mohannadnajjar

Nowhere near as emotionally complex and fully-realized in character and atmosphere as Chandler (and unlike him, I didn't fall in love), hardly as gritty and weirdly educated as Hammett. Yet: piled on with raw ugly emotion and a bitter sense of the horrid little transactions that make up a failed life. Postman Always Rings Twice is the most sadomasochistic treatment of passion in any book I know outside of aristocratic France or post-50s fiction. Plus it's a heist novel. How great is that? Double indemnity is like a slightly muted version of the same thing but nearly as good. And Mildred Pierce is like a hard-boiled Madame Bovary except with more cattiness and this great treatment of the Depression. Cain knows exactly the economic environment that produces this kind of disdain and hatred and obsession among her lovers and children, all while Mildred claws her way up the economic ladder the only way she knows how. Don't expect subtlety. EVER. But if you like early-to-midcentury hard-boiled fiction, this burns white-hot and feels like a stain on your conscience.

2022-11-14 18:05