The protagonist of this American short story is the private detective Richard Dick. Dick has been hired by Montague Johnson, an onion farmer of Georgia, to take a look at Barbie Fritzweller who is supposed to be a witch. Richard Dick does not believe in witches, however, so he seems to be more interested in Montague´s ravishing girlfriend, Savannah Periwinkle.
Of course excellent writers can make first-person narrators just as credible and interesting as the third-person protagonist, but Richard Dick struck me as a rather flat character. The female characters were marginally better, but even in a short story I expect more than this.
This humorous fairy tale takes place around Halloween. Soon read – soon forgotten, and as it was only fourteen pages, I didn´t mind too much reading it on the screen.
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11 kommentarer:
A humorous fairy story - sounds promising. I'm no fan of short stories but this may well prove the exception. Thanks for the recommendation Dorte.
Tracy: well, as long as you can accept that the characters don´t have much depth.
Dorte - I know exactly what you mean about characters not having much depth. There are ways, even in short stories, to round characters out. You yourself do it quite well. Oh, well, as you say, fourteen pages wasn't too long...
That's about the maximum I want to read on a computer screen too - I feel quite differently about the eInk screen on my eReader which is much more like paper (it's got no backlight and is not as bright as the average computer screen).
If you want to give a full eBook a go at no cost you can sign up for free review books at netgalley.com - you'd have to read in PDF format on screen of course but it might give you more of an idea and it would be free (so far I have only asked for 2 books and was given both of them within a couple of days)
Margot: I read it out of curiosity, and it confirmed my suspicion that it´s wiser to buy some of the books you people recommend in our FriendFeed room :D
Bernadette: great idea! I have signed up and requested my first two crime novels!
I'm not a huge short story fan either. It was an inexpensive read, so no loss there.
Short enough to read comfortably on the computer!
Beth: short stories *can* be excellent, and first-person narrators *can* be exciting; in my opinion it just doesn´t happen this time.
I can't get past his name. I've actually known a "Dick Richard". I wonder (in this story) if his friends call him Dick. Then he'd be "Dick Dick". Also, he's a private eye, which back in the day was referred to as a private dick.
I went to school with a guy with the last name Kelly. My friends use to tease that if we married I'd be Kelly Kelly.
Sorry....I'm easily entertained today.
I really liked the title - it's very catchy. I don't often read short stories and keep thinking I should - I used to devour the stories in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine when I was a teen.
Belle: as long as you read, I don´t know there is any ´should´ when it comes to short stories. I rarely read them for my own sake - it´s like having a radish when you wanted a steak ;D
Kelly: I am sure his name is supposed to be a joke.
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