The Rubber Band

A killing 40 years ago, an arranged escape, and a debt to the arrangers leads to Nero Wolfe. ( )

One of the best Wolfes. Good fun and an actual mystery that you can figure out! ( )

This 3rd Nero Wolfe novel was published in 1936. It was my introduction into the writings of Rex Stout. I was mightily impressed with his powers of prose!

I found Archie's early twentieth century lingo to be at times a bit puzzling, though charming. The attitudes of Archie and Wolfe towards the shallow Clara Fox I found refreshing. You simply, in postmodern times, cannot speak truths to, of, or on women—it is forbidden, a societal blasphemy to acknowledge any flaws or differences in any gender other than the male, the Homer Simpson. .

I am glad such femi-nazism did not exist in this novel. What statements were made by Archie and Wolfe about Ms. Fox were apt and insightful observations into her true character. Postmodern society would hang Stout for creating such a realistic woman. It is not by chance that Nero Wolf is not on PBS, yet the feminine female creation that is Hercule Poirot... is. And yet, I love Poirot as well as Christie, who hated her Poirot (telling, isn't it?).

To further my point, Stout has not created a sexist stereotype with Clara Fox. Clara Fox is anything but weak. She is strong-willed, dauntless, and knows exactly what she wants. Wolfe and Archie realize that what she yearns for is shallow—to be an adventuress—to seek out the security of a man. Her methodology in this and her task to secure her father's debt owed are inept and puerile. For this reason, Wolfe, Archie, and myself find Ms. Clara Fox repulsive, though we may gaze at her flesh admiringly (I myself, can only imagine).

I suspect that the reason for Wolfe's harsh judgment to the natural characteristics inherent to women is something that I must learn of upon further reading.

As for my judgment of the character of Nero Wolfe—I find him fascinating! An eccentric homebody who has created a intimate and exclusive universe filled with books, orchids, beer, good food, good company—a fat demigod who oversees the destiny of men from on high, even able to hold the "dicks" at bay. God bless the dear Inspector Cramer.

I am most most impressed with Nero's manner of speech. Unlike the hip, slang-wielder Archie, Wolfe's language is a beautiful and complex flow of ratiocination accentuated with searing comicality. Archie is quite witty himself, in a streetwise, Dickens' Sam Weller sort of way. Quite a nice contrast of intelligence between Wolfe and sidekick Archie.

I also found Wolfe's entourage multifarious and "satisfactory" in service: Cook, Fritz Brenner; Orchid expert, Theodore Horstmann; the 3 "teers", Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin, and Orrie Cather; also, the freelance operative Johnny Keems. Wolfe's household just gives one that warm tingly feeling inside! Maybe it's the American lager!

I certainly will be reading more Rex Stout novels. Superlative! ( )

One of the weaker Stout's in my opinion. The overdependence on crude stereotyping may not have been as obvious at the time as it in now, but the flimsiness of the "solution" and the dependence on everyone acting like an idiot make it hard to enjoy even if the dependence on crude (in the sense of uninformed) stereotypes is ignored. ( )

In the third Nero Wolfe novel you can see Rex Stout hitting his stride. Although I spotted the culprit very early on, catching the same clue that Wolfe did, this was a better “puzzle” than the two earlier novels and the characters for this story were better delineated so there was no problem keeping them straight. His continuing characters are starting to settle into their recognizable selves that will appear in the later novels. Saul Panzer has risen definitely to be the leading detective in Wolfe’s arsenal and Fred Durkin makes a typical Durkin mistake by thinking instead of calling in for instructions. However, although Orrrie Cather is mentioned the roll he plays in later novels seems to be filed by Johnny Keems in this novel. Inspector Cramer is becoming feistier and he now chews his cigar instead of smoking a pipe; Purley Stebbins is with homicide squad but not yet Cramer’s aide. I didn’t realize that Lt. Rowcliff appeared so early in the series, but he leads a team with a search warrant for Wolfe’s residence looking for Wolfe’s client. I love the ingenious way they hide her in the plant room. Dr. Volmer has become Doc Volmer but the lawyer that Wolfe uses is called Henry H. Barber rather than Nathanial Parker. It’s fun reading the earlier novels to see how Stout developed his series. ( )