One Man's Opinion: TRUE GRIT by CHARLES PORTIS

 

In case it's of interest, I struggled to find a book cover with Mattie Ross and felt that she deserved top billing, so here's a shot from a movie promotion. 

True Grit might easily have been named True Grip, as it's fair to say I was glued throughout. It's one of those stories where twenty minutes can pass and you suddenly realise that you've been so totally absorbed in the book that whatever has been going on around you has been totally missed. I surprised myself at one point when I looked up to find that I was on a bus rather than eating biscuits by a camp fire (I kid you not). 

Mattie Ross narrates this tale. She's a young teenager seeking revenge for the murder of her father. She manages to punch way above her weight by using her intelligence, education and stubborness to get things to happen. 

While dealing with her father's body, she spends time in a courtroom, boards in a shared room at the back of her lodgings, witnesses a hanging and forces a serious business man into giving her what she is owed. She also encounters two men who are in the business of tracking down criminals and bringing them to trial. There's Rooster Cogburn, a rough-around-the-edges-and-in-the-middle civil war vet turned marshal and LaBoeuf, a meaty and mean Texas Ranger who only has eyes for the bounty prize he's chasing. 

Mattie persuades Cogburn and LaBoeuf to take her along as they hunt down her father's killer, though neither of them is keen and both try to do everything they can to dissuade/lose her. 

Mattie isn't for giving up and she's soon tracking with her adult employees, finding herself in the midst of no end of dangerous and exciting adventures. 

I got so much pleasure from following the journey that the occasional flinch due to out-dated language was overcome and the slighlty stilted dialogue where contractions don't appear anywhere did little but nudge me from my stride. The narration style is perfect and Mattie's character is complex and outspoken. 

Definitely one to read whether you've seen the movies or not. 

One Man's Opinion: POISON by ED McBAIN

 

My latest outing with the 87th Precinct was Poison. It's an excellent tale on the whole, with perhaps one big flaw that I could have lived without. 

Carella and Hal Willis land a case with a poison victim where suicide seems highly unlikely. They're drawn to the last number that he called and eventually get through, finding a really interesting woman was the subject the victim was attempting to contact. Her name is Marilyn and she has a lot of casual partners, each of whom find her absolutely adorable. 

All the detectives have is the names of her lovers and they set about tracking them down . In the meantime, another of the lovers is killed, which creates a whirlpool of intrigue. 

It's great to get a story told where Willis is the lead character and, the way things pan out, it's difficult not to enjoy spending time with him. As he spends time with Marilyn, he gets sucked in by her special qualities in a way that so many have done before. It's not long before he's totally hooked, which is problematic given that she's a significant suspect in the murder cases. The joy for the reader is that it's not clear what her involvement is until the final revelation.

Marilyn is also a fabulous character. As is increasingly clear with the evolution of the series, the sensual and sexual are at the forefront. On the whole, that's pretty cool, though I did feel it created the flaw mentioned earlier. As we find out about her, there's a significant chunk of plot dedicated to her back story. It's interesting and tragic, yet I struggled to stay with the book at that point because I was so engrossed in the detective work and the awkwardness of Willis's position. The subject matter here was difficult and the interruption to my enjoyment was, frankly, irritating. That complaint aside, the rest of the piece is terrific and is wonderfully put together. I have no idea how McBain managed to churn out such beauties without diluting the content or becoming dull- the 87th Precinct novels are an amazing creation and my respect for them simply grows as I get through them. 

A nice aside for Columbo fans, there's a link here to Uneasy Lies The Crown which I'm sure many will appreciate (if that's a spoiler for you, congrats on being such a Columbo fan and I apologise in advance). 

One Man's Opinion: WATCHMAN by IAN RANKIN

This one I should have read years ago. Still, better late than never. 

Watchman tells the tale of Miles Flint, a long-time spy who spends his life watching people for a job and as an excuse to occupy his time so that he needn't go home to his wife. 

Early on, he becomes ensnared in a case involving the shadowing of an individual in a fine London establishment. When the target of the observation slips away and throws Miles a knowing smile, something seems off. And it most definitely is. What follows in an unraveling of the investigation and all it touches.  

It took me a while to get into this. The opening pages stutter a little. There's a lot to get across and it feels slightly laboured. Thankfully, early jitters were soon overcome and I was sucked into the story so far that I couldn't stop reading. 

Flint's world is intriguing. It's set in a time of Irish terrorism and there's a spate of bombings in London that are keeping everyone busy. The structure of his organisation is fascinating and the characters, generally likened to specific species of beetle, are highly individual. It has a nice drive and a lovely sense of humour (P G Wodehouse meets The Thirty Nine Steps?). 

As the machinations unfold (infidelity, government ministers, journalists, terrorist cells, family complications, cross and double cross, betrayal and back-stabbing, to name those that come to mind) Watchman picks up the pace until it's fairly rattling along. I was loving every minute.

The plot is rather involved and it's a matter of trust that all the loose ends will be explained and tied up by the end. I'd say that the closing chapters are a little like the flesh of the villain as he is exposed- doughy and a on the sticky side. Though everything was ultimately resolved, it felt a bit too contrived and not quite as explosive as the earlier scenes. I guess I just wanted something more. 

All in all, a lot of fun and, bar the opening and close, riveting stuff.  

One Man's Opinion: INTO THE WAR by ITALO CALVINO

 

Before I picked up Italo Calvino's Into The War, I started Graham Greene's Stamboul Train. Much as I enjoyed the evocative sleeper train mood and some excellent scene description, I just couldn't get over the character often refered to as the Jew. I'm normally good at putting things into context and I'm happy to allow authors to play around with the belief systems of their characters, but this just didn't feel right. Perhaps it was shining a light on prejudice. Whatever it was doing, it was too much for me to stomach and I decided not to carry on. There were a few other reasons - slight confusions, unlikely happenings and a sense that it wouldn't be worth the effort even if I had made it to the end. You can tell me I made a mistake in the comments, but I'm happy that I pushed it aside. 

With that as a partial context, fleshed out with the rise of the right wing in recent German elections and the crazy events in the US where the president appears more deranged and dangerous than many of us suspected, a dip into Calvino seemed apt. 

I've read a number of novels by Calvino and loved them, though it was so long ago now that the memories aren't as firm as I might have hoped. This was my first encounter with his short autobiographical work. I had high expectations and wasn't disappointed. 

Mussolini has just declared war and we get three pieces written by a teenage boy with a sense of subversion and a keen eye for detail. There are elements that seem ethereal alongside those that are surreal. There are harsh realities, humourous observations and a sense of the bizarrenes of it all. Smoking, sex and mischief figure heavily, as you might expect, as does the probing into the regimentation of the youth as they are forced into banal roles within the fascist structure. 

Each story is short, though punches way above it's size. It's definitely worth reading and a reminder to us, if we're not there aleady, that Into The War is not a place we want to be. Those that want to stir the pot for their own selfish ends or to flex and increase their power on the world stage, be warned.