Book 12
June 10 - 12
Treasure
I am happier than ever since the day I started my reading challenge because I found a perfect story! Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the champion of brilliant character descriptions and a talented puppeteer who always pulls the right strings of the plot, Mr. Michael McDowell with his novel "Gilded Needles"!
Actually, I've cheated a little this time. I didn't find this book in the library, but I was dead set to know what it was about, so I bought it's audio version on Amazon and enjoyed this 10 hour journey into the Black Triangle, the darkest and the filthiest of New-York districts of the year 1882. And what a journey it was! This novel engages the reader from the first line and doesn't let go till the end.
This story about the clash of a female criminal family with the family of a judge has all the ingredients to grip my attention - my favourite period, 19th century, dark alleys soaked in opium and steeped in danger, ruthless reality of life in the rotting pit where criminals thrive in all possible forms and shapes, where people either accept being cogs in the criminal world or perish crushed by it. The tone of the book reminded me of the novels by Dickens and Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe's tales of mystery and macabre, the TV shows "Penny Dreadful", "The Nick" and "Allienist". The fact that McDowell collaborated on Tim Burtons eerie "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and wrote the script for Burton's "Beetlejuice" also illustrates his style.
The thing which stuck with me forever is the introduction in "Gilded Needles". In fact, I think it was one of the most powerful introductions I have ever read. It gives the description of New York celebrating New Year. The most eerie, raw and grotesque take on old New York, and I absolutely love it! It gives a feeling of a fly over the city. We see children huddled around a grate, taking turns to sit directly upon the iron grid; impoverished regulars of a stale-beer shop, a low and filthy place which serves stale beer discarded by a saloon; released prisoners playing cards at the entrance of the stale-beer shop; opium smokers lurking in the dark corners of the opium house; a young actress who comes to an abortionist; a young girl prostituted to a middle-aged man; a family in a rich but bleak house discussing the chances for Democrats to win the elections in the new year; and the bells pealing over the city as the New Year, "the Year of Grace" begins. With every word I descended lower and lower over old New York until the story enveloped me entirely.
It's a shame such a great author had been unknown to me before. This novel was first published back in 1980, but I'd had no idea it existed, which only spills more oil on the fire of my indignation concerning how trashy novels get so much publicity, leaving audience oblivious of really worthy ones.
Sadly, Michael McDowell died in 1999 when I was only nine. His stories reach out for me now. I feel I can learn a lot from him and I intend to read other books written by him.
Michael McDowell gets my absolute admiration! 10 out of 10! Oscar! Nobel Prize!
Treasure
I am happier than ever since the day I started my reading challenge because I found a perfect story! Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the champion of brilliant character descriptions and a talented puppeteer who always pulls the right strings of the plot, Mr. Michael McDowell with his novel "Gilded Needles"!
Actually, I've cheated a little this time. I didn't find this book in the library, but I was dead set to know what it was about, so I bought it's audio version on Amazon and enjoyed this 10 hour journey into the Black Triangle, the darkest and the filthiest of New-York districts of the year 1882. And what a journey it was! This novel engages the reader from the first line and doesn't let go till the end.
This story about the clash of a female criminal family with the family of a judge has all the ingredients to grip my attention - my favourite period, 19th century, dark alleys soaked in opium and steeped in danger, ruthless reality of life in the rotting pit where criminals thrive in all possible forms and shapes, where people either accept being cogs in the criminal world or perish crushed by it. The tone of the book reminded me of the novels by Dickens and Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe's tales of mystery and macabre, the TV shows "Penny Dreadful", "The Nick" and "Allienist". The fact that McDowell collaborated on Tim Burtons eerie "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and wrote the script for Burton's "Beetlejuice" also illustrates his style.
The thing which stuck with me forever is the introduction in "Gilded Needles". In fact, I think it was one of the most powerful introductions I have ever read. It gives the description of New York celebrating New Year. The most eerie, raw and grotesque take on old New York, and I absolutely love it! It gives a feeling of a fly over the city. We see children huddled around a grate, taking turns to sit directly upon the iron grid; impoverished regulars of a stale-beer shop, a low and filthy place which serves stale beer discarded by a saloon; released prisoners playing cards at the entrance of the stale-beer shop; opium smokers lurking in the dark corners of the opium house; a young actress who comes to an abortionist; a young girl prostituted to a middle-aged man; a family in a rich but bleak house discussing the chances for Democrats to win the elections in the new year; and the bells pealing over the city as the New Year, "the Year of Grace" begins. With every word I descended lower and lower over old New York until the story enveloped me entirely.
It's a shame such a great author had been unknown to me before. This novel was first published back in 1980, but I'd had no idea it existed, which only spills more oil on the fire of my indignation concerning how trashy novels get so much publicity, leaving audience oblivious of really worthy ones.
Sadly, Michael McDowell died in 1999 when I was only nine. His stories reach out for me now. I feel I can learn a lot from him and I intend to read other books written by him.
Michael McDowell gets my absolute admiration! 10 out of 10! Oscar! Nobel Prize!
No comments have been added yet.
