Noir with a fine humorous touch
August 11, 2013
Richard Voorhees' novel travels from Quebec to New York to Los Angeles in the 1920s-30s, and it took me on a wonderful joyride with a flawed hero and a wild collection of mendacious, murderous money-grubbers through Prohibition, the stock market crash, and the seamy side of Hollywood in the early talkie period. The story unfolds with great skill--coincidences pile up, but in utterly believable fashion. People we haven't seen for a few years suddenly reappear in a completely different place. But that's why it's a story worth telling, right?
The Sherlock Holmes stories were better than most any other mystery writing, Edmund Wilson said, because of the richness of the settings and characterization, and much the same applies to Voorhees' novel. "Shooting Genji" is so much fun because the author doesn't give us a straight Raymond Chandler-type noir--he mixes in elements of exoticism, erotica, and social satire, in the process displaying a fine-grained understanding of what it was like to live in the popular culture and grasping economic atmosphere of the period he portrays. And of course, it turns out not to be too different from our own. Jean-Yves is much like the slightly amoral go-getters we see on Wall Street today--only likable enough for us to pull for him. His girlfriend, bookstore owner Ariane, is a perfect foil, and the other principal characters--especially the sweaty English filmmaker-manque, Granyer, are types that never age.
What pulls it all together is Voorhees' dialogue, which is endlessly engaging (I could go on listening in on these people's conversations until next year at least) and instantly defines each of his characters without turning stereotypical. I look forward to more explorations of the same period by this writer, or else another Voorhees tale that opens up another fascinating period in our collective historical imagination. Bravo. (5.0 out of 5 stars)
--Eric Laursen (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shooting Genji (Kindle Edition)
A riveting tale of crime and corruption
August 12, 2013
Shooting Genji is a fantastic book, a wonderfully told story of gangsters, conmen and dealers, featuring characters like Still, Poochie, Chilblain, Unterfisch and Big Department (he's as big a Greyhound bus). The author sets his scenes so well you can almost smell the New York venues he describes. The book would make a great film along the lines of A Bronx Tale and LA Confidential. I read it in two sittings, you will too. (5.0 out of 5 stars)
--Fergus Mulligan - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shooting Genji (Kindle Edition)
August 11, 2013
Richard Voorhees' novel travels from Quebec to New York to Los Angeles in the 1920s-30s, and it took me on a wonderful joyride with a flawed hero and a wild collection of mendacious, murderous money-grubbers through Prohibition, the stock market crash, and the seamy side of Hollywood in the early talkie period. The story unfolds with great skill--coincidences pile up, but in utterly believable fashion. People we haven't seen for a few years suddenly reappear in a completely different place. But that's why it's a story worth telling, right?
The Sherlock Holmes stories were better than most any other mystery writing, Edmund Wilson said, because of the richness of the settings and characterization, and much the same applies to Voorhees' novel. "Shooting Genji" is so much fun because the author doesn't give us a straight Raymond Chandler-type noir--he mixes in elements of exoticism, erotica, and social satire, in the process displaying a fine-grained understanding of what it was like to live in the popular culture and grasping economic atmosphere of the period he portrays. And of course, it turns out not to be too different from our own. Jean-Yves is much like the slightly amoral go-getters we see on Wall Street today--only likable enough for us to pull for him. His girlfriend, bookstore owner Ariane, is a perfect foil, and the other principal characters--especially the sweaty English filmmaker-manque, Granyer, are types that never age.
What pulls it all together is Voorhees' dialogue, which is endlessly engaging (I could go on listening in on these people's conversations until next year at least) and instantly defines each of his characters without turning stereotypical. I look forward to more explorations of the same period by this writer, or else another Voorhees tale that opens up another fascinating period in our collective historical imagination. Bravo. (5.0 out of 5 stars)
--Eric Laursen (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shooting Genji (Kindle Edition)
A riveting tale of crime and corruption
August 12, 2013
Shooting Genji is a fantastic book, a wonderfully told story of gangsters, conmen and dealers, featuring characters like Still, Poochie, Chilblain, Unterfisch and Big Department (he's as big a Greyhound bus). The author sets his scenes so well you can almost smell the New York venues he describes. The book would make a great film along the lines of A Bronx Tale and LA Confidential. I read it in two sittings, you will too. (5.0 out of 5 stars)
--Fergus Mulligan - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shooting Genji (Kindle Edition)
