Candle #14: The Big Bounce

Chalk up another one...now done with Elmore Leonard's The Big Bounce. This is another book that just doesn't fit into my normal reading schedule. I've often seen Leonard's name & books listed as award winners from various years. I'd be surprised if I went back and looked at those lists and found this one had garnered any.

The two positive things I can say about this book are 1. It's done. I don't have to read any more and 2. At least now I can say I've tried Leonard. And just like those raw oysters on crackers that I tried once upon a time just so I could say I had....I can now honestly say: I don't care for Leonard's style and I won't be having any more, thank you. Slimy on the way down. Down and dirty. Mean and gritty. Crazy young people on the edges of some kind of personality disorder--firing guns, breaking and entering, and shooting people for the heck of it. This is a book where you are not rooting for the main characters, and, by golly, I wanted them to get caught. Or possibly worse. The plot just doesn't grab me (actually, was there a plot & I just missed it?) and the violence and language seem a bit gratuitous to me. One star out of five on Visual Bookshelf.

Someone on Visual Bookshelf mentions that this isn't Leonard's strongest offering. All I can say is if his stronger offerings are anything like this one, then, as mentioned, I won't be having any more, thank you. And I don't believe I'll give any more a try just to find out. As I've mentioned before, there are way too many books that I want to read and way too little time. No need for another detour. Actually, there's one more positive thing I can say: The book gave me another candle on my Birth Year Reading Challenge. So thank you, Elmore Leonard, for that.