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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Komplette Rezension
Whiskey, Zigaretten, Autos: Georges Simenons Schlusslichter ist eine sehr männliche Version der USA der 1950er Jahre. Steve und Nancy Hogan fahren am Labor Day-Wochenende los, um ihre Kinder aus dem Sommercamp abzuholen, streiten sich auf dem Weg und Nancy verschwindet, während Steve seinen dritten, vierten oder fünften Whiskey in einer Bar am Rande des Highways trinkt.
Das Buch ist nicht lang und sehr rapide erzählt, es kommt also keine Langeweile auf. Stilistisch hat es mich ein bisschen an Charles Bukowski erinnert, von dem ich ein paar Bücher angefangen, aber keines beendet habe, da sie mir immer zu wirr und männlich waren. Simenon behält zwar die fast schon klischeehafte Männlichkeit, schreibt aber sehr stringent.
Whiskey, Zigaretten, Autos: Georges Simenons Schlusslichter ist eine sehr männliche Version der USA der 1950er Jahre. Steve und Nancy Hogan fahren am Labor Day-Wochenende los, um ihre Kinder aus dem Sommercamp abzuholen, streiten sich auf dem Weg und Nancy verschwindet, während Steve seinen dritten, vierten oder fünften Whiskey in einer Bar am Rande des Highways trinkt.
Das Buch ist nicht lang und sehr rapide erzählt, es kommt also keine Langeweile auf. Stilistisch hat es mich ein bisschen an Charles Bukowski erinnert, von dem ich ein paar Bücher angefangen, aber keines beendet habe, da sie mir immer zu wirr und männlich waren. Simenon behält zwar die fast schon klischeehafte Männlichkeit, schreibt aber sehr stringent.
What a disappointment. I had been wanting to read Simenon for awhile and certainly hoped for better than this. He deserves credit for creating a well-written pageturner that I basically read in one sitting (rare for me). On the other hand...
His protagonist is despicable and his treatment of women is deplorable. Husband essentially gets to live out his drunken attempt at masculine affirmation...wife gets raped...blames herself...husband and wife find possibility for new beginning to their marriage from this tragic event.
My question is: did she have to get raped to force them into considering a new lease on life? Especially when the more than complicit husband only suffers the effects of a night-long bender...versus being beaten and raped on the side of the road? There are also several implausible details in the novel that took me out of the plot because they just seemed so unbelievable. I hope I have better luck in the future with Simenon than I did with this.
His protagonist is despicable and his treatment of women is deplorable. Husband essentially gets to live out his drunken attempt at masculine affirmation...wife gets raped...blames herself...husband and wife find possibility for new beginning to their marriage from this tragic event.
My question is: did she have to get raped to force them into considering a new lease on life? Especially when the more than complicit husband only suffers the effects of a night-long bender...versus being beaten and raped on the side of the road? There are also several implausible details in the novel that took me out of the plot because they just seemed so unbelievable. I hope I have better luck in the future with Simenon than I did with this.
reflective
medium-paced
Simenon packed so much into this slight work: driving along the east coast on a summer Friday, marital dynamics, frustrated masculinity, alcoholism, and the discontents of the good life in 50s America, especially New York. I gobbled it in one sitting.
And then: the wife's rape is both epiphany for the husband and is to serve as the catalyst for their improved, happier marriage. Faugh. My reaction is outrage. Even for a book of its time, this offends.
And then: the wife's rape is both epiphany for the husband and is to serve as the catalyst for their improved, happier marriage. Faugh. My reaction is outrage. Even for a book of its time, this offends.
Interesting to read Simenon in America. Gives a clear sense of the area and the people. Very gentle handling of a sex crime for the time.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
http://cdnbookworm.blogspot.ca/2016/04/red-lights.html
Rating: 4* of five
The Publisher Says: It is Friday evening before Labor Day weekend. Americans are hitting the highways in droves; the radio crackles with warnings of traffic jams and crashed cars. Steve Hogan and his wife, Nancy, have a long drive ahead—from New York City to Maine, where their children are in camp. But Steve wants a drink before they go, and on the road he wants another. Soon, exploding with suppressed fury, he is heading into that dark place in himself he calls “the tunnel.” When Steve stops for yet another drink, Nancy has had enough. She leaves the car.
On a bender now, Steve makes a friend: Sid Halligan, an escapee from Sing Sing. Steve tells Sid all about Nancy. Most men are scared, Steve thinks, but not Sid.
The next day, Steve wakes up on the side of the road. His car has a flat, his money is gone, and there’s one more thing still left for him to learn about Nancy, Sid Halligan, and himself.
My Review: Norman Denny's translations are the kind of jobs I and my bookish kin adore when we find them: transparent. There isn't any evidence of the book being written in any language but English.
*happy sigh*
The book's plot isn't much, and I don't think that was accidental. Instead, it felt to me like the author's intention to examine the futility of modern America.
In the 1950s the modern-modern, computerized, small government and big truck fan world were a-bornin' and no one knew that to expect. Naturally enough, as the future resists being pinned down. The fact that Simenon, a Belgian gentleman of a certain age, had seen enough history to know what was coming. Short,amusing, solidly built...the kind of book I eat like olives. Too many to be good for me, too salty not to drool after.
Don't drool, get the book and start. You'll be about 2 hours happily stitched to your reading furniture.
The Publisher Says: It is Friday evening before Labor Day weekend. Americans are hitting the highways in droves; the radio crackles with warnings of traffic jams and crashed cars. Steve Hogan and his wife, Nancy, have a long drive ahead—from New York City to Maine, where their children are in camp. But Steve wants a drink before they go, and on the road he wants another. Soon, exploding with suppressed fury, he is heading into that dark place in himself he calls “the tunnel.” When Steve stops for yet another drink, Nancy has had enough. She leaves the car.
On a bender now, Steve makes a friend: Sid Halligan, an escapee from Sing Sing. Steve tells Sid all about Nancy. Most men are scared, Steve thinks, but not Sid.
The next day, Steve wakes up on the side of the road. His car has a flat, his money is gone, and there’s one more thing still left for him to learn about Nancy, Sid Halligan, and himself.
My Review: Norman Denny's translations are the kind of jobs I and my bookish kin adore when we find them: transparent. There isn't any evidence of the book being written in any language but English.
*happy sigh*
The book's plot isn't much, and I don't think that was accidental. Instead, it felt to me like the author's intention to examine the futility of modern America.
In the 1950s the modern-modern, computerized, small government and big truck fan world were a-bornin' and no one knew that to expect. Naturally enough, as the future resists being pinned down. The fact that Simenon, a Belgian gentleman of a certain age, had seen enough history to know what was coming. Short,amusing, solidly built...the kind of book I eat like olives. Too many to be good for me, too salty not to drool after.
Don't drool, get the book and start. You'll be about 2 hours happily stitched to your reading furniture.
I love the way Simenon presents us with two Steve Hogans. One, in the first half of the book, is the guy who says f*** it all to his current life, responsibility, family, etc. We are all tempted to do that at times. The second Steve is the one who wakes up in the morning and has to deal with the consequences of living wrecklessly. His children, his finances, his wife, his future are all changed because of his behavior.
This was a quick and enjoyable read. Nothing too heavy but at the same time well-written.
This was a quick and enjoyable read. Nothing too heavy but at the same time well-written.