tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post5460500248933463032..comments2024-03-14T05:11:55.141-04:00Comments on Existential Ennui: Parker Progress Report: Butcher's Moon (Parker #16, 1974) by Richard Stark; ReviewNick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)http://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-68180031898839369612013-08-24T23:14:12.828-04:002013-08-24T23:14:12.828-04:00You know who else reappears in Butcher's Moon?...You know who else reappears in Butcher's Moon? Slade and Trask from The Fugitive Pigeon! A little treat for longtime fans of Westlake's funny work.Joshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00156428408011131309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-22643238431986472082012-01-26T13:41:33.965-05:002012-01-26T13:41:33.965-05:00Y'know what, bw? You're absolutely right: ...Y'know what, bw? You're absolutely right: Ed Mackey does die at the end of Plunder Squad. And yet there he is, with Brenda in tow, in Butcher's Moon. I think I did dimly register his miraculous resurrection in Butcher's Moon, but fair play to you for pointing it out for definite. And what's more, Mackey returns in Comeback too. Deserves further exploration, I feel...Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-90320598746912805432012-01-26T06:29:48.652-05:002012-01-26T06:29:48.652-05:00Now you mention it, bw, that was something I think...Now you mention it, bw, that was something I think played at the back of my mind when I read Butcher's Moon. Let me check, and I'll come back to you.Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-12450232346833417272012-01-25T17:45:44.356-05:002012-01-25T17:45:44.356-05:00dear Parker experts: I am ashamed to write this bu...dear Parker experts: I am ashamed to write this but I I just plowed through Slayground, Plunder squad and Butcher's moon last night and I can't for the life of me understand this: doesn't Mackey die at the end of plunder squad? I surely am missing something thus I turn to you for assistance <br />thank you in adancebwnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-78780009972114616142012-01-06T06:51:00.404-05:002012-01-06T06:51:00.404-05:00Drop me an email on existentialennui@gmail.com whe...Drop me an email on existentialennui@gmail.com when you have time, Chris.Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-60533550641811680482012-01-05T16:10:50.128-05:002012-01-05T16:10:50.128-05:00http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2010/8...http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2010/8/26/c3e8932a-e63f-4425-af55-7554318aef21.jpg<br /><br />Spooky, isn't it?<br /><br />It's not such a big leap, actually, seeing how much science fiction Westlake wrote in his early career. I'm sure he watched at least a few episodes of Star Trek back in the 60's. <br /><br />But if there was some kind of influence, it would be Roddenberry and his colleagues channeling Westlake, rather than vice-versa--now that I think on it, that pon-far mating frenzy followed by long periods of total abstinence does bear a certain resemblance to Parker's sex life in the Pre-Claire novels. <br /><br />Anyway, if you want me to write something up, let me know. Handy McKay usually knows where I am. Well, no he doesn't.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00271250698430923736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-26560429260573293552012-01-05T15:54:48.118-05:002012-01-05T15:54:48.118-05:00Now THERE's a "fascinating" avenue o...Now THERE's a "fascinating" avenue of "exploration": the similarities twixt Parker and Star Trek. I can see some of Spock AND Kirk in Parker... although now I've typed that, I'm worried I've invented a new strand of slash fiction...<br /><br />As to your cut for a guest post, I'll let you do the math: what's nought percent of sod all...?Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-70379066404860294462012-01-05T15:34:28.637-05:002012-01-05T15:34:28.637-05:00Maybe he's a Vulcan. They have seething emoti...Maybe he's a Vulcan. They have seething emotions they rigidly suppress most of the time, and wish everyone else would be logical like them. Did Westlake ever say anything about the shape of Parker's ears? <br /><br />I'd consider a guest post. What would my cut of the take be? ;)Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00271250698430923736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-8703071325328445202012-01-05T12:45:29.912-05:002012-01-05T12:45:29.912-05:00Very true about the rage. I'm reminded of The ...Very true about the rage. I'm reminded of The Seventh, and the frustration and fury the nameless foil causes Parker. And then there's Lynn in The Hunter; it's easy to forget Parker was once married, and that Parker's pursuit of Mal wasn't just about the money.<br /><br />Parker's often called emotionless – I've called him that myself – but I don't think that's accurate. He does feel things, but his feelings are, as you say, guided by his own particular morality and sense of justice. An exploration of Parker's emotions across the series could be a fruitful line of enquiry. You up for a guest post, Chris?Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-56517619429608447152012-01-05T11:53:55.071-05:002012-01-05T11:53:55.071-05:00Parker wasn't avenging Claire in Deadly Edge, ...Parker wasn't avenging Claire in Deadly Edge, though. In his mind, those two crazed hippies were dead men before they ever set foot in New Jersey, because they were a threat to him and his money. He's concerned about Claire, but he's not angry they treated her that way, because he expected it. He actually prepared her for it with a cover story. He'd have behaved much the same way if she was some random woman who just took messages for him. <br /><br />Parker wasn't expecting that finger. It caught him offguard, and brought out something more than just the cold calculated killing we usually see from him. He knows this about himself--certain types of behavior bring out a rage in him that can only be allayed by balancing the scales--certain lives have to end, certain monies have to be collected, and in this particular case, his colleague has to be retrieved. <br /><br />We know that Claire is important to him, fills a need that nobody else can fill. Whether he feels anything for Grofield other than professional respect remains an unsolved mystery. But professional respect is no small thing when you're talking about Parker.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00271250698430923736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-57792763964856105792012-01-05T10:14:19.410-05:002012-01-05T10:14:19.410-05:00I think that's a fair comment, Chris. And your...I think that's a fair comment, Chris. And your mention of Claire reminds me that Parker went after her tormentors in a big way in Deadly Edge. Thanks for the additional insight – and if you haven't seen them yet, there are further comments on this post's Violent World of Parker <a href="http://violentworldofparker.com/?p=5554" rel="nofollow">counterpart post</a>.Nick Jones (Louis XIV, the Sun King)https://www.blogger.com/profile/17716508525331235684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448581132479481740.post-4909803774460975252012-01-04T20:25:20.172-05:002012-01-04T20:25:20.172-05:00I just read it myself for the first time (only fou...I just read it myself for the first time (only four more of the later crop of Parkers to go now, ::sigh::), and seeing that you only posted this a short while back, I'd like to chime in. <br /><br />First of all, I don't think this is the absolute best Parker novel, AS a novel, but it's the most important one, because it's a summation of what Westlake had been trying to accomplish with these books. It's the key to the Parker Mythos, so to speak. I can see why it was out of print so long, because there's absolutely no point in reading it until you've read all the installments that came before it (preferably a few of the Grofields as well). <br /><br />Anyway, I think you missed something. Yes, there's a meta aspect to Parker deigning to defend his decision to get Grofield back, alive or dead. Yes, Westlake probably is in there somewhere, responding to quibbles from readers (which I assume he was getting via old-fashioned snail mail and maybe at book signings and the occasional over-opinionated cab driver. <br /><br />But what Parker does is completely in character, and this goes all the way back to The Hunter. <br /><br />We keep hearing that Parker has no sense of right and wrong, but that's wrong. He has his OWN sense of rightness and wrongness--it isn't based on standard morality, though. It's based on what FEELS right to him, LOOKS right, SMELLS right. It's a rough instinctive sense of aesthetics, not ethics, that moves him. As Westlake hinted many times, Parker is an artist, and his jobs are his canvas. And woe unto those that smear his brushwork. <br /><br />For Grofield to die or to go to prison falls within the accepted criteria to Parker--for him to be cut up and mailed to Parker a piece at a time, to Parker, is not playing the game by the proper rules. It offends him on a very deep level. It enrages him, because it violates his unspoken, and largely unacknowledged sense of right and wrong--it's wrong because it FEELS wrong, the same way Huck Finn, the boy with absolutely no sense of morals knows that sending Jim back into slavery would be wrong. Huck says "All right, I'll go to hell", and Parker says "I don't care if it's like me or not." <br /><br />To the mob guys, it makes perfect sense to give Parker the finger, so to speak--different culture, different rules. To Parker, it's the final straw. He needs to do more than kill these guys--he needs to correct their mistake, erase their insult. He needs to get Grofield out of there. If Grofield died in the process, that would be perfectly fine. Okay, probably not to Grofield, but you know what I mean. <br /><br />Yes, it also serves the interests of the story, but Westlake didn't HAVE to put Grofield in jeopardy, any more than he had to put Claire in danger on several previous occasions, to the dissatisfaction of many a Parker purist--he could have just written it so that Parker had to get the band back together to get his money and finish these mobsters off before they finished him. <br /><br />Parker's response to seeing that severed finger is the result of Westlake shaking Parker's cage, still trying to get a straight answer out of him--"Who are you? What makes you tick? How far would you go, and how far wouldn't you go? What do you care about? If it isn't friendship or loyalty that makes you stick your neck out for people now and again, what the hell IS it?" <br /><br />Parker's spoken response may be less than entirely satisfactory, but with him it's always deeds before words, and his actions tell us all we needed to know.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00271250698430923736noreply@blogger.com