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Kemper's Reviews > The Crime of Our Lives
The Crime of Our Lives
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Lawrence Block is one of those authors that I’ve often wished I could spend some time with just to hear him reminisce about his long career as well as get his opinions on other crime writers. I haven’t gotten a dinner invitation yet (Although I did get to meet him when he was touring for Hope to Die.), but until that day reading The Crime of Our Lives is a damn fine substitute.
Through this collection of introductions and essays he’s done over the years you get a sense of what Block thinks about the mystery genre as a whole as well as specific things about various writers including some very humorous stories like the time Charles Willeford asked him if he had ever eaten cat.
Some of the more interesting stories come from the early days of his career when Block was working for a shady literary agent where he’d read submissions all day and write up rejections that would encourage the suckers to submit more work for a fee. Block believes that slogging through that much bad fiction was a better education than reading masterpieces of literature because it taught him what not to do rather to admire what most everyone already agreed was great.
The most moving parts come in several things Block wrote about his late friend Donald Westlake. (It’s probably a safe bet that Block was inspired to do this by the similar collection of Westlake material in the posthumously published The Getaway Car. Block also wrote an introduction for it that is reprinted here.) Through the various pieces you get a real sense of the long friendship between the two writers as well as the deep respect that Block holds for his work. There’s also some intriguing musings as to how he thinks Westlake’s career and legacy might have been different if his early book Memory would have been published at the beginning of his career. The story of how Block helped get it into print after Westlake’s death that he relates here shows just how much Block thought of that particular work.
Because there are some different pieces on the same subject, there’s a little bit of repetition, but even that becomes interesting if you pay attention to the different ways that Block can relate the same story. Fans of Block or of the crime genre in general will find a lot of interesting tidbits as well as probably adding a few writers to their To-Read lists.
(Also posted at Kemper's Book Blog.)
Through this collection of introductions and essays he’s done over the years you get a sense of what Block thinks about the mystery genre as a whole as well as specific things about various writers including some very humorous stories like the time Charles Willeford asked him if he had ever eaten cat.
Some of the more interesting stories come from the early days of his career when Block was working for a shady literary agent where he’d read submissions all day and write up rejections that would encourage the suckers to submit more work for a fee. Block believes that slogging through that much bad fiction was a better education than reading masterpieces of literature because it taught him what not to do rather to admire what most everyone already agreed was great.
The most moving parts come in several things Block wrote about his late friend Donald Westlake. (It’s probably a safe bet that Block was inspired to do this by the similar collection of Westlake material in the posthumously published The Getaway Car. Block also wrote an introduction for it that is reprinted here.) Through the various pieces you get a real sense of the long friendship between the two writers as well as the deep respect that Block holds for his work. There’s also some intriguing musings as to how he thinks Westlake’s career and legacy might have been different if his early book Memory would have been published at the beginning of his career. The story of how Block helped get it into print after Westlake’s death that he relates here shows just how much Block thought of that particular work.
Because there are some different pieces on the same subject, there’s a little bit of repetition, but even that becomes interesting if you pay attention to the different ways that Block can relate the same story. Fans of Block or of the crime genre in general will find a lot of interesting tidbits as well as probably adding a few writers to their To-Read lists.
(Also posted at Kemper's Book Blog.)
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Reading Progress
March 28, 2015
– Shelved
April 2, 2015
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Started Reading
April 17, 2015
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Mike
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Apr 18, 2015 01:50PM
Great review. I've loved Block's work for decades and this sounds like it has some great insights into the man himself.
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I have this sitting on my nightstand; anxious to get to it, especially after reading your review.
James wrote: "I have this sitting on my nightstand; anxious to get to it, especially after reading your review."I think any fan of Block or the old school crime writers will enjoy it.
Mike wrote: "Great review. I've loved Block's work for decades and this sounds like it has some great insights into the man himself."Thanks! Hope you like it if you try it.
I love all of Block's work and have previously read compilations of his 'afterwards' etc. he's always interesting and entertaining. I've added this one to my TBR list. Great review too!
Andrew wrote: "I love all of Block's work and have previously read compilations of his 'afterwards' etc. he's always interesting and entertaining. I've added this one to my TBR list. Great review too!"Thanks. It's well worth a look for Block fans.
