Wednesday, December 5, 2007

The Embiggened O # 2,013: Evans Sent

The End-of-Year round-ups are coming in thick and thicker, people, and Mark Evans at the Irish Examiner has done our “sharp, witty, 200 km/h” humble offering THE BIG O proud. To wit:
“THE BIG O is the Sligo-born author’s second novel, disproving the difficult tag by following the many sub-plots he constructed for EIGHTBALL BOOGIE with a cleaner, smarter tale. However, it is Burke’s dialogue that stays longest in the mind. This author doesn’t do exposition. Why use colourful prose to describe what’s happened when you can get one of the likeable characters to tell it like it is? So, do yourself a favour if you’ve found yourself in a bit of a reading rut – let these gun-toting, scheming criminal oddballs blow the cobwebs away.”
Mark? Consider us blown away. We thank you kindly, sir …

1 comment:

  1. How's tricks, Steve? Never heard of 'Rod and Don' or 'As you know, Bob'. I aim for "No one ever skips dialogue." (attr. Elmore Leonard). Hey, you have to have something to aim for, right? Cheers, Dec

    ReplyDelete

Declan Burke has published a number of novels, the most recent of which is ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL. As a journalist and critic, he writes and broadcasts on books and film for a variety of media outlets, including the Irish Times, RTE, the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Independent. He has an unfortunate habit of speaking about himself in the third person. All views expressed here are his own and are very likely to be contrary.