A Fine Dark Line

Lansdale è probabilmente il più geniale rimasticatore della letteratura americana, persin più geniale del Re, che pure in questo senso non scherza.
E infatti La sottile linea scura non è altro che una rimasticatura de Il buio oltre la siepe, più un bel po' di altre cosette, compreso Via col Vento.
Eppure, nonostante l'orecchio addestrato riesca a riconoscere le fonti, quello che ne viene fuori è un romanzo originale e bellissimo, con i personaggi che emergono vivi e veri, la paura che fa sudare e un prorompente, irriverente umorismo.

Nel filone delle riletture Lansdale occupa un posto d'onore.

Rilassa, diverte e illustra come si puo' parlare di cose semplici con passione e una verve di affabulatore che non si distribuisce cosi' diffusamente, in questo mondo di scrittori snob che affollano gli scaffali. Lansdale è ruspante come un hamburger alla piastra, e vero come una costola rotta.

Questo testo divide il mondo in buoni e cattivi, e i cattivi non vincono. I buoni, tuttavia, non vincono con la forza, ma con la fortuna, con l'intelligenza e col sorriso, e dopo il mondo e' piu' bello. Io sto spesso meglio, dopo aver letto un racconto cosi'.

Absolutely superb. May be Lansdale's best: has real heart and warmth, which shine through the much-reduced trademark violence, profanity, zany plotting and darker-than-a-black-cat-in-a-coalmine-at-midnight-humour. According to his blog, he has just finished a YA novel, and I very much look forward to it.

Joe R. Lansdale's "A Fine Dark Line" is a coming-of-age mystery novel set in small town, 1950s, Texas. The story is narrated by thirteen-year-old Stanley Mitchel Jr., who finds a small tin box full of old letters which sets him on the path of a past murder mystery.

To be honest though, the moment you see Joe R. Lansdale on the cover, you can know the story will be worth the price of admission.

Lansdale just has a knack for not only a well turned phrase or metaphor, but for building characters that are endearing and foibled.

A Fine Dark Line by Joe R. Lansdale – Lansdale is a terrific story teller who develops wonderfully unique, fascinating, and realistic characters with lots of human baggage to reveal. This amazing story takes place in the late 1950s and focuses on a thirteen-year-old boy, Stanley, who lives in a house with a drive-in-movie-screen on one of its exterior walls. Stan lives with his parents and his older sister and helps his father with the drive-in theater. However, Stan becomes fascinated with the unsolved murders of two sisters from a wealthy family that happened some years ago. He pursues the truth about the murders and the reader is treated to a diverse group of East-Texas characters that Lansdale weaves together with an environment show more of interracial traditions and tensions. Lansdale’s characters include some who are endearing with loving and caring behaviors, and some who are despicable with intolerant and ruthless behaviors. He also provides a satisfying amount of gripping suspense. I enjoyed every page of this wonderful novel. show less

If you handed me a A Fine Dark Line> without telling me the author, I still would have known it was a Joe R. Lansdale work with the first page or so. In his distinctive style, Lansdale weaves a story of a young boy living in 1950s Texas and some past events that come back to haunt the then present. Race and hypocrisy plays a large part, as they are wont to do.

That was a fine coming of age in the 1950s book. It's lovely to believe that there was a time when a kid could be innocent and have working ears and eyes. OTOH, I grew up in the 1960s/70s and I'm not sure it was ever possible.

But, Lansdale fills in corners nicely. The characters are stereotypical and the plot is route. If you buy into it, it's because you want to. It's fun to do that sometimes.