John D. Macdonalds Prose

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

MacDonald was a popular hard case crime writer, and prolific. Yet his sentences rub me the wrong way, and I don't like his writing, tho I cant find any faults with it.

I wanna compare his stuff to writers I like, to see whazzup.

 

[49greg]

I like his stories, started reading the Travis McGee stories in the early 70s when I was in the Army. Still have paperbacks of all of them, collected in the 90s from used book stories.

But yeah, sometimes he goes on and on with the internal dialog. I think he would have done better with third person. I haven't read one in a year or so (about time I started again), but I remember them all as narratives of said T. McGee, sharing his every thought about everything.

Even in "Quick's the word, sharps the action" types of situation, he tells you how someone or other showed him how to do whatever had to be done. Be it a Cuban exile, Secret policeman, Marine instructor, Mafia hit man, etc etc, Travis breaks the narrative with full bio of the person, and details of where and why said person told Travis how do whatever he had to do. Then he tells about how he did it.

Interesting, and it never puts me off the story, but sometimes I just want to yell, "Enough already, just throw the damn tomahawk and tell me it hit where you wanted it to."

On the other hand, the internal dialog, happens with me as I do something, just without words, and instantly.

I've only read one non McGee book of MacDonald's, and didn't care for it. Can't even remember the Title.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

My book is an early non McGee book. The prose doesn't flow well. The story is okay it simply doesn't read well. I switched to a Jim Thompson story I hate, and it reads well, ditto a Charles Willeford novel. The MacDonald is like driving a bad road.

 

[Dianthus]

My book is an early non McGee book. The prose doesn't flow well. The story is okay it simply doesn't read well. I switched to a Jim Thompson story I hate, and it reads well, ditto a Charles Willeford novel. The MacDonald is like driving a bad road.

I'd be interested to know which title you're reading, James.

IMHO MacDonald got better with age and practice; his early works felt like a template and maybe they were. He started out in pulp fiction, churning out the short stories that fed magazines.

I thought his science-fiction never got as much attention as it deserved. He had some interesting ideas.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

As 49Greg said, his Travis McGee novels were a staple of mine when I was growing up. I couldn't get my hands on them quick enough. I now own the entire collection of them as e-books.

His and Robert Parker are of a similar style. The Jesse Stone stores are a favorite.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'd be interested to know which title you're reading, James.

IMHO MacDonald got better with age and practice; his early works felt like a template and maybe they were. He started out in pulp fiction, churning out the short stories that fed magazines.

I thought his science-fiction never got as much attention as it deserved. He had some interesting ideas.

BULLET FOR CINDERELLA

I cant relate to Robert Parker.

 

[Dianthus]

As 49Greg said, his Travis McGee novels were a staple of mine when I was growing up. I couldn't get my hands on them quick enough. I now own the entire collection of them as e-books.

His and Robert Parker are of a similar style. The Jesse Stone stores are a favorite.

Parker's style evolved into a sparse, dialogue-driven, barely-three-pages-per-chapter thing of (imho) beauty.

MacDonald kept the inner monologue and purple-prose exposition right up to the end.

BULLET FOR CINDERELLA

I cant relate to Robert Parker.

So, still his early work. I would be very interested in your take on something later, like Condominium.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

SAMPLES

Hammett, Dashiell. AFRAID OF A GUN
Owen Sack turned from the stove as the door of his cabin opened to admit ‘Rip’ Yust, and with the hand that did not hold the coffeepot Owen Sack motioned hospitably toward the table, where food steamed before a ready chair. “Hullo, Rip! Set down and go to it

Goodis, David The Blue Sweetheart
THICK sticky heat came gushing from the Indian Ocean, closed in on Ceylon, and it seemed to Clayton that he was the sole target. He sat at the bar of a joint called Kroner’s on the Colombo waterfront, and tried vainly to cool himself with gin and ice. It was Saturday night and the place was mobbed, and most of them needed baths. Clayton told himself if he didn’t get out soon, he’d suffocate. But he knew he couldn’t walk out. If he walked out, he’d be killed.

MacDonald, John D. A Bullet for Cinderella
A steady April rain was soaking the earth. It hadn't been bad to drive through until dusk came. In the half − light it was hard to see the road. The rain was heavy enough to reflect my headlights back against the windshield. My mileage on the speedometer told me I couldn't be very far from Hillston.

Powell, Talmage. Corpus Delectable
She was late. She’d been a musical voice on the telephone identifying herself as one Jean Putnam. The music had been overlaid with strain and urgency when she’d asked for an immediate appointment.

Chase, James Hadley The Dead Stay Dumb
There were three of them. The bigness of the room hid them from the sun, burning up the road outside. They sat round a table, close to the bar, drinking corn whisky.

Cain, Paul Fast One:
Kells walked north on Spring. At Fifth he turned west, walked two blocks, turned into a small cigar store. He nodded to the squat bald man behind the counter and went on through the ground-glass-paneled door into a large and bare back room.

Willeford, Charles. High Priest of California
I slipped a dollar under the wicket and a sullen-lipped cashier asked me for a penny. “You’re making the change,” I told her.

She gave me the ticket and four pennies and I bounded up the stairs. The man on the door tried to mark my wrist with a blue stamp, but I dodged it. It was one of those dance halls where men come to pick up something, and women come to be picked up. I was there because I was bored. I looked around.

Spillane, Mickey. I, the Jury
I shook the rain from my hat and walked into the room. Nobody said a word. They stepped back politely and I could feel their eyes on me. Pat Chambers was standing by the door to the bedroom trying to steady Myrna. The girl’s body was racking with dry sobs. I walked over and put my arms around her.

Hitt, Orrie. The Lady is a Lush
IT HAD begun to rain when I left Andersonville. Now, a hundred and fifty miles south, the stuff was sheeting down. The windshield wipers on the big tractor were doing a good job but the lights seemed dim on the ribbon of concrete up ahead. I wondered if it was just the murky night or if I was going

Goodis, David. Night Squad.
At 11:20 a fairly well-dressed boozehound came staggering out of a bootleg-whiskey joint on Fourth Street. It was a Friday night in mid-July and the humid heat was like a wave of steaming black syrup confronting the boozehound. He walked into it and bounced off and braced himself to make another try. A moment later something hit him on the head and he sagged slowly and arrived on the pavement flat on his face.

Brewer, Gil. With This Gun— Detective Tales MARCH 1951
It didn’t seem possible that Joan could talk me into a thing like this. There was a tightness in my throat as the wind lashed through the night off the Gulf, showering sand on the porch. Time passed too slowly.

Chandler, Raymond. THE BIG SLEEP
It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved, and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

AND MY FAVORITE......

Willeford, Charles. WOMAN CHASER

START HERE.

 

[49greg]

As 49Greg said, his Travis McGee novels were a staple of mine when I was growing up. I couldn't get my hands on them quick enough. I now own the entire collection of them as e-books.

His and Robert Parker are of a similar style. The Jesse Stone stores are a favorite.

I learned about Jesse Stone by the TV Movies with Tom Selleck, from there I went to the books. I haven't yet read all the books, but I do love the ones I have. Hmmm, I'm due to get a new Kindle book, I might just get one of those.