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greybeard49's review
5.0
One of my favourite authors who delivers novels in the crime noir genre - but that is a narrow classification and restricts the true scope of his work.
Sallis is a SUPERB writer per se who is up there with the very best. He mesmerises you gently and with such great skill. His prose is spare and tight, almost poetical at times. Page after amazing page of delightful dialogue and masterful plot rollout, laced with splashes of philosophy and moral insight, make him the master that he is.
If you like to read quality books - you should not miss out on James Sallis.
Sallis is a SUPERB writer per se who is up there with the very best. He mesmerises you gently and with such great skill. His prose is spare and tight, almost poetical at times. Page after amazing page of delightful dialogue and masterful plot rollout, laced with splashes of philosophy and moral insight, make him the master that he is.
If you like to read quality books - you should not miss out on James Sallis.
katspectre67's review against another edition
4.0
He's a tricky one, that Sallis. My latest theory is the whole crime-genre thing is just a cunning trick to lure in readers who would otherwise not read a novel that basically deals with themes etc. that would normally lead it to be called 'literary'. Cunning. I actually wept at the end of this one.
pattydsf's review
3.0
“It was the only thing in the room hinting towards any effort at decoration. Richard Garces had given it to me: a snapshot he'd taken of LaVerne when they worked together at Foucher Women’s Shelter, a month or so before she died. She’d stuck her head in the door to ask a question about one of his clients and been trapped there forever. Smiling and at the same time instinctively trying to turn her head away.” p. 5
Once again, I have found myself in Lew Griffin’s and James Sallis’ world. This is a place that I only visit with the two of them. It is not a world where I would be welcome or even comfortable. I am grateful to Sallis for writing about Griffin, a very charming, but damaged man. Thanks to Griffin and Sallis I have lived a life that is very alien to my white middle class life. I can’t say that I have been a black man because that would be a lie. However, I have seen and felt things that are not available to me except through reading.
Not only have I been able to enter Griffin’s New Orleans, but I also have a voice for him. G. Valmont Thomas is the reader for all the Lewis Griffin stories and his voice has become an integral part of my experience. Thomas has made my reading experience even more poignant.
I don’t know how Sallis wrote these novels since the books seem to wander around time, going both forward and backward through Griffin’s life. I am curious if Sallis has a timeline for all of the Griffin novels or if he just kept building Lew’s life as each book occurred to him.
There are not many Lewis Griffin stories left for me to read, but I am looking forward to all of them. I highly recommend these tales. They make this reader feel like she has been in New Orleans living a whole different life. If you are interested in New Orleans, our country’s history or just amazing writing, you should pick up one of these novels.
Once again, I have found myself in Lew Griffin’s and James Sallis’ world. This is a place that I only visit with the two of them. It is not a world where I would be welcome or even comfortable. I am grateful to Sallis for writing about Griffin, a very charming, but damaged man. Thanks to Griffin and Sallis I have lived a life that is very alien to my white middle class life. I can’t say that I have been a black man because that would be a lie. However, I have seen and felt things that are not available to me except through reading.
Not only have I been able to enter Griffin’s New Orleans, but I also have a voice for him. G. Valmont Thomas is the reader for all the Lewis Griffin stories and his voice has become an integral part of my experience. Thomas has made my reading experience even more poignant.
I don’t know how Sallis wrote these novels since the books seem to wander around time, going both forward and backward through Griffin’s life. I am curious if Sallis has a timeline for all of the Griffin novels or if he just kept building Lew’s life as each book occurred to him.
There are not many Lewis Griffin stories left for me to read, but I am looking forward to all of them. I highly recommend these tales. They make this reader feel like she has been in New Orleans living a whole different life. If you are interested in New Orleans, our country’s history or just amazing writing, you should pick up one of these novels.
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