Easy Rawlins Novels

[benedictjjones]

read the first two so far:

devil in a blue dress (which i had read years ago at school) and
a red death

really enjoying them and walter mosley as a writer. i pickd up 'killing johnny fry' and thought it was immense.

anyways.... easy rawlins is a black ex-service man (army, served in europe during WW2) living in LA in the early 50s and has just been laid off from his job at an aircraft factory at the sries start which, from what i've heard' runs through the 50s 60s etc. next up(when i get around to buying it) is white butterfly.

edit:a distinct theme i have noticed in the books so far is change. it is great how mosley moves rawlins from the tail end of the forties to the early sixties (so far) and we see the changes in the landscape of LA, music and fashion and what it was to be black in america during these periods.

[benedictjjones]

'white butterfly' turned up for Christmas so I shall get on it soon-ish and see if it keeps the series rolling along.

[benedictjjones]

two thirds through 'white butterfly' and so far the best in the series for me. odd because after rereading 'DiaBD' and then 'A Red Death' I found myself not liking Easy Rawlins that much and 'White Butterfly' attempts to deal with some of that - plus there's a syphallitic serial killer, 'mouse' is back and rawlins is actually looking at himself and having some self realisation. should get this finished tonight and post the rest of my thoughts.

[benedictjjones]

brilliant! displayed a lot of real character, proper noir where you don't neccasarily like a character but grow to understand them and some of what drives them.

[benedictjjones]

got 'Black Betty' (the next in the series) yesterday for £2 so i'll start on that this afternoon.

[benedictjjones]

'black betty' was great, easily as good as 'white butterfly' continued in the same vein and explored themes which the other books have touched on.

[benedictjjones]

picked up a couple more of Walter Mosley's non-Easy Rawlins books recently:

'blue light' was a nice piece of odd sci-fi and have just got the shorts collection 'always outnumbered, always outgunned'. another i bought earlier in the year and enjoyed was 'diablerie' which was in the same vein of 'erotica' as 'killing Johnny Fry'