For this year's 2021 Back to the Classics Challenge - choose a twentieth century classic - I went with Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett published 1929 and to cut to the chase in no way can I recommend this novel. No plot, no characterization, rival gangs gunning each other down on every other page, what was the author thinking?
I ask because Dashiell Hammett is a major twentieth century writer. Along with Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain he pretty much invented hard boiled crime fiction. Hammett is the author of such classics as The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man and what attracted me to him is that I had read one of his short stories many years ago and it was excellent. And so maybe the problem with Red Harvest is that it was his first novel.
I should add at this point that over at Amazon.com, Red Harvest has received 392 reviewers, the majority of which are 4 and 5 stars. I don't get it but as with The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner, I am probably missing something. Therefore, I will definitely be reading more from Dashiell Hammett, maybe the Maltese Falcon, and I will put the Red Harvest experience behind me.
Well, I won't be adding this one to my TBR list. Sorry it was so bad. :(
ReplyDeleteHi Lark, I felt a bit guilty giving such a bad review. I owe Dashiell Hammett another read. Maybe The Maltese Falcon. I'll let you know what I think.
DeleteI don't know that you are missing anything. Its often a question of taste, right?
ReplyDeleteI've only read The Maltese Falcon which I liked OK, thought I don’t remember what happened in it actually. Hard boiled crime fiction isn’t really my favorite sub-genre. I have read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, which I liked, but the plot seemed ultimately a little beside the point; like it was all about the style more than the story.
I have enjoyed the two novels that I’ve read by James M. Cain (The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity) because the stories do hold together and the hard-boiled style is there as well.
Hi Ruthiella, I've been telling myself I enjoy hard-boiled mysteries but maybe what I really mean is that I like Lawrence Block. I am a big fan of his Matthew Scudder series and I also like his stand alone novels from the early 1960's. But even with Block, not every series he's written is as good as the Scudder series. Will try out James M Cain. I have always been curious about what the book version of Double Indemnity would be like.
DeleteThat makes sense about Lawrence Block. I used to think I loved "Victorian Literature" but eventually realized I loved novels by Dickens and Trollope - but not every book published in England during that era. LOL
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