book notes

[chronovore]

"Clarity is an overrated component of storytelling. James Ellroy’s The Big Nowhere, Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, and David Peace’s Nineteen Seventy-Seven are three of my favorite crime novels, and I don’t think I could explain their plots with a gun to my head.

What matters in crime fiction is feeling. It’s attitude, atmosphere, dialogue, mood. It’s the idea of one or more individuals going up against institutions of great power. It’s the idea that the underworld exists, right in front of you, all the time, and you just have to look."

Grantland, on True Detective's second season

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I'd argue geeks tend to overemphasize plot to the exclusion of other considerations generally, but this could be the embittered veteran of alt.horror.cthulhu side of me talking.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

I just realized today that I enjoy the Dortmunder novels for the character interaction. It really doesn't matter what they're trying or whether or not they succeed, they're just such well-written human interactions... Lovely.

Thanks for the insight.