked by corruption? Let's not even talk about the portrayal of blacks and gays, which is just baffling, but somehow not even as bad as the one of women as horny pawns. Sorry, I did give it a try but it doesn't work. I kept telling myself again and again "calm down, it was written a long time ago, there were different values" but if that was true then no classic would be enjoyable and that's obviously not the case. To me it's just too disingenuine. It claims to be against racism but then proceeds to be racist, claims to oppose corruption but then Dolan acts the way he does... I know we don't have to love every protagonist we read about but it's clear when we read this book that the author expects the reader to root for Dolan, depite his antics. I think his attitude counts as dark humor or something. It's not condemned anyway, definitely not. And at some point you have to stop. I'm DNF ing this.
He's also really horrible about money, honestly, and that's not something I usually cringe about but damn everyone is so nice and generous with him and he's such an asshole. He constantly sees poeple as a means to an end, which makes it very hard to believe that he would be so shocked by corruption? Let's not even talk about the portrayal of blacks and gays, which is just baffling, but somehow not even as bad as the one of women as horny pawns. Sorry, I did give it a try but it doesn't work. I kept telling myself again and again "calm down, it was written a long time ago, there were different values" but if that was true then no classic would be enjoyable and that's obviously not the case. To me it's just too disingenuine. It claims to be against racism but then proceeds to be racist, claims to oppose corruption but then Dolan acts the way he does... I know we don't have to love every protagonist we read about but it's clear when we read this book that the author expects the reader to root for Dolan, depite his antics. I think his attitude counts as dark humor or something. It's not condemned anyway, definitely not. And at some point you have to stop. I'm DNF ing this.
rita_grilo's review against another edition
4.0
The first time I read something from Horace McCoy was "They shoot horses, don't they?" and I can say that's likely the book that impressed me the most in 2019. So when "No pockets in a shroud" came to my hands I was quite curious to know if Horace McCoy could get my interest again and...he did! The book tells a story about a reporter from a small town that is tired of being held back in his investigations by economical and political interests. The most impressive thing is that the book focus on different themes that are so actual to us: press freedom and fake news, women rights, xenophobia, sports corruption. This is a book written in 1937, but it's style and the story it tells definitely don't show it's age.
joshster142's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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