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I've been seeing this book cropping up here, there and everywhere the last year and almost bought it a few times. I saw the Coen brothers version and quite liked it despite not having much regard for the 'western' genre. Still, the library...
The writer of the intro waxes lyrical about the joy of the book and many others review it highly (I was most intrigued by the cover quote from Roald Dahl). It just didn't do much for me. It's certainly not bad - it has an interesting narrative voice, Mattie is a great character and the story clips along. There's a good use of language though the repeated practice of placing slang in quotes annoyed me.
Ultimately though it was a little too sparse. The first half is scene setting and very little of consequence whereas the finale is rushed through. I think the Coen's actually managed a really good adaptation and maybe that coloured things for me. Still. Different to some of the things I read and short but it won't sit on my favourites for all time.
The writer of the intro waxes lyrical about the joy of the book and many others review it highly (I was most intrigued by the cover quote from Roald Dahl). It just didn't do much for me. It's certainly not bad - it has an interesting narrative voice, Mattie is a great character and the story clips along. There's a good use of language though the repeated practice of placing slang in quotes annoyed me.
Ultimately though it was a little too sparse. The first half is scene setting and very little of consequence whereas the finale is rushed through. I think the Coen's actually managed a really good adaptation and maybe that coloured things for me. Still. Different to some of the things I read and short but it won't sit on my favourites for all time.