Thom reviewed Painter by Peter Heller
Review of 'Painter' on 'Goodreads'
1 star
Essentially a crime novel from the criminal's perspective. The protagonist is a passionate man, with large passions in everything he does - painting, fishing, and his temper. He is described as looking like Hemingway, and perhaps this caricature is the author's goal. Most chapters start off normal and end up in a passionate rush towards something - like a roller coaster out of control.
The style was choppy also, and really didn't work for me. There is a vast gulf between the spare writing of Hemingway and this sparse but unrefined novel. Moral questions have simple answers, the villains are caricatures of bad (then misunderstood) men. Even the detective is paper thin, providing sparse investigation and moral excuses for the main character. While I can safely say I didn't see the ending coming, in hindsight it was the obvious solution.
Read this as part of "Seattle Reads", taking this book …
Essentially a crime novel from the criminal's perspective. The protagonist is a passionate man, with large passions in everything he does - painting, fishing, and his temper. He is described as looking like Hemingway, and perhaps this caricature is the author's goal. Most chapters start off normal and end up in a passionate rush towards something - like a roller coaster out of control.
The style was choppy also, and really didn't work for me. There is a vast gulf between the spare writing of Hemingway and this sparse but unrefined novel. Moral questions have simple answers, the villains are caricatures of bad (then misunderstood) men. Even the detective is paper thin, providing sparse investigation and moral excuses for the main character. While I can safely say I didn't see the ending coming, in hindsight it was the obvious solution.
Read this as part of "Seattle Reads", taking this book along with me on 10 days in Europe. I liked this considerably less than [b:The Dog Stars|13330761|The Dog Stars|Peter Heller|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388122817s/13330761.jpg|18538203], and found it a chore to finish.