Bunyin Ananpongsuk Ananpongsuk itibaren Gainsborough, SK S0C, Kanada
Holy frigging cow, this book was so much better than the first one. I could hardly put it down. And when I got to the end, I thought, "No! Where's the rest of it!" I definitely need to get my hands on the third book.
Wow. That was a good one. And I love that the title is like a non sequitur left to interpretation. Camus wrote that he was inspired to write The Stranger after reading Postman. It has that forsaken, death toll, resonance to it. Only more delectable for me because it is written in the hardboiled vein. The hardboiled's hardboiled in fact. James M. Cain was so much darker and harder than Chandler, I think. The dialogue and what a lech Frank Chambers is, are what makes the whole thing so sickeningly beautiful. She was standing there in a red kimono, as pale as milk, staring at me, with a long thin knife in her hand. I reached out and took it away from her. Whe she spoke, it was in a whisper that sounded like a snake licking its tongue in and out. "Why did you have to come back?" "I had to, that's all." "No you didn't. I could have gone through with it. I was getting so I could forget you. And now you have to come back. God damn you, you have to come back!" "Go through with what?" "What he's making that scrapbook for. It's to show to his children! And now he wants one. He wants one right away." "Well, why didn't you come with me?" "Come with you for what? To sleep in box cars? Why would I come with you? Tell me that." I couldn't say anything. I thought about my $250, but what good was it telling her that I had some money yesterday, but today I lost it playing one ball in the side? "You're no good. I know that. You're just no good. Then why don't you go away and let me alone instead of coming back here again? Why don't you leave me be?" "Listen. Stall him on this kid stuff just a little while. Stall him, and we'll see if we can't figure something out. I'm not much good, but I love you, Cora. I swear it." "You swear it, and what do you do? He's taking me to Santa Barbara, so I'll say I'll have the child, and you-you're going right along with us. You're going to stay at the same hotel with us! You're going right along in the car. You're - " She stopped, and we stood there looking at each other. The three of us in the car, we knew what that meant. Little by little we were nearer, until we were touching. "Oh, my God, Frank, isn't there any other way out for us than that?" "Well. You were going to stick a knife in him just now." "No. That was for me, Frank. Not him." "Cora, it's in the cards. We've tried every other way out." "I can't have no greasy Greek child, Frank. I can't, that's all. the only one I can have a child by is you. I wish you were some good. You're smart, but you're no good." "I'm no good, but I love you." "Yes, and I love you." "Stall him. Just this one night." "All right, Frank. Just this one night." Pgs. 37-38.
My boss wrote this book and he's a genius.