Monday, April 23, 2007
book report: The Paperboy
The Paperboy
by Pete Dexter
For some reason, I end up reading a lot of books that I don't really like all that much. This was one.
It's set about 30 years ago in a small town in Florida. Jack is 19, recently dropped out of college, and is working for his father who runs the hometown newspaper. His older brother, Ward, is a journalist in Miami. Ward comes home to the small town to investigate the conviction of a hillbilly swamp guy for the murder of the county sheriff - there are questions about the fairness of his trial. Swamp guy has acquired a fiancee/pen-pal named Charlotte, who has apparently made a hobby of befriending murderers in various prisons. She says she wants to help them.
Jack and Ward get caught up in Charlotte's zeal to get her swamp murderer boyfriend a new trial, but none of it works out as well as they had imagined. By the end of the book, Charlotte and Ward are both dead and Jack is just as confused and lost as he was at the beginning.
It was certainly interesting, and had some things to say about the nature of trust and sexuality and human motivation... but I can't say I enjoyed reading it.
by Pete Dexter
For some reason, I end up reading a lot of books that I don't really like all that much. This was one.
It's set about 30 years ago in a small town in Florida. Jack is 19, recently dropped out of college, and is working for his father who runs the hometown newspaper. His older brother, Ward, is a journalist in Miami. Ward comes home to the small town to investigate the conviction of a hillbilly swamp guy for the murder of the county sheriff - there are questions about the fairness of his trial. Swamp guy has acquired a fiancee/pen-pal named Charlotte, who has apparently made a hobby of befriending murderers in various prisons. She says she wants to help them.
Jack and Ward get caught up in Charlotte's zeal to get her swamp murderer boyfriend a new trial, but none of it works out as well as they had imagined. By the end of the book, Charlotte and Ward are both dead and Jack is just as confused and lost as he was at the beginning.
It was certainly interesting, and had some things to say about the nature of trust and sexuality and human motivation... but I can't say I enjoyed reading it.
Labels: book reports
