Skip to main content

Mr. Clarinet - Review

I really hate not finishing a book. Hate every aspect about it. Sadly for Nick Stone's Mr. Clarinet, I was forced to set the book aside. I had been mulling it over for the last week, and a few nights ago I reached my limit. I was reading a chapter in the book, one that I felt was the turning point, and I just did not care. I didn't care about the hero, Max Mingus. I didn't care about the story, the kidnapping of children in Haiti. I didn't care about the larger social drama of everyday life in Haiti. The thing did not work for me on any level.

I know many have a page limit to termination, but I don't. This lead me to read almost 300 pages of a 425 page book. Seriously, I could have finished the thing if I just spent another day or two with it. It is very strange when a book crosses over from 'not your cup of tea' to 'life is too short.'

Truth be told the book was in trouble almost immediately. Without delving too deeply into it there is a very tiny bit of detail that Stone writes early on in the book. And for one reason or another it just set me off. I felt that the bit of detail needed elaboration that Stone either choose not to include or was uninformed not to include. In the cold light of day this critisism is definitely nit-picking. If Stone had added a single adjective or chosen a different piece of information I might still be reading. It is very odd to me that a curious bit of detail should start this sweater from unraveling, but it did and there is nothing to be done about it now.

I don't think this is a bad book, just one that failed to connect with me. Stone's directing of the readers gaze to Haiti is one that I find to be very interesting. Heck, it was what drew me to the book in the first place. Many feel that Nick Stone is a hugely talented writer, and even with my disappointing experience I certainly don't feel the need to disabuse anyone of that notion.

My hope is that you read this book and love it.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Very Best of Mr. Michael Connelly - Part 2

My August 31 post of The Hungry Detective ranked all the non-Bosch books. This list returns to take on the larger task of Mr. Heironimous Bosch. 9 Dragons made its appearance right before the Indy B'Con, and try as I might... ok I didn't try that hard... I didn't have time to read it for inclusion in these rankings. As a quick aside I don't want to undersell any of the books at the bottom of the list. Mr. Connelly doesn't know how to write a bad book, but in my case there have been occasions where I have not connected with his work. 13. THE NARROWS - 2004 It is because I love THE POET so much that this book is at the end of the list. When Mr. Connelly is at his best his works has the precision of a watchmaker. THE NARROWS just felt forced and not worthy of the intricacy of THE POET. 12. BLACK ICE - 1993 Second book. Third read. I thought the story was pretty flat. It has been well over a decade since I read this book, but the story of Mexican drug runner...
1 comment
Read more

The Very Best of Mr. Dennis Lehane

I thought this post would appear in October. Ya, know when SHUTTER ISLAND: THE MOVIE was supposed to be released. And then it wasn't. Something about Leo not being able to do 'press' for the movie. Doesn't really matter the reason, a February release date has one of those fancy Hollywood meanings: Not Good. Look I'll be honest, I didn't connect with SHUTTER ISLAND. I loved the fifties setting, the haunted house atmosphere, and impending doom of the Hurricane. Even the set-up of the story was intriguing but how it played out just didn't work for me. Some interesting characters, a bunch of great set pieces, but the ending announces itself with an expected, thud that went nowhere. Am I still going to the movie? Its Lehane, Scorsese, Leo, and Ruffalo of course I am. Anyway the list. 8. Prayers for Rain - 1999 The last Kenzie-Gennaro book follows our heroes as they investigate a guy who is terrorizing women into committing suicide. The book played like an episo...
4 comments
Read more

Small Mercies - The Return of Dennis Lehane

 A time honored tradition at The Hungry Detective HQ is to perform the twice annual, and largely ceremonial, 'Dennis Lehane New book 20XX" Google search. Nothing comes up on his long abandoned Website, except notification of the script work for his television and film projects.  Grousing aside, 2022 was a big year for Mr. Lehane. BLACK BIRD, a show he created, played on Apple+ to solid acclaim. The show's star, Paul Walter Hauser, won a Golden Globe. But despite that I have yet to watch it. Not for any other reason than I am a movie person more than a TV person. The TV I do watch is watched in an arcane order that is difficult to decipher and even more baffling to explain. Short story, I need to watch ANDOR [Editor's Note: Slow going on ANDOR despite everyone telling me it is amazing.] And then BLACK BIRD, or maybe SLOW HORSES. I'll get there...  Anyway at the dead end of 2022, I did the search. Found out he wrote a book. SMALL MERCIES . I was excited to hear it. I...
Post a Comment
Read more