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S'està carregant… The Fools in Town are on Our Side (1970) (1970 original; edició 1970)de Ross Thomas (Autor)
Informació de l'obraThe Fools in Town Are on Our Side de Ross Thomas (1970)
Books Read in 2017 (2,808) S'està carregant…
Apunta't a LibraryThing per saber si aquest llibre et pot agradar. No hi ha cap discussió a Converses sobre aquesta obra. I once heard Thomas described as “readable.” Not sure whether it was intended as compliment or insult but I tend to agree with the description. In alternating chapters this novel follows three time periods in the hero’s life until it catches up to the present day--in this case 1970--where the story moves to an unnamed Southern city. And that’s where things get more than a little troublesome. The N-word is thrown around liberally. Not just with bigots and villains but with everybody: good, bad; innocent, guilty; even with black and white alike. I know recent real-world events have made clear that we are not as enlightened as we once thought, but this open prejudice showered the environment too heavily to allow me to completely enjoy the story, particularly since I know Ross Thomas called it the way he saw it: if it’s is in the book, that’s what he found when he did his research. Even with a twenty-five-year gap, there was too much uncomfortable truth within this piece of fiction. Sense ressenyes | afegeix-hi una ressenya
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"Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain't that a big enough majority in any town?" -- Mark Twain Ross Thomas chose the quotation from Huckleberry Finn as the text of his post World War II story as well as for the title. When Lucifer Dye is released from three months in a Hong Kong prison, debriefed, handed a false passport, a new wardrobe and a $20,000 check, his haughty control makes it clear that Dye's career with his country has been permanently terminated. But a good agent is always in demand, and just a few hours later Dye is being interviewed for a highly ingenious position. Victor Orcutt, although a not very good imitation of a British pre-war gent, has creative talents of his own. He has his sights a small southern city, with the ordinary run-of-the-mill corruption one would expect in such a place. The canny Orcott knows there's no profit in that . His creed is "To get better, it must be much worse." He and his two associates have looked up Dye's history, and he now offers the ex-spy's a mission. For two and a half times the government's bounty, Dye is to thoroughly corrupt the town. And the sly Dye takes the offer. No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — S'està carregant… GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:
Ets tu?Fes-te Autor del LibraryThing. Hachette Book GroupUna edició d'aquest llibre ha estat publicada per Hachette Book Group. |
There isn’t a pointed bad guy either. Usually there is a right to be wronged or a score to settle, but this one is just straight up corruption for corruption’s sake. A changing of the corruption guard so to speak. And boy is there a lot of that - in the present day and in Dye’s past. As usual, Thomas’s dialogue, descriptions and quips just roll, although I did notice a high similarity to Chandler this time out. To wit -
“When he drew near enough I could see that one was brown and one was blue and neither of them contained any more warmth than you would find in a slaughterhouse freezer.” p 18 (talking about a character’s eyes)
“He looked, all in all, a little prissy until you noticed his dark blue eyes which he may have borrowed from the local hangman…” (again with the eyes!) ( )