The Distinction Between
The difference between being fired and being laid off is a forty eight hour grace period after the fact. Being laid off is a collective experience while being fired is singular. After two days the distinction blurs: either way the job is gone. The Philly Inquirer just laid off a substantial percentage of its staff. In 10 years there will be no distinction between news and entertainment a line already blurred by television’s fashionista sensibility.
Janet Maslin wrote a review of THE BLADE ITSELF in the NYT ( go, Marcus Sakey.) I cringed a little before reading because I’m reading the book, because crime fiction in the Times is there to be mugged like a tourist in Midtown. Well, she did a good job with a book that doesn’t lend itself to easy review. Maslin dissects the story structure and the inherent problem of suspense at the cost of believability. Then she wonders about the author’s voice.
THE BLADE ITSELF is a commercial novel. The only distinction between commercial and literary fiction is emphasis; Marcus Sakey emphasizes suspense. If he hadn’t this book would still be a manuscript. Maslin makes a point about the author’s voice, a bit of Lehane ( Mystic River), a dash of Pelecanos ( I didn’t see that) and of course a dollop of Elmore Leonard with James Ellmore for good measure. This is where her review becomes a shopping list cadged from web site references and the author’s homage to the greats. If a crime novel has dialogue someone will mention Elmore Leonard. This has all the class of a lay-off notice.
THE BLADE ITSELF is a reference to Homer’s observation that “the blade itself incites to violence.” Since no one in the novel hotboxes their smokes I see no Pelecanos derivation, but there are neo-classical references to Aristotle’s POETICS. That’s outrageous.