Pete's picture
Pete from Detroit is reading Red Dragon June 8, 2012 - 5:50am

Wow, I take a week off and I come back to this. This discussion has a lot going on. This makes me happy! :)

I'm going to have to try and find some time today and read all of these post to catch up. Keep it up guys!

imsteph's picture
imsteph from Los Angeles, CA is reading Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany, Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante June 12, 2012 - 5:24pm

I kept sort of waiting for the scene where everyone came out and dealt with their alcoholism, but it never happened.  (Also, I love this book so much.)

Andrez Bergen's picture
Andrez Bergen from Melbourne, Australia + Tokyo, Japan is reading 'The Spirit' by Will Eisner June 13, 2012 - 3:59am

The joy of The Thin Man is that alcoholism isn't an issue - it's an essential set-piece, and I love that. Now, where's that darn-tootin' martini got to? ...cheers!

Pete's picture
Pete from Detroit is reading Red Dragon June 13, 2012 - 9:48am

netflix sent out The Thin Man today. Stoked!

.'s picture
. June 18, 2012 - 10:09am

I think I'll read the Maltese Falcon next.

Pete's picture
Pete from Detroit is reading Red Dragon June 20, 2012 - 8:52am

I posted this on the cult in response to somebody last month. I thought I posted something similar here. I guess I didn't.

There are a few reasons I really like the story.

For one, Nick and Nora aren't the typical detectives. Nick rather sit around and be drunk, but he keeps getting dragged into it. He's not a - let me get my gun and chase down these leads type of detective. All the clues he gets, pretty much fall into his lap, other people find them and can't make sense of anything. He's the one that pieces it together.

Also, it doesn't read like a typical detective novel at all. But it does read more like a detective film from the 40's or 50's. I mean, there are relatively few narrative locations. There's The Wynants, The Hotel Suite, and (briefly) The Bar. All other locations are talked about, but not visited in the story.

But, my favorite thing about it is the dialogue. Nick is just great. Now, if you think about the fact that the book was published in the mid 30's, you realize that the dialogue was so ahead of it's time. It's quick, sarcastic, and sexy. You can pull lines at random and they're just so tight.

I think there's a lot that can be learned from the book.

Andrez Bergen's picture
Andrez Bergen from Melbourne, Australia + Tokyo, Japan is reading 'The Spirit' by Will Eisner June 21, 2012 - 1:53pm

Amen to these sentiments, Pete. And jacks_username... you should.