Read Online Stoneburner French Edition edition by William Gay Literature Fiction eBooks
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Trois hommes et une femme dans le Tennessee dans les années 70. Plus tordu que le traditionnel triangle amoureux et très éloigné du carré d’as Stoneburner et Thibodeaux sont rentrés du Vietnam fracassés, comme les autres. Stoneburner, détective privé qui rêve de se la couler douce au bord du fleuve, accepte cependant de récupérer pour le compte de Cap Holder, ex-shérif et vieux débauché cynique, l’argent d’un deal de coke qui a mal tourné. Et si pour le même prix Stoneburner pouvait aussi récupérer Cathy, ravissante blonde à la séduction ravageuse… Seulement voilà, Thibodeaux qui passait par là a repéré la blonde, ainsi que la valise pleine de billets verts qui attendait dans une voiture, la nuit, près d’une piste d’atterrissage désaffectée.
La cavale de la blonde et du camé à bord d’une Cadillac noire est à la hauteur des meilleurs films du genre. Étourdis par tant d’argent, ils ne cherchent même pas à brouiller leur piste, entre Tennessee, Mississippi et Arkansas. S’y engouffrent, l’un après l’autre, Stoneburner puis un baron de la drogue local, fort mécontent d’avoir été roulé.
L’humour féroce et la noirceur poétique de William Gay sont inégalables.
Read Online Stoneburner French Edition edition by William Gay Literature Fiction eBooks
"William Gay's poetic majesty again comes through in every word, every phrase, every character. Its just wonderfully exciting to immerse
oneself into the different worlds he has created. And Stoneburner damn sure doesn't let ya down..."
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Stoneburner French Edition edition by William Gay Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews :
Stoneburner French Edition edition by William Gay Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
- Nearly everything Gay writes is good, so doing criticism (both positive and negative) on his work is a matter of nuance, like getting an A minus versus an A plus. Some of his works subjectively strike me as off or non-resonating, such as The Long Home and Wittgenstein's Lolita (not my favorites). But one of my fave books ever is Gay's Provinces of Night, and his posthumous Little Sister Death (the first posthumous release, Stoneburner is the second) has grown to be another Gay favorite. I was quite excited for Stoneburner, as I had chatted with a nice feller who helped edit and design the book, and I was excited that, unlike some deceased authors, Gay's canon was only expanding after his death.
Stoneburner is Gay's take on the noir detective novel. It's strange to me for such a great writer to write an arguably genre book, but it overall works. I'm not sure when Gay wrote this story in his life -- basically either before he got famous, or after -- and there's a critical/biographical study of Gay in Stoneburner by J.M. White that I look forward to reading that might answer that.
Stoneburner is divided into two books, the first told in 3rd person and the second in the 1st person, and at a point in time the characters and events converge. It's a little bit No Country for Old Men, a little Blood Simple, and a little Southern Bastards. John Stoneburner is a private detective and he tracks down some missing (drug) money and people. Apparently Gay wanted to make a franchise-able character in Stoneburner who would appear in other books, but I'm kind of glad it didn't pan out, as I hate nothing more than books which alienate me because they are "a ____ _____ mystery" or whatever. I think books should be self-contained, and if characters show up in other stories, let it happen naturally (as in the work of Harry Crews) rather than planning it out.
Stoneburner is not sweeping, epic Gay, as in some of his other works, and I was a bit disappointed that the "character" of the Harikin -- a lawless, wasteland area in Tennessee that features in Gay's Twilight and short stories -- didn't play a role. I know that Gay and Cormac McCarthy had a rivalry and assocation with each other, and at times Stoneburner feels a lot like McCarthy's own No Country for Old Men. There's also a roughness to Stoneburner, with some repetition of phrasing (a criticism McCarthy once had for Gay's writing) and some anachronisms. The story is set in 1974 but you don't get a sense of this until the second book; one sentence describes heavy metal music playing in 1974. Heavy metal hadn't yet been invented, until the new wave of British heavy metal in the mid to late 1970s. It's a minor criticism, but at times I felt like Gay didn't fact-check or use the internet to check things; at other times I feel he did. What I'm saying is that a bit more editing and smoothing-out of the prose would have made a slightly more watertight novel, although Stoneburner is a lot more complete than Little Sister Death is, which ends abruptly.
It's tempting to say that Gay is the poor man's Cormac McCarthy, but untrue, because Gay is an amazing writer and so naturally talented it's bizarre at times. Even though the story is relatively straightforward, Gay brings to Stoneburner a kind of existential, Southern uniqueness that is as unique as, say, the detective story that is Inherent Vice. I mean, what writer writing about Old/New South violence and stolen money uses the word "cypressshrouded", with its poetic hissing sound? Or some of Gay's fave and oft-used words like "telluric", "malefic" and "rawboned"? Only Gay.
Overall, this is a very good book. I did find the shift in narrative from 3rd person to 1st cause a minor mid-novel slump, but I quickly recovered from it. Once the two books converge, the story moves along rapidly to a dramatic conclusion. Gay is a writer to savor -- this sounds corny, but he's like fine whiskey. You read it for the detective/Southern noir, and he stuns you with a heartbreakingly beautiful description of fireflies at night. That's William Gay. I miss that he exists no longer but am so, so glad his posthumous works are coming out, and his Lost Country is coming out in July 2018 after a ridiculously long wait. Thanks to Anomolaic Press (anomolaic one of Gay's well-used words) for the fine job on Stoneburner.
On a side and final note, I threw the book in a fit of high blood pressure (nothing against the book at all), a 5-day migraine, and a brutal early May heatwave in Georgia, and the book held up beautifully, didn't get damaged at all -- it's wellmade. And the writing within is something to marvel over and treasure. I'm going to put Stoneburner in 2nd place of Gay's posthumous writings after Little Sister Death, but there are currently only two. Stoneburner is a great book for people who appreciate fine Southern writing, detective/mystery stories, or both. Highly recommended. A fine addition to the Grit Lit canon. - Stoneburner differs from Gay’s two other posthumous novels, in ways both good and bad. Unlike Little Sister Dark, Stoneburner is a complete story rather than an unfinished draft, but it didn’t grab me the way Little Sister Dark did. And, unlike The Lost Country, Stoneburner is a tighter, more focused, but less compelling work. It appears Gay contemplated making Stoneburner a recurring character, but I’m glad he didn’t, because I found him rather shallow and inscrutable, almost an amalgamation of other characters Gay has written. The first half of the book is written from the third person, so Gay’s poetic descriptions and keen insights are in full force. But, the switch to Stoneburner’s first person perspective in the second half is jarring, and I struggled to believe that Stoneburner was capable of the artistic observations and contemplations that Gay wrote through him. The novel ends with a whimper, rather than a bang. Stoneburner certainly could have used more editing and refining, but I’m glad it was published. Ultimately, it is a worthy read if you are a William Gay fan, but it pales in comparison to The Long Home and Provinces of Night.
- Stoneburner is a great fun read, a mystery loaded with outrageous and often comedic adventures set in the hills of Tennessee and beyond. You find yourself laughing or shaking your head at the absurd situations created by the greed, lust, and/or idiocy of the characters all of whom in one way or another find their way to Stoneburner, a man who searches for peace and isolation but is drawn into their maelstroms. Once again, William Gay takes us to his area of Tennessee and you wonder if these characters were inspired by people he knew or legends he heard about. Either way, it's wonderful to have another book by him and it holds up to the literary level of his other novels.
- The author is an incredible artist with original talent for sentence construction. I never doubted the book would be good (all of his books are very good), but what a joy not to be mistaken. Excellent purchase of an excellent product.
- William Gay's poetic majesty again comes through in every word, every phrase, every character. Its just wonderfully exciting to immerse
oneself into the different worlds he has created. And Stoneburner damn sure doesn't let ya down...
