A review by jakobitz
An Honest Living by Dwyer Murphy
4.0
There was nobody at the coat check and the doormen didn’t seem too concerned, so I kept the blazer they’d lent me when I first arrived. It had a crest on the lapel, and it fit me fine.
The above quote, in isolation, lands a bit nondescript. But in the context of this meandering noir set in a mid-2000s Brooklyn, it played like poetry to my ears. This tale of a lawyer/detective is full of witty discursive descriptions, and a plot thread that barely stuck with me after I closed the book, yet that didn’t matter. This book’s strength is in its aura and feel, and less the story it tells. I’m not really a noir reader, and perhaps I need to delve further into the genre to improve my critical toolset for it, but this story harkened me back to my favorite noir, A Wild Sheep Chase, and a comparison to Murakami is high praise in my book.
The above quote, in isolation, lands a bit nondescript. But in the context of this meandering noir set in a mid-2000s Brooklyn, it played like poetry to my ears. This tale of a lawyer/detective is full of witty discursive descriptions, and a plot thread that barely stuck with me after I closed the book, yet that didn’t matter. This book’s strength is in its aura and feel, and less the story it tells. I’m not really a noir reader, and perhaps I need to delve further into the genre to improve my critical toolset for it, but this story harkened me back to my favorite noir, A Wild Sheep Chase, and a comparison to Murakami is high praise in my book.