Huh? I think that sums up the reading of PECKINPAH: AN ULTRAVIOLENT ROMANCE. D. Harlan Wilson’s work is not a novel in the sense of a traditional story. It’s more of a collection of bizarre, brief sketches, all of which revolve around “ultraviolence,” as the author likes to state.
But as soon as something starts, it ends. The longest piece is three pages and, trust me, it reads like just a couple of paragraphs. I really can’t explain what goes on in these pieces, other than that they just start with some violence of some sort, the end.
Then, for some weird reason, Wilson describes in verbatim an old Monty Python sketch with ties to Sam Peckinpah. There is a very brief foray into A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. And then we get more pieces that are strange little moments. For me, the best thing in the book was one of the last things in it, where Wilson gives a one-page summary of the Peckinpah biography IF THEY MOVE … KILL ‘EM!, where he details all the bullet points. Those who have read that book will get a great laugh out of it.
But for a book that is so slim and full of blank space and block-print artwork, you may wonder, “Is this some kind of hipster joke?” Wilson has the talent — now if only he could concentrate his efforts into one full-length story instead of these asides. —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• BLANKETY BLANK: A MEMOIR OF VULGARIA by D. Harlan Wilson
Related posts:
- Marvel Romance
- Blankety Blank: A Memoir of Vulgaria
- Travels in the Scriptorium
- Classics Illustrated: The Raven and Other Poems
- Tor reopens Wilson’s TOMB
