18. The Last Gig by Norman Green

Category: 50 Books

18. The Last Gig by Norman Green

Spoiler Alert. But I’m doing you a favor.

This was a hardboiled mystery, and the protagnoist is a twenty year old Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx. You can imagine how over the top it goes from there. I was going to cut it some slack because I really like female protagonists, and I want them to succeed, but this was just too much.

Where the book first lost me (and I promise, I really wanted to love this book. I like hardboiled fiction and I like heroines! I wanted to be able to recommend this book to people at the library!) was when Martillo gets beaten up really bad and the doc is all, “you need to stay in bed for a week.” and instead after two days Martillo is back on the street, and the doc sees her again and is all, “I’ve never seen anyone heal so quickly.” And I swear I said aloud, “What the hell? Is this fan fiction?”

Martillo has a huge chip on her shoulder about having a crappy childhood and being poor and that’s great and all, I get it, but it’s mentioned roughly 40 times in the book.

The Redundancy Dept. called. They want their plot device back.

Dear Authors,

Quit beating readers over the head with the same shit over and over. WE GET IT.

Love,

Jaimie

Seriously, it’s okay to have a character with a chip on his/her shoulder. It’s even okay for that chip to be about his/her upbringing. And? It’s even more okay to have the chip about the upbringing be about how he/she was poor and/or wrong side of the tracks whathaveyou. However, if you’re going to mention this more than three times in a 300 page book it’s obviously REALLY important. And if it’s REALLY important IT NEEDS TO GO SOMEWHERE. 

FOR INSTANCE, it can be used as a tool, which I think is how it was in this book. (like a, “hey, i was raised in the ghetto of brooklyn, i know not to park my car over there.” kind of thing.) But if that’s all that it is then it doesn’t need forty mentions. On the other hand, if the heroine realizes that hey, having a chip on your shoulder about things you can’t change is actually a weakness, and you can benefit and be stronger if you work through all of this, then yes, I can see how it would get mentioned a bit more. Especially if this is learned at the end and all, but this is not the case with this book.

In fact, what she learns about herself is far more disappointing. Basically, she thinks she could just be happy if she could just find a nice guy who will let her know that everything will be okay. And that’s what she gets. Well bullshit on THAT.

The Cliche Dept. called and… I don’t even have to say it.

Wouldn’t it have been nice if maybe a tough-as-nails young lady, who’s made it by on her own for lo these many years, who by the way, not only solves the mystery, but also gets to kick a little ass, also got to feel great about herself at the end? That maybe she could’ve learned that she’s actually awesome and that despite of her upbringing, despite of the odds against her (being living week to week, no formal higher education, dangerous job etc.), tht maybe she completes herself? And then, learning that she completes herself she can then go find a guy (or girl) and go have fun or have a meaningful relationship or whathaveyou? Is that so impossible? Is that so fucking impossbile that that can’t even happen in a FICTION BOOK?

No, some weenie gets to save her with a bottle of whiskey and a hug.

 

I did like the parts about the music business. Those parts seemed really knowledgeable and were generally interesting.

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