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feloniousfunk's review against another edition
1.0
Came across this at a used bookstore and figured I'd read it before watching the Robert Clouse-directed adaptation. I like crime novels, I've been looking forward to seeing the movie, this is a breezy 180ish pages, what could go wrong?
Well.
Maybe it's a question of the changing times. For all I know this book was very progressive and even-handed in its treatment of the sex trade, women, and people of color. Perhaps the sexualization of every woman that shows up, the incredibly uncomfortable descriptions of everyone who isn't white, the slurs, the devaluing of sex workers, all were incredibly tame compared to other crime novels of the era.
Reading today though, it's a chore to get through. I can't remember a time where I felt more disgusted while reading a book; it's why it took me two weeks to read something i could have finished in two days. The characters express some absolutely putrid views about the world, and women in particular, and they're held up as virtuous. You get the impression that John MacDonald absolutely considered himself "one of the good ones", even as he happily types up a scene where a black character proves how smart she is by not using AAVE and dismissing the idea of integration.
Even putting the moral objections aside - a tall order - the prose is tough to read. There are many long passages going to minute detail about things that have no direct or indirect influence on the story, and do little to give shading to the character of Travis McGhee. Long paragraphs with no breaks are used to describe the action. What's meant to be read as poetic comes off as faux-intellectual. I constantly found myself gliding over huge chunks of text.
The second i read the last word, i threw the book across the room. Truly hated this. Hope the movie excises the worst aspects and... well, invents some good ones, because they won't be from here.
Well.
Maybe it's a question of the changing times. For all I know this book was very progressive and even-handed in its treatment of the sex trade, women, and people of color. Perhaps the sexualization of every woman that shows up, the incredibly uncomfortable descriptions of everyone who isn't white, the slurs, the devaluing of sex workers, all were incredibly tame compared to other crime novels of the era.
Reading today though, it's a chore to get through. I can't remember a time where I felt more disgusted while reading a book; it's why it took me two weeks to read something i could have finished in two days. The characters express some absolutely putrid views about the world, and women in particular, and they're held up as virtuous. You get the impression that John MacDonald absolutely considered himself "one of the good ones", even as he happily types up a scene where a black character proves how smart she is by not using AAVE and dismissing the idea of integration.
Even putting the moral objections aside - a tall order - the prose is tough to read. There are many long passages going to minute detail about things that have no direct or indirect influence on the story, and do little to give shading to the character of Travis McGhee. Long paragraphs with no breaks are used to describe the action. What's meant to be read as poetic comes off as faux-intellectual. I constantly found myself gliding over huge chunks of text.
The second i read the last word, i threw the book across the room. Truly hated this. Hope the movie excises the worst aspects and... well, invents some good ones, because they won't be from here.
atarbett's review against another edition
3.0
Okay, setting aside the casual racism and sexism (which you kind of have to... it was first published in the 60's), the mystery or crime or con or whatever you want to call it just fell flat for me. It was far too easy and they were never in any real danger or had any unexpected complications.
I hate when things come together that easily.
And the sexism in this one really bothered me. So it's not my favorite of these books.
I hate when things come together that easily.
And the sexism in this one really bothered me. So it's not my favorite of these books.
markfeltskog's review against another edition
I liked this book, but I like all of the thoughtful and passionate reviews it has animated in this forum even more than the novel itself.
lovelifeandbeyond's review
2.0
Meh! Story wasn't anything to write home about. Just a self declared hero trying to get the bad guys behind bars while making a tiny profit, and giving us a little peek in the dark world of sex workers.
genej101's review
5.0
The first book in which Meyer has a significant role. Great read as are all of John D. MacDonald's books.
yaj's review
5.0
A chance encounter causes the hero infiltrates a complex and deadly con game in one of the better Travis McGee novels. I liked the details of the con game and how each of the supporting characters was their own person with their own motivations and personality, and the bittersweetness of the ending.
quirkycynic's review
2.0
I get that these Travis McGee books are products of their time, and I have managed to not be too bothered by the questionable gender politics for the other installments of the series I've read so far because those were pretty fine escapist adventures.
But I had a lot harder of a time with this one. This time I really did get kind of peeved at the incredulously long passages of narration in which McGee seems to be reciting a personal philosophy about women that reads as if it came straight from a pickup artist blog. John D. MacDonald and Ian Fleming seem to share a lot of commonalities in this regard, in that they are both amazingly outspoken and wrong in their incredibly shallow observations about the female race. McGee, however, is a lot less shameful than James Bond in his opinions about women, who to him usually fall into either the categories of "whores" or "frigids who need a good dicking to become full human beings again".
As I've already said, I still can overlook dated attitudes if the book is entertaining (I'm a lifelong fan of crime fiction for god's sake). But Darker Than Amber really just didn't hook me like the other books did. A lot of it is MacDonald's writing, which had previously been clean and zippy in that old-fashioned pulpy kind of way in his other books, but which here suddenly reads like concrete -- there were so many times that I totally lost the plot of what was going on, who was who, why McGee was doing what he was doing, or what the hell anything meant at all since he seems to have abandoned clarity for the purposes of literary stylistic obfuscation. I just didn't enjoy it. There were a couple of times I was ready to stop reading out of boredom but only forced myself to keep going because the damn thing is only 170 pages.
So if the rest of the books in the series from hereon in are like this, I just don't know if I want to give any more of them a chance, especially if I know that I'll definitely never be in the McGee cult like so many other readers I'd probably never like to run into in person.
But I had a lot harder of a time with this one. This time I really did get kind of peeved at the incredulously long passages of narration in which McGee seems to be reciting a personal philosophy about women that reads as if it came straight from a pickup artist blog. John D. MacDonald and Ian Fleming seem to share a lot of commonalities in this regard, in that they are both amazingly outspoken and wrong in their incredibly shallow observations about the female race. McGee, however, is a lot less shameful than James Bond in his opinions about women, who to him usually fall into either the categories of "whores" or "frigids who need a good dicking to become full human beings again".
As I've already said, I still can overlook dated attitudes if the book is entertaining (I'm a lifelong fan of crime fiction for god's sake). But Darker Than Amber really just didn't hook me like the other books did. A lot of it is MacDonald's writing, which had previously been clean and zippy in that old-fashioned pulpy kind of way in his other books, but which here suddenly reads like concrete -- there were so many times that I totally lost the plot of what was going on, who was who, why McGee was doing what he was doing, or what the hell anything meant at all since he seems to have abandoned clarity for the purposes of literary stylistic obfuscation. I just didn't enjoy it. There were a couple of times I was ready to stop reading out of boredom but only forced myself to keep going because the damn thing is only 170 pages.
So if the rest of the books in the series from hereon in are like this, I just don't know if I want to give any more of them a chance, especially if I know that I'll definitely never be in the McGee cult like so many other readers I'd probably never like to run into in person.
darwin8u's review
3.0
“We were about to give up and call it a night when somebody threw the girl off the bridge.”
― John D. MacDonald, Darker Than Amber
A straight forward John D. MacDonald. If you can surrender to him calling one of the characters a "b!tch" with the same indulgent tenderness you give to a racist uncle or to Dire Straits when they use "f@ggot" in their song 'Money for Nothing', you will certainly survive a certain 60s to early 80s machismo/sexism thing that MacDonald carries throughout his McGee books (like a mild, itchy STD). This objectification and mild hostility, however, sometimes does distract from his clear prose, his fantastic dialogue, and intriguing plot.
This book starts with a woman thrown off a bridge and rescued by McGee and Meyer, his economist friend and drinking buddy. The rescue of a drowning damsel charts the direction of this book as McGee and Meyer engage their unique skill sets to revenge, salvage, and make the world safe again for all the bachelors of Florida.
The redeeming thing about these novels is McGee is an imperfect character similar to other great noir heroes (Spade, Marlowe, etc), but he also seems aware of his many faults and tends to take a fairly cynical view of the world he operates in. These novels explore and expose (intentionally and often unintentionally) many of the tropes and traps of the late 20th-century that made a generation grow up without a sense of honor, obligation, or outrage. Sometimes the world needs to be set straight by an angry, yet romantic bachelor on a boat fighting for nobel causes in between stints of drinking on his boat.
― John D. MacDonald, Darker Than Amber
A straight forward John D. MacDonald. If you can surrender to him calling one of the characters a "b!tch" with the same indulgent tenderness you give to a racist uncle or to Dire Straits when they use "f@ggot" in their song 'Money for Nothing', you will certainly survive a certain 60s to early 80s machismo/sexism thing that MacDonald carries throughout his McGee books (like a mild, itchy STD). This objectification and mild hostility, however, sometimes does distract from his clear prose, his fantastic dialogue, and intriguing plot.
This book starts with a woman thrown off a bridge and rescued by McGee and Meyer, his economist friend and drinking buddy. The rescue of a drowning damsel charts the direction of this book as McGee and Meyer engage their unique skill sets to revenge, salvage, and make the world safe again for all the bachelors of Florida.
The redeeming thing about these novels is McGee is an imperfect character similar to other great noir heroes (Spade, Marlowe, etc), but he also seems aware of his many faults and tends to take a fairly cynical view of the world he operates in. These novels explore and expose (intentionally and often unintentionally) many of the tropes and traps of the late 20th-century that made a generation grow up without a sense of honor, obligation, or outrage. Sometimes the world needs to be set straight by an angry, yet romantic bachelor on a boat fighting for nobel causes in between stints of drinking on his boat.
alanfederman's review
4.0
John MacDonald's Travis McGee series is one of my all-time favorites. There's enough twists and turns to keep me guessing and enough snark and wry dialogue to keep me entertained. Plus there's some biting social commentary. This wasn't the best so far, but a really enjoyable journey. I can't wait to read the next - I need to space them out lest I binge read the whole series at once.