Saturday, January 23, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Review: The Ghost of Justice by Clifford Herdt
I have a fascination with the dark corners of history, of things and events not well known to the general public. When I stumbled upon this book, the blurb on the back indicated the book would fit this interest. The book attempts to tell the story of a private detective operating during the middle of the 20th century. Please notice my intentional use of the word 'attempts'.
The book becomes a muddle of myths and legends surrounding this man. Very little appears to be researched. This would be acceptable if this was just supposed to be a collection of stories but the book purports to be a document of an historical figure. Instead of detail and documentation, we get the retelling of stories that have gone through the 'telephone' game, becoming lurid and overblown in the process. It's as if the author found a bunch of cheap old crime pulp paperback books and retold the stories within them.
In the author's defense, some of this story may not be so easily researched. The big claim of the book is that the detective spent most of his time as a 'ghost'. Unless the man had an interview where he said 'I am a ghost' and was tested so that an expert said 'Yup, he's a ghost', how do you prove that?
The author needed a better proofreader and editor. Typos happen and I get that but this book was just swimming in them. I'm not sure there was a page without a typo. The author would start to develop a point but then disappear into the telling of another story. I think he was of the opinion that the story would prove his point without further explanation but it wasn't clear for me.
I found the subject matter interesting but the book doesn't make the 'ghost detective' easy to learn about.
The book becomes a muddle of myths and legends surrounding this man. Very little appears to be researched. This would be acceptable if this was just supposed to be a collection of stories but the book purports to be a document of an historical figure. Instead of detail and documentation, we get the retelling of stories that have gone through the 'telephone' game, becoming lurid and overblown in the process. It's as if the author found a bunch of cheap old crime pulp paperback books and retold the stories within them.
In the author's defense, some of this story may not be so easily researched. The big claim of the book is that the detective spent most of his time as a 'ghost'. Unless the man had an interview where he said 'I am a ghost' and was tested so that an expert said 'Yup, he's a ghost', how do you prove that?
The author needed a better proofreader and editor. Typos happen and I get that but this book was just swimming in them. I'm not sure there was a page without a typo. The author would start to develop a point but then disappear into the telling of another story. I think he was of the opinion that the story would prove his point without further explanation but it wasn't clear for me.
I found the subject matter interesting but the book doesn't make the 'ghost detective' easy to learn about.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
He Makes a Good Point
“You are being ridiculous you know.”
This is not the sort of thing one wants to hear after you have been discussing Heavy Things. “Thanks a lot Chris,” was all I could muster as a reply.
He adjusted his position in his antique chair in order to maximize the effect of his expression upon me. The combination of the shadows from the fire playing about his angular face is quite powerful and impressive. It's the sort of thing I've seen him do over and over again, to the point that I should be immune to it. I am not. Instinctively it gives me a chill up and down my spine. Then comes the rich rumbling voice with its British qualities and altogether it grabs the attention. “You are becoming fascinated with the concept of revisiting your past. To what end? What good would it accomplish to see yourself as a youth? I have seen you have pictures, both static and moving, of yourself as a youth, so it is not as if the sight of your youthful visage is foreign to you. If you are particularly keen to revisit a specific memory, cannot your friend assist you with recalling it to mind?”
Julia dropped off some tea, distracting me from the conversation. She needed no information from me regarding the makeup of my tea, seeing as how she's well used to my tastes in these regards from previous visits and cups of tea. The smiling and the thanking and such drew me from responding. Pulled back to the conversation, I checked “Sarah Jean?” Chris confirmed that this was the friend in mind. I considered this as I sampled the tea. It was wonderful as always. “I suppose she could. I'm not sure it's in her skill set. Of course, I've not had reason to ask before.” I thought on this more as I drank a bit more tea. “It would be interesting to see if the time period was as unpleasant as I remember it. Or if my attitude towards the time period would be different as seen through an older set of eyes.”
Chris set his cup down. “I was there, through all the periods that you were alive and a hundred years besides. The period you are speaking of would not look particularly better through older eyes.”
“What about the late 1800s?”
“Dirty.”
“The 1940s had some good entertainment.”
“Not while living in fear of the war.”
“Good music in the 1960s.”
“Hippies.”
This required pondering. And tea. I did one while taking in the other. “You make some interesting points. Am I to understand that the present time period is the best place to be?”
“Do you have another option?”
He made a good point. I stuck to my tea.
This is not the sort of thing one wants to hear after you have been discussing Heavy Things. “Thanks a lot Chris,” was all I could muster as a reply.
He adjusted his position in his antique chair in order to maximize the effect of his expression upon me. The combination of the shadows from the fire playing about his angular face is quite powerful and impressive. It's the sort of thing I've seen him do over and over again, to the point that I should be immune to it. I am not. Instinctively it gives me a chill up and down my spine. Then comes the rich rumbling voice with its British qualities and altogether it grabs the attention. “You are becoming fascinated with the concept of revisiting your past. To what end? What good would it accomplish to see yourself as a youth? I have seen you have pictures, both static and moving, of yourself as a youth, so it is not as if the sight of your youthful visage is foreign to you. If you are particularly keen to revisit a specific memory, cannot your friend assist you with recalling it to mind?”
Julia dropped off some tea, distracting me from the conversation. She needed no information from me regarding the makeup of my tea, seeing as how she's well used to my tastes in these regards from previous visits and cups of tea. The smiling and the thanking and such drew me from responding. Pulled back to the conversation, I checked “Sarah Jean?” Chris confirmed that this was the friend in mind. I considered this as I sampled the tea. It was wonderful as always. “I suppose she could. I'm not sure it's in her skill set. Of course, I've not had reason to ask before.” I thought on this more as I drank a bit more tea. “It would be interesting to see if the time period was as unpleasant as I remember it. Or if my attitude towards the time period would be different as seen through an older set of eyes.”
Chris set his cup down. “I was there, through all the periods that you were alive and a hundred years besides. The period you are speaking of would not look particularly better through older eyes.”
“What about the late 1800s?”
“Dirty.”
“The 1940s had some good entertainment.”
“Not while living in fear of the war.”
“Good music in the 1960s.”
“Hippies.”
This required pondering. And tea. I did one while taking in the other. “You make some interesting points. Am I to understand that the present time period is the best place to be?”
“Do you have another option?”
He made a good point. I stuck to my tea.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)