You can't go home again, or if you do you need to shoot your way out.
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 12:26PM 
Under the "finally got around to" category, I finished my first Richard Stark, Parker novel. I first heard of the Parker character when I watched the amazingly gritty noir-esque Point Blank. It starred Lee Marvin in a great suit, and the principal from Animal House (what was his name... a Canadian I think) in a nasty role.
The end credits said based on the novel, so I went looking. I was surprised, in a really good way, when I found out that Stark was one of the pseudonyms of Donald Westlake. I read a ton of Westlake as a teen, loved the character Dortmunder, and the movie Hot Rock (Redford and Segal, if I recall). But I have found that going back and reading stuff I liked as a teen is often a sad affair. Reading the Stark novel (The Jugger), I found it really clipped a long, and I liked the darkness of the main character - he kills a guy and puts him in a hole that the dead guy had just dug. (Wait, does that make sense?) Anyway, it was hard boiled and sparse, but at the end of it, forgettable.
I might read another one, or watch Point Blank again, just for Lee Marvin. Onward to other summer books now - like Snow Crash, one that has been on my "got to get around to" pile for, oh, three or four years.
Reader Comments (2)
pardon my ignorance but was Grosse Pointe Blank a re-do of Point Blank? i've seen Grosse Pointe Blank but i did so mostly because i love John Cusack. if the movies are related then i'm very interested in Point Blank now.
Hey Ian -
Grosse Point Blank is one of my favorite movies - Cusak is amazing in it, as is Dan Akroyd. But no, totally different movies. I think Cusak cowrote G.P.B. actually.
Point Blank with Lee Marvin is an arty heist/bad guy movie from 1967 - Angie Dickenson is also in there (remember her?) Both movies are dark, but there are certainly no laughs in Point Blank. I chuckled throughout the Cusak movie.