The Night Life of the Gods by Thorne Smith
Completed: 5/14/2024
Recommendation: Mildly Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody
Words for which I sought help:
Distrait -- distracted or absent minded
Febrile -- having or showing a great deal of nervous energy
Lachrymose -- tearful or given to weeping
Vocalion -- a type of reed instrument that resembles a human voice
Review:
This is a very odd book. It seems like it must be semi-autobiographic in so far as it is clear that the author sees himself in the protagonist. Smith seems to revel in the questionable behavior of Hawk while establishing a circumstance, from start to finish, within which Hawk and his friends can never be held accountable. In addition, Hawk seems to have infinite resources and engender infinite tolerance from those around him (with the reasonable exception of the police). In this sense, the novel is a farse, but it seems as though Smith would like to live this farse. Seemingly not realizing it, he consistently leaves the consequences either elsewhere or broadly unresolved with the Keystone Cops chasing far behind in his wake. The resolution is both uncomfortable and an escape (like the others have been) which seems odd. I did not enjoy this book for the most part (although I did get a good chuckle on more than one occasion). It felt a bit like stepping into another man's fantasy and finding what was there uncomfortable. The book was reasonably well written, though the characters lacked any development and the gods didn't much resemble the Greek/Roman stories. They seemed like props in Smith's fantasy.
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