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The Daily Dose/August 27, 2009
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
CAPSULE BOOK REVIEW: Now and Then, by Robert B. Parker: We don't know why we bother with Spenser novels anymore. Habit, probably because we've been reading them for over two decades. That has to be it because for most the last decade Parker has been mailing them in.
Spenser novels used to be really fun to read. One-liners, some social commentary, literature references, babes, like that minx Rita Fiore, you wished would jump out of the book and into the sack with you.
Reality Check: Those days have passed though. Parker now writes like society talks, namely in clipped, incompletely sentences. On balance, we don't like this. While we graciously concede a writer's purpose is to, in part, reflect the society he lives in, a writer should also endeavor to have his characters use more graceful English than the general public.
Now though, Parker is doing the writer's equivalent of grunting. In one stretch early in the book, 8 of 19 sentences with dialogue were three words or less. Sure, every now and then Parker does come up with a funny fine or well turned phrase, but those are fewer and farer between.
You Can't Beat Consistency: Spenser's MO hasn't changed in three decades. He takes a case and in fairly short order has no clue what is going on, so he starts stepping on some toes and some things start happening and Spenser's life is in danger and usually who the bad guy is becomes clear soon enough because these are not classic murder mysteries where you play along with the detective trying to find the culprit. With Spenser you plod along and after the bad guy presents himself we all stand by to see how Spenser is going to handle it.
The Line Forms On The Right: A Spenser novel is now nothing more than museum tour and Now and Then is now merely a review of what the series has become.
"And on your right we have Spenser accepting a case. Notice the wise-ass remarks he gives to his hapless client!"
"And up ahead we have Spenser diving into the case, except he can't get anywhere! Either no one will answer his questions or his client has not been entirely truthful with him, or both! Watch, though as he goes sticking his nose where it doesn't belong in order rustle up some clues!"
"And here on our left we have a recent addition to the series! Note how Hawk and Susan and anyone else they can muster are fawning over Spenser and marveling at how he does things his way because this is who he is and what he does!"
"Meanwhile, on our right, Spenser is winding up the case! Notice the cops standing in the background eating donuts. This is because Spenser lives according to his own moral code and involves the cops only when he sees fit and don't bother changing him because it's who he is and what he does!"
Go Ahead, Make My Day: Spenser, as an FBI agent notes at the end of the book, is now nothing more than a vigilante. Two innocent goons die so Spenser, who as usual can't be bothered to notify the authorities because that would get in his way of wrapping up the case on his terms so he can exorcise the demons of Susan Silverman having had an affair two decades ago.
This is one of two things that were a bit incongruous in the book, To be fair Parker has noted Susan's affair with Russell Costigan from time to time since the brilliant A Catskill Eagle, but this is the first time it has been used as an element that shows it bothering Spenser to any extent. And why now? The case is, at its essence, a cheating wife case and this isn't the first such case Spenser had handled in the last 20 years, so why is it all of a sudden bothering him?
Also not making any sense are Spenser and Susan discussing marriage. They've been together a quarter of a century and now they want to tie the knot?
Oh Yeah: Something else that makes no sense is Susan taking on the lead suspect as a client. I am not a private eye or a shrink, nor do I date one nor have I ever played one on tee vee, but this seemed to be almost beyond belief.
One we've always enjoyed about Spenser novels is the appearance of characters from past books. But even this is getting old as, once again, Spenser has assembled a broad-based coalition of thugs and gangsters, like Vinnie Morris and our old pal Chollo, borrowed from Mr, Del Rio in Los Angeles, to help him do things his way. Never addressed is whether Spenser is paying these thugs or not because Spenser's client is dead and he probably isn't getting paid either.
Standard Internet Disclaimer: Though Gaylon is better read than most of our fellow humans, he's not a scholar for Pete's sake and, in fact, barely graduated high school, though it should be noted this was back when graduating from high school actually meant you had some skills and didn't require remedial college classes. He not only makes no claims to being a professional book reviewer, but does not even warrant that the reviewed book is current, or even being read for the first time.
We Interrupt This Program For A Word From The Ratings Department: Following Is The Official Writer's Shack Rating scale:
EX - Excellent; as good as the medium can produce in every respect.
VG - Very Good. Well worth your time.
GD - Good. More or less worth your time.
AR - All Right. Not completely without merit.
SP - Nothing of substance; a steaming pile, utterly without merit.
Final Ranking: AR. Parker's done better in this series. It's nice to visit with Spenser and Susan and Hawk and all the usual rascals again, even if Now and Then isn't their finest hour.
TEST, TEST…IS THIS MIC ON? On this date, in 1896, mankind's shortest war, the Anglo-Zanzibar War, is fought at Zanzibar Town, Zanzibar. The British, peeved when someone they disapproved of becomes Sultan of Zanzibar, attack at 9:02am and Zanzibar forces surrender 38 minutes later.
Dry, Technical On This Date Matter: Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years on this date in 2003, with the two planets coming within 34.6 million miles of each other.
Hey, How About Some More Dry, Technical Matter?: While this is the closest the two planets have gotten since even before the last Cubs World Series victory, this is not as close as Mars and Earth will ever get. In the one million year period beginning 500,000 years before the birth of Christ and ending 500,000 after the birth of Christ, the closest Mars and Earth will get to each other will come in September (assuming the Gregorian calendar is still in use) 294,851 when the two planets will be a mere 33.328 million miles apart.
We're Just Wondering: Maybe the Chicago Cubs will have won the World Series by then. Maybe not. You have to figure though that in the ensuing 292,842 years some team from Winnipeg or Bakersfield will have won it a couple of times.
Don't Shoot The Messenger: These closest points of approach happen every couple of years when Earth and Mars are in a direct line with Mr. Sun, a phenomenon known as opposition in scientific circles. To laymen like us this seems more or less bass ackwards, because it would seem opposition is an appropriate term for when the Sun is in the middle of a direct line between two planets but this phenomenon is actually known as conjunction.
Thank You. Not That We Were Wondering About That Or Anything: You will be pleased to note there are various factors involved in determining how close planets get to each other. One, just because Mars and Earth are in line with the Sun doesn't mean Mars is at its closest point to the Sun or the Earth its farthest distance from the Sun. Similarly, Earth and Martian orbits are not on the same plane. And gravitational forces, like those of the Moon on Earth and Jupiter on Mars, affect orbits as well.
FunFact: Because of these factors, plus the fact opposition does not always occur when Mars is at its closest point to the Sun - known as perihelion - during the aforementioned 1 million year period the farthest Mars and Earth will be at opposition will be 63 million miles, though the farthest they will be apart when Mars is at perihelion is 39.7 million miles. Though we generally enjoy space minutiae like this, just like you do, we are starting to get a headache.
Thought For The Day: "…I parallel parked so adroitly I was looking for applause." - Robert B. Parker, Now and Then.
Trivia Question: At the time of the Anglo-Zanzibar War Zanzibar was an independent country. It is now a part of what country? - Answer next time!
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