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N : a romantic mystery
Edwards, Louis
Adult Fiction EDWARDS
From Publishers' Weekly:
Edwards (Ten Seconds, 1991) expands the parameters of the literary mystery with this complicated New Orleans noir about race, identity and class. Aimée Dubois, a well-educated Creole woman, runs an alternative newspaper; her curiosity about the murder of a teenager in a housing project leads her into the world of the black underclass. The narrative flashes back and forth as Aimée begins an affair and investigative partnership with Strip, a sexy, sensitive crack dealer who introduces her to a lively array of dangerous potential murder suspects, including a motherly woman who controls her neighborhood's drug traffic, and a menacing minister. Edwards challenges racial, class and gender stereotypes with strong characters and palpable mood. With constant shifts in tense, point of view and typeface, he reaches into the postmodern armory of fragmentation techniques, but his prose is fluid and a story does emerge from beneath all the stylistic wrinkles. But the plot, which is peppered with coincidences, remains secondary, a vehicle with which Edwards examines New Orleans as a paradigm of cultural ambivalence and dislocation. All the literary ambition, however, leaves the narrative suspended somewhere between a novel of suspense and a novel of ideas. The result is not enough of either, and murder mystery fans will feel cheated by the end. (May) FYI: Ten Seconds was named a PW best book of 1991. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
From Library Journal:
While investigating the murder of a black teenager, small-time newspaper-owner and journalist Aimee DuBois immerses herself in the dark side of New Orleans. Her quest brings enlightenment from many sources: seductive drug dealer Strip; best friend Gray, a gay bookstore owner; concerned mother and drug-distributing Miss Margie; secretly pregnant niece Denise; and others. The author uses attention-getting mixed narrative viewpoints and rhythmic, ultimately entrancing prose to present this story-within-a-story. Recommended for most collections. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Edwards, Louis
Adult Fiction EDWARDS
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From Publishers' Weekly:
Edwards (Ten Seconds, 1991) expands the parameters of the literary mystery with this complicated New Orleans noir about race, identity and class. Aimée Dubois, a well-educated Creole woman, runs an alternative newspaper; her curiosity about the murder of a teenager in a housing project leads her into the world of the black underclass. The narrative flashes back and forth as Aimée begins an affair and investigative partnership with Strip, a sexy, sensitive crack dealer who introduces her to a lively array of dangerous potential murder suspects, including a motherly woman who controls her neighborhood's drug traffic, and a menacing minister. Edwards challenges racial, class and gender stereotypes with strong characters and palpable mood. With constant shifts in tense, point of view and typeface, he reaches into the postmodern armory of fragmentation techniques, but his prose is fluid and a story does emerge from beneath all the stylistic wrinkles. But the plot, which is peppered with coincidences, remains secondary, a vehicle with which Edwards examines New Orleans as a paradigm of cultural ambivalence and dislocation. All the literary ambition, however, leaves the narrative suspended somewhere between a novel of suspense and a novel of ideas. The result is not enough of either, and murder mystery fans will feel cheated by the end. (May) FYI: Ten Seconds was named a PW best book of 1991. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
From Library Journal:
While investigating the murder of a black teenager, small-time newspaper-owner and journalist Aimee DuBois immerses herself in the dark side of New Orleans. Her quest brings enlightenment from many sources: seductive drug dealer Strip; best friend Gray, a gay bookstore owner; concerned mother and drug-distributing Miss Margie; secretly pregnant niece Denise; and others. The author uses attention-getting mixed narrative viewpoints and rhythmic, ultimately entrancing prose to present this story-within-a-story. Recommended for most collections. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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