Rob's review of Gun, With Occasional Music: A Novel

Gun, With Occasional Music: A Novel Gun, With Occasional Music: A Novel
by Jonathan Lethem
156533
Rob's review  
rating: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
bookshelves: 2008, own, science-fiction
recommended for: curious what Neal Stephenson sounds like covering Raymond Chandler?
status: Read in July, 2008

In Gun, With Occasional Music, Jonathan Lethem gives us science fiction's worthy successor to Raymond Chandler. Though this is the easy take-home message from nearly every quoted newspaper columnist, book jacket blurb, and miscellaneous reviewer -- they also all happen to be right. Even a cursory familiarity with Chandler's pulp noir will ring through with startling clarity to readers of this novel. The cadence of the narrative, the hard-boiled dialogue, the archetypal characters... Lethem's Conrad Metcalf is a well-executed Philip Marlowe cover song with just a little bit of record scratching thrown into the background for texture.

On the other hand, those same columnist quotes, blurbs, and reviewers all seem to liken Lethem to Philip K. Dick. Personally: not seeing it. It's a bit of a stretch, some optimistic name-dropping to match up Lethem's mystery/noir heritage with some similarly classic science fiction antecedent. The ubiquitous drug use? Sure, okay -- that's...more
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comments (showing 1-4 of 4) (4 new)

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message 1: by Noran (new)
07/18/2008 09:54PM

993934 thank you for a birthday idea for my hard to shop for older brother!


message 2: by Noran (new)
07/18/2008 10:14PM

993934 Just ordered it from an independent seller for him--thanks again1 I might even sneak a peek, before gifting it!


message 3: by Rob (new)
07/19/2008 05:00AM

156533 @Noran: you're quite welcome. (Also: saw you stopped by the ol' blog: thanks for the anniversary wishes!)


message 4: by Noran (new)
07/19/2008 10:08PM

993934 Also flickr to see some cats pic too!: )


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