Mon 17 May 2010
Reviewed by LJ Roberts: ROBERT B. PARKER – The Godwulf Manuscript.
Posted by Steve under Reviews1 Comment
Reviews by L. J. Roberts
ROBERT B. PARKER – The Godwulf Manuscript. Houghton Mifflin, hardcover, 1973. Reprint paperback: Berkley, 1975. Reprinted many times.
Genre: Private eye. Series character: Spenser, 1st in series. Setting: Boston.
First Sentence: The office of the university president looked like the front parlor of a successful Victorian whorehouse.
Boston PI Spenser (with an “s” like the poet) has been hired by a university president to recover a 14th century illuminated manuscript.
He is directed to a SCARE, the Student committee Against Capitalist Exploitation and Terry Orchard, one of the members, whom he finds along with her aggressive boyfriend, Dennis. Spenser receives a 2 a.m. call and finds Terry drugged. Dennis dead and the evidence of a professional hit.
I’ve not read this book since the 1970s and it is an interesting cultural look back. I am very happy fashions have changed away from white vinyl boots and leisure suits and that technology has advanced from mimeographs and typewriters. But as silly as some of the slang sounds today, at least it wasn’t as profane as today’s speech.
It is also interesting looking at Spenser in his later 30s. He still thought he was funnier than anyone else did. This is a pre-Hawk, pre-Susan Spencer. As annoying as Susan can be, the one thing she did bring to the series was Spenser’s monogamy.
What hasn’t changed is his doggedness, determination to see the case through, dedication to the innocent and his cooking. I am always amazed that he has just the right ingredients in his kitchen to make a wonderful meal.
Those are the little things. What Parker did extremely well was description, dialogue and plot. With a very few words, you knew where you were and the other characters in the scene. He often employed analogies — “The wet wool smelled like a grammar room coatroom.” — which put you right into his scene.
His dialogue, even with the slang of the period, was always tight, crisp and real. As to plot, the story started a bit light and annoying. However, once it took hold, it hit its stride and I was completely engrossed. Re-reading this very first book makes it clear as to why I have read every other book Parker wrote.
Rating: Very Good.
May 17th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
This was when the Spenser books were more about the relation of plot and Spenser’s character and less about the mythology of Spenser, Susan, and Hawk.
Not that Parker was ever less than an entertaining writer, but somewhere along the way it all reached a level of predictability that ceased to surprise me. I kept meaning to pick them up again and try to reclaim the way I felt about them at the beginning, but that didn’t happen.
I think its yet another example of a writer that gets dropped from your reading list for no real reason.
But I will always think of those early Spenser’s with great affection because they were a breath of fresh air and gave the genre a real kick it needed. Come to think of it a Parker is probably what the private eye genre needs now — that kind of new voice that seems able to say something familiar in a way no one has said it before.