Saturday, August 8, 2015

Go Set a Watchman; The Cartel

Like most people, I was quite excited when I first heard that Harper Lee had finally consented to have another one of her books published. After reading so much about her over the years, and her adamant assertions that she would publish nothing else while living, I assumed I would have to wait for the sad day of her death. But then the details of *how* this book came to be emerged, and I got an icky feeling about not only the content but about Ms. Lee being taken advantage of. Nevertheless, I wanted to read it, because I did enjoy "Mockingbird" so much.
The first two-thirds or so were good. I can see why her publisher wanted her to write a different book from Scout's point of view: the best parts are the childhood flashbacks. Her humor is dead on sharp and her Southern sarcasm is so thick as to smother you, which I enjoyed. But then the last third of the book became a lecture on race relations in the South, and when I finished the book I realized there was no story. No plot. Nothing happened. It just was. I really hope this doesn't destroy people's love of "To Kill a Mockingbird", and make them think less of Harper Lee as a writer. Clearly if she was in her full capacity this book wouldn't have seen the light of day. If you read it for what it is, a draft, unfinished, unpolished, then it's okay, but if you're expecting greatness, you'll be disappointed.

I loved "The Cartel" by Don Winslow. Wow, what a ride. It takes place over about a decade and dives into the drug wars in North America. Keller is determined to get Adan Berrera, and the drug kingpin is imprisoned, but allowed to escape by a corrupt government and Keller spends the next ten years or so trying to hunt and bring him down. Winslow does an excellent job of highlighting the pointless, ugly brutality of drug violence and the utter hopelessness and pointlessness of trying to fight these insanely wealthy and well connected criminals. It was so good.

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