Pastime

It had been a long spell since I’d read this entry in the Spenser canon, and while there are some great things about it, I found it less appealing this time around. The highlight, of course, is the expanding role of Vinnie in the Spenser world. Circumstances allow him to shift from being the dangerous right hand of Joe Broz, to the dangerous anti-hero when those circumstances force him to finally make the break from the gangster who has been almost like a father to him. It is the “almost” that comes into play here, and forces the split.

Yet there is far too little of that, and far too little of Linda Thomas, the woman across the way from Spenser in Valediction. She was in essence the turning point in this series, the exact moment show more where it became something different, and something less than it had been before. She was a breath of fresh air compared to the vain and pretentious Susan Silverman. With Susan Silverman finally out of the way, off fooling around with someone else, there was a moment in Valediction when many readers hoped that Spenser would drop Silverman like a bad habit. It would have moved both Spenser, and the series, away from Spenser’s smothering obsession with the insipid and undeserving Susan Silverman. But Parker extricated himself from that burgeoning relationship with Linda, and then came-a-runnin’ when the self-absorbed Silverman got herself in a terrible mess in A Catskill Eagle. They were back, more snobbish and devoted than ever, still too cool to get married, the depth and breadth of their love for Susan Silverman — “their” was no typo — more psychologically cloying than ever before.

I bring this up because in this book, Spenser does. Or rather Parker does. Because we learn much about Spenser’s past here, we also have a more wistful Spenser. In a return to the earlier books, he seems more aware of females other than Silverman in this one. And at least twice in Pastime, Spenser thinks briefly about Linda Thomas. As a reader, I almost felt that Parker was having some regrets about the literary decision which perhaps mirrored his own life. It would make sense, because Parker could not have been unaware of readers’ divided reactions about Silverman, and how he had hurt the series.

In a later entry in this fine series, Parker had Spenser himself finally own up to Susan Silverman’s terrible flaws, flaws which turned Spenser into something less than he might have been. He admits through Spenser’s ruminations that Spenser/Parker is not unaware of how vain and pretentious Susan Silverman is. Spenser just can’t do anything but accept it, however, because he loves her. He has too much invested in her. What Parker doesn’t say, and can't through Spenser's voice, is that in a literary sense he’s let the good ones get away, and it’s too late to go back. The die was cast. It reads almost as an apology to the reader.

In this story, I could feel the change in the series this time around. The series still had echoes of what it had been, but they were wistful echoes. Parker was a terrific writer, and even the post Catskill Eagle books are good reads — almost all of them, at least. But I felt the change here more than in some of the others. You can feel it becoming about THEM, the plots taking a back seat to Silverman, the center of Spenser’s world and existence. Even though this one is more about Spenser’s surrogate son, Paul, from Early Autumn, and there are some tremendously written action sequences in the woods, and the great stuff with Vinnie and Joe Broz, and Broz’s kid, I felt the mold hardening here, and so did Parker. And it was too late to do anything about it.

Paul needs to find his mother, if for no other reason than he needs to resolve some issues before he marries. But it turns out she’s hooked up with another sleaze-ball in a long line of them. And her new beau has run off with a ton of Joe Broz’s money. Broz’s feelings for his own son mirror Spenser’s for Paul. But Gerry isn’t cut out for Joe’s line of work, and things get ugly before there’s any resolution. In fact, it leads to the split by Vinnie from Joe, when it becomes clear that though he is the son Joe never had, he’ll never be Joe’s son. There are three rites of passage in this book — Paul’s, Gerry’s, and Vinnie’s.

There’s far too much psychobabble in this one — another Susan Silverman side effect — and far too little of the scenes with Vinnie and Broz. A lengthy and violent confrontation in the woods is good stuff, but it doesn’t quite elevate this one enough. It’s good, but you can feel the entrenching of patterns here. Pearl the wonder dog is introduced in this one. She is, of course, Susan’s dog, given to her by an ex-husband (lucky sod, he got away). Dogs are wonderful, you can’t not love them. But you just know Spenser’s going to end up doing the dog-walking, the feeding, and especially the cleaning up. Sort of the same thing he does for Susan Silverman. So as I turned the final page on this one, I had mixed feelings about the direction this series took. Maybe Parker did, too. show less

Read during Summer 2006

Another enjoyable and engrossing Spenser novel, this one with lots more Spenser background. I haven't read all of them so I don't know if this is the first time Spenser reveals some of his personal history but I'm guessing so. The mystery wasn't difficult to solve, it was much more about relationships and character and very well done at that. Once again, the sense of place was very real for me. I don't know if it resonates for non-Bostonians but it does for me.

Pastime is Robert B. Parker’s 18th novel featuring the mononymous Boston detective, Spenser (with an “s”). The mother of Paul Giacomin, Spenser’s young protégé, is missing, and Paul wants Spenser to help him find her. As is not unusual, Spenser’s client cannot afford a fee, but that won’t stop our hero. As usual, Spenser finds his woman, who turns out to be hardly worth the effort.

The book is interesting for Parker fans because it reveals much of Spenser’s early life and provides an explanation of how he got to be a good cook. I also like the interaction between Spenser and mafia don Joe Broz—it makes me wonder if Yugoslavia’s long time dictator [Josip Broz] Tito is turning over in his grave. This book is a typical show more (good) example of the many Spenser novels, a find companion on a long airplane flight or a brief respite from reading weightier tomes.

(JAB) show less

For readers accustomed to the minimalist, telegraphic prose of Robert B. Parker's later novels, reading 1991's Pastime may be a bit surprising. Space is actually given over to description (food, landscape, clothing), and protagonist Spenser reveals to girlfriend Susan aspects of his childhood and adolescence. (I see from Amazon.com that these very features are disliked by some reviewers, who want nothing but action and snappy dialogue. As Spenser would note, you can't please everybody.)

In Pastime, Spenser and Hawk help a young man locate his wayward mother, who has run off with a guy who has stolen money from the local mobsters. Spenser solves the missing person case easily enough, outwits the bad guys (killing a few in the process), show more and cleverly comes to an accomodation with the local crime boss. As with other Parker books, there are some exciting moments. Whether the pop psychology - laden conversations between Spenser and his girlfriend Susan are an asset is a matter of opinion. We also get to meet Pearl the dog, and hear how Hawk and Parker met.

Pastime is a light read, a novella of about 200 pages (not counting the 3 to 4 blank pages between each of the 34 chapters). There's nothing special here for non- Parker fans, but as a Pastime, reading it is harmless enough. show less

Synopsis: 'Ten years ago, Paul Giacomin’s corrupt father and loose mother used the boy as a pawn in their violent divorce; only Spenser could call them off and straighten out the troubled teen--almost getting killed in the process.

Now Paul is twenty-five, and reconciled to his mother’s wanton ways. But when Patty Giacomin vanishes, Paul begs Spenser to help him rescue her from the clutches of her boyfriend, a shady character who, he’s sure, coerced her into running off. As Spenser--accompanied by Paul, Susan Silverman, and the redoubtable Hawk--follows Patty’s trail to its astonishing conclusion, he is led back, through Paul’s own rites of passage, along the lanes of his own memories. The boy Spenser was and the man Paul must show more become race toward a confrontation that may break their hearts--and threaten their lives....' From Spenser Wiki

Review:
Paul's mom was and is an ass. Interesting look at how parents continue to impact their children's lives even though the child knows the parents' actions are hurtful. show less

In the 18th Spenser mystery by Robert Parker problems are somewhat solved and the bad guys are sort of defeated. Paul Giacomin, who is the closest thing Spenser has to a son, arrives with a problem. His mother has disappeared. Spenser does not like Patty, Paul's mother, at all. Ten years before Paul was in the middle of a big divorce fight between his parents. Spenser rescued him from his parents and gave Paul the parenting that he would never get otherwise. Patty, who is never without a man, has a new boyfriend who is in hot water with the local mobsters. This book is full of characters we have met in earlier Spenser novels. As always the dialog is great, especially between Spenser and his friend Hawk. The sentences are short, spare show more and believable. Do they find Paul's mother and how does Spenser handle the mobsters who want to kill Patty's new boyfriend Richard? If they find Patty and Richard where are they hiding? Hint; this story goes from one end of Massachusetts to the other. show less

The usual cracker. This time Spenser is looking for Paul Giacomin's mother, who has disappeared. In the process, he helps Paul work through the issues of Paul's past - and reveals rare detail about his own. Such lovely fun.