One of my goals in 2020 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.
I always keep my eye out for books set in my favorite cities. The Long Legged Fly by James Sallis always makes in onto lists of books set in New Orleans.
I had tried to buy this book second hand several years ago, but it never showed up to my house! When I started my 2020 reading highs, I decided it was time to try to get another copy.
Lew Griffin may have his ups and down, but throughout his life he tried to fight the good fight and stand up for the downtrodden and forgotten.
I thought this book was really interesting. I’ve had some time to separate from it, between reading and writing this review. I think that is good, bc where when I first read it I had very strong feelings, they have mellowed a bit and I’ve decided that I did like this book. The first chapter is absolutely shocking and gripping. But perhaps after starting in such a graphic and astonishing manner, the rest of the book can’t help but be a bit less intense. This book follows Griffin, a PI, from the 60s to the 90s through many changes in his life, and many cases he has had. It was interesting to have a story that was told over many years, and to see those years change our main character. My biggest issue with this book was that the main character is a black man, but written by a white author and Lew Griffin never felt completely believable as a person. Similarly, this book is set in New Orleans (which is why I initially picked it up), but it seems like the author only knows a few things about New Orleans. In short, this book left me feeling like the author was trying to hard to write about things they had no actual experience of, and therefore the book fell short. Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, the things that stuck out the most, and that I liked, were Griffin’s (failed) relationships with people and how he interacted with the world. He was often a passive character but one who’s inactions moved his life along as much as his actions. I hesitate to say I would recommend this book based on it’s flaws.
Have you read this book? What were your thoughts?