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adam_mcphee's Reviews (2.87k)
The thing I really like about Davidson is that he makes exciting the parts of Canada we think of as boring.
A hitter for the mob goes undercover as a student in a small college town, I guess because he's short. But he quickly finds out that there ain't no killing your way out of trouble in a Jim Thompson novel.
Also I just realized I'm an idiot and that his I now need to reread this novel.
Also I just realized I'm an idiot and that his
Spoiler
mental breakdown begins a lot earlier than I realized. The baby leg should have been a clue, because there's no way that could happen.
I see no reason for noble dons not to read Hard to be a God.
Imagine if Captain Kirk was trapped on some feudal planet, and he was a communist. There's some interesting commentary on the double lives you have to live under a totalitarian regime.
The penultimate chapter was especially moving, in which the rebel Arata begs the observers to loan him their lightning bolts and helicopters. An interesting take on the Prometheus myth that I'd've liked to see more of. Although apparently it was only added to appease censors who wanted to see the revolutionary movement portrayed in the novel.
Reminded me of [b:Heroes Die|311864|Heroes Die (The Acts of Caine, #1)|Matthew Woodring Stover|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403193753s/311864.jpg|302782], another novel about infiltrators of a feudalist planet who end up fighting totalitarianism.
Imagine if Captain Kirk was trapped on some feudal planet, and he was a communist. There's some interesting commentary on the double lives you have to live under a totalitarian regime.
The penultimate chapter was especially moving, in which the rebel Arata begs the observers to loan him their lightning bolts and helicopters. An interesting take on the Prometheus myth that I'd've liked to see more of. Although apparently it was only added to appease censors who wanted to see the revolutionary movement portrayed in the novel.
Reminded me of [b:Heroes Die|311864|Heroes Die (The Acts of Caine, #1)|Matthew Woodring Stover|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403193753s/311864.jpg|302782], another novel about infiltrators of a feudalist planet who end up fighting totalitarianism.
A clever book, but not enough to make up for it's boring characters. Though the twist of explaining certain deficits in the story at the final twist was interesting.
My favourite team are the sea people because they can drink salt water without dying and their motto is the best, “what is undead can never lie” because you should always tell the truth and be honest to yourself.
Another from the Dimestore Dostoyevsky about a sheriff who does terrible things in order to stay at his job without having to work, but then near the end it starts to hit you how just how far he's fallen.
Favourite lines:
1. "And suddenly the emptiness was filled with sound and sight, with all the sad terrible things that the emptiness had brought the people to."
2. About a strike-breaking 'Talkington' agent, "Them railroad workers throwin' chunks of coal at you an' splashin' you with water, and you fellas without nothin' to defend yourselves with but shotguns an' automatic rifles! Yes, sir, god-dang it, I really got to hand it to you! ... And them low-down garment workers... God-dang, you really took care of them, didn't you? People that threw away them three-dollar-a-week wages on wild livin' and then fussed because they had to eat garbage to stay alive! I mean, what the heck, they were all foreigners, wasn't they, and if they didn't like good ol' American garbage, why didn't they go back where they came from?"
3. "Just because I put temptation in front of people, it don't mean they got to pick it up... Well now, I guess it does sound kind of nutty," I said, "but that ain't hardly no ways my fault. By rights, I should be rompin' on the high an' the mighty, the folks that really run this country. But I ain't allowed to touch them, so I've got to make up for it by being twice as hard on the white trash an' Negroes, and people like you that let their brains sink down on their butts because they couldn't find no place else to use them. Yes, sir, I'm laborin' in the Lord's vineyard, and if I can't reach up high, I got to work all the harder on the low-hangin' vines. For the Lord loft a willin' worker, Rose; He liketh to see a man bustin' his ass during working hours. And I got them hours cut way, way down with eatin' and sleepin', but I can't eat and sleep all the time."
4. "It's just part of my job, you know, to gloat over folks in trouble."
5. "Do you really think you can go on taking graft and robbing the county, and doing nothing to earn you money?"
"Why, I don't see how I can do much else if I want to stay in office," I said. "I got all kinds of expenses that fellas like you and the county judge and so on ain't bothered with. Me, I'm out in the open all the time, brushin' up with hundreds of people whereas you folks only see one once in a while. Anyone that's put in trouble, I'm the fella that puts 'em there; they don't see you until afterward. Anyone that needs to borrow a dollar, they come to me. All the church ladies come to me for donations, and–"
"Nick..."
"I throw a big barbecue every night the last month before election. Come one, come all. I got to buy presents when folks have a baby, and I got to-"
"Nick! Nick, listen to me!" Robert Lee held up his hand. "You don't have to do all those things. People have no right to expect them of you."
"Maybe they don't have a right," I said. "I'll go along with that. But they got a right to expect, and what they do expect ain't exactly the same thing."
"Just do your job, Nick. Do it well. Show people you're honest and courageous and hard-working, and you won't have to do anything else."
I shook my head, and said I couldn't. "I just plain can't, Robert Lee, and that's a fact."
"No?" He leaned back in his chair. "And just why can't you, pray tell?"
"For a couple reasons," I said. "For one thing, I ain't real brave and hard-workin' and honest. For another, the voters don't want me to be."
"And just how do you figure that?"
"The elected me, didn't they? They keep electing me."
Favourite lines:
1. "And suddenly the emptiness was filled with sound and sight, with all the sad terrible things that the emptiness had brought the people to."
2. About a strike-breaking 'Talkington' agent, "Them railroad workers throwin' chunks of coal at you an' splashin' you with water, and you fellas without nothin' to defend yourselves with but shotguns an' automatic rifles! Yes, sir, god-dang it, I really got to hand it to you! ... And them low-down garment workers... God-dang, you really took care of them, didn't you? People that threw away them three-dollar-a-week wages on wild livin' and then fussed because they had to eat garbage to stay alive! I mean, what the heck, they were all foreigners, wasn't they, and if they didn't like good ol' American garbage, why didn't they go back where they came from?"
3. "Just because I put temptation in front of people, it don't mean they got to pick it up... Well now, I guess it does sound kind of nutty," I said, "but that ain't hardly no ways my fault. By rights, I should be rompin' on the high an' the mighty, the folks that really run this country. But I ain't allowed to touch them, so I've got to make up for it by being twice as hard on the white trash an' Negroes, and people like you that let their brains sink down on their butts because they couldn't find no place else to use them. Yes, sir, I'm laborin' in the Lord's vineyard, and if I can't reach up high, I got to work all the harder on the low-hangin' vines. For the Lord loft a willin' worker, Rose; He liketh to see a man bustin' his ass during working hours. And I got them hours cut way, way down with eatin' and sleepin', but I can't eat and sleep all the time."
4. "It's just part of my job, you know, to gloat over folks in trouble."
5. "Do you really think you can go on taking graft and robbing the county, and doing nothing to earn you money?"
"Why, I don't see how I can do much else if I want to stay in office," I said. "I got all kinds of expenses that fellas like you and the county judge and so on ain't bothered with. Me, I'm out in the open all the time, brushin' up with hundreds of people whereas you folks only see one once in a while. Anyone that's put in trouble, I'm the fella that puts 'em there; they don't see you until afterward. Anyone that needs to borrow a dollar, they come to me. All the church ladies come to me for donations, and–"
"Nick..."
"I throw a big barbecue every night the last month before election. Come one, come all. I got to buy presents when folks have a baby, and I got to-"
"Nick! Nick, listen to me!" Robert Lee held up his hand. "You don't have to do all those things. People have no right to expect them of you."
"Maybe they don't have a right," I said. "I'll go along with that. But they got a right to expect, and what they do expect ain't exactly the same thing."
"Just do your job, Nick. Do it well. Show people you're honest and courageous and hard-working, and you won't have to do anything else."
I shook my head, and said I couldn't. "I just plain can't, Robert Lee, and that's a fact."
"No?" He leaned back in his chair. "And just why can't you, pray tell?"
"For a couple reasons," I said. "For one thing, I ain't real brave and hard-workin' and honest. For another, the voters don't want me to be."
"And just how do you figure that?"
"The elected me, didn't they? They keep electing me."
Richard Price writing as Harry Brandt tries to do a straight-up thriller. I think he tried to do it for money, thinking he could knock out a subpar novel fast and cheap. It would explain a lot. It's decent but not up to his usual standard.
Mostly he fails at making it a thriller because he keeps to much of the cops and crime realism from [b: clockers|45794|Clockers|Richard Price|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1170298592s/45794.jpg|1808654] and The Wire. I had the sense that he was working his way up to using thriller cliches, and then backing down at the last minute. It explains the second narrator, the dirty cop bent on revenge. He also fails at making it as insightful or well-crafted as his usual fare. Though even at 500+ pages, it's still a fast, fun read.
Mostly he fails at making it a thriller because he keeps to much of the cops and crime realism from [b: clockers|45794|Clockers|Richard Price|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1170298592s/45794.jpg|1808654] and The Wire. I had the sense that he was working his way up to using thriller cliches, and then backing down at the last minute. It explains the second narrator, the dirty cop bent on revenge. He also fails at making it as insightful or well-crafted as his usual fare. Though even at 500+ pages, it's still a fast, fun read.
A Jesuit priest heads upriver in New France with Algonquin guides in a desperate attempt to make contact with a mission that hasn't been heard from in some time. The land is brutal and so are the people who live in it: French, Huron, Algonquin and Iroquois alike. There is distrust on all sides and understanding of the disease that's killing the natives and originating from the French is centuries away from these people. There is only the slightest hint of sentimentality, in the closing pages of the novel. Partially based on the Jesuit Relations, early chronicles from missionaries in New France.
It was fun, but if you're being honest you'll admit there's no way the aliens could've lost.