Oct. '04 Discussion: Shella by Andrew Vachss

this was great. it took me 4 hours to read. i got it from the library friday afternoon, sat down at 8:30 finished by 12:30. couldnt stop for a minute. well maybe one pee break.

i love how he kept such short precise paragraphs. not adding too much not adding too little. i like how the perception of the man character can change throughout the book. how he seems to me in the beginning to be this ruthless killer that you become fearfull of, to this kind of naive neonazi infiltrator then back again. i think it fit the story perfectly.

i want to say thanks to you guys for letting me in the bookclub, and thanks for recommending this book. i'm gonna go check out all of vachss' books now!

I loved this book as well. At first I was apprehensive as to whether or not I would enjoy it at all. Within the first few paragraphs I was hooked. It is def one of the books you do not want to put down. I enjoyed reading and constantly wondering would he ever find Shella? Then the end was completely unexpected.
I wish I knew what else to say about this book other than.. WOW.
I def recommend this to EVERYONE...

Well guys & girls, I couldn’t get through this one. It started out ok, then got boring quickly and I finally put it down 76% of the way through. The writing was…ok, although creating a quirky character does not equate an interesting character.
The biggest crime was that we, the readers, are set up to give a care about this search for Shella. It takes some time, but Vachss feeds our care with fairly-often references and/or flashbacks to Shella. (Which is a wise decision when you title your book on a character.)

After a bunch of very uninteresting, non-suspense situations Ghost finds himself doing the deed of the ‘crazy man’, infiltrating this _American History X_ world. Unless I forgot to make notes in-between yawns, we lose all reference to Shella for 40-somehting pages. That’s around 20% of the text.
It seems to have worked for many of you (and Vachss’ editors) but to me I totally lost what little care I had in the finding of this mysteriously Shella and had no care about the resolve of the possibly killing of What’shisname. So I tossed the book down leaving her unfound and him unkilled.

I took wayyyy too many notes, and I’m verrry uninspired to type them up, here’s just a handful of what I did start to…
j(ay)

Shella by Andrew Vachss
[Pan, UK paperback]

Panther drawing, playing card illustration, missing the heart symbol.

Dedication: “For Doc Pomus and Iceberg Slim; truth, still shining down”
[So are we to think this is a Blues tale, or has a Blues feel?]

Great opening sentence and paragraph.

9- meets Misty, dancer at a club, it was badger, but she says the “hammer” makes her do it, they beat him up and she runs off with Ghost…(after that we worked badger together (with Shella)(pg 3).
[But why does she put her trust in Ghost, risk everything?]

23- Batteries is sock; thugs give Ghost the radio [very _Bad Boys_]

-quick, static meter is broken up – this section (18-23) last 6 pages. Very much throws off the style of writing he is going for. Not a good sign…-

39-previosus incarcerations: (flashback) (FB) “last time I was locked up” – “I always knew when Shella lied.”

[in retrospect, a pretty hollow line since he seemed to know not-much about Shella]

45-Monroe asks for him to kill Carlos the Columbian (in return for M finding S), who “shoots people without a gun”. [Is this supposed to be, like, mystical? Silly]

47-staking out CC at Baja Mundo [Fallen or Sinking World], gets held up for $300. These guys affiliated (body guards?) with CC?

[QUOTE=jay]39-previosus incarcerations: (flashback) (FB) “last time I was locked up” – “I always knew when Shella lied.”

[in retrospect, a pretty hollow line since he seemed to know not-much about Shella][/QUOTE]
Sorry that you didn't enjoy the book as much as some of us, but, hey, everybody is entitled to having opposing views and that is what makes the book club fun.

The one thing that I agreed with that you said was the fact that you were right about his flashbacks. It didn't seem like he really knew Shella for that long, yet he sure did have a lot of memories of her. I found that to be the one thing that I didn't understand in the book.

[QUOTE=PGoutis01]Sorry that you didn't enjoy the book as much as some of us, but, hey, everybody is entitled to having opposing views and that is what makes the book club fun.[/quote]

Hey PG,
Tooootally don’t feel sorry (or whatever), as you say, that’s the point to a book club.

I would, however, be a bit wary if everyone chimed in with “love it!” for every book that Chuck or anyone else (I believe Clevenger has this listed this as one of his favourite books, which I’m surprised about) like or recommend, based solely on that fact.
And few good conversations are formed when there is just a throttle of “me too!” posts…

So don’t feel bad; hell, I may not even end up liking the book I nominated.

[QUOTE=PGoutis01]The one thing that I agreed with that you said was the fact that you were right about his flashbacks. It didn't seem like he really knew Shella for that long, yet he sure did have a lot of memories of her. I found that to be the one thing that I didn't understand in the book.[/QUOTE]

I don’t mind that he had so many memories, per se…you shack up with someone, you’re probably bound to get a fair share of memories, especially with such a…strange bird.
He did, after all, get his face smashed in for her (40), so he had some kind of emotional investment.

My problem, with the citation I used, was his apparently stating he always knew when S lied, which is a pretty damn perceptive thing, but he barely knew anything else about her (far different than memories).
It seems evident that S played around with some girls (and she even called it “a game”, you know, like synonymous with ‘play’ and ‘fun’), and Ghost even witnessed some of the hanky panky (although seemed confused by it), but when asked if S was a lesbian he answers, “I don’t know, maybe…it doesn’t matter” (29).
Not a very perceptive chap.

I don’t know, maybe if I didn’t pause to jot down notes I would have just breezed through the book and not cared so much about it. But that said (and I doubt it anyway), any book worth its proverbial salt should be able to be critically read.

To try to bring up more conversation here’s some more comments, restricting it to just section 1:
-Didn’t you (and others) think that Misty, in the middle of ‘badgering’ Ghost all of sudden decides to just run away with him? She probably is in this situation at least a few times a week, but with Ghost she’s will to run away with. Why, because he orders his rum and Coke separately? (9) He manages to be smart enough to not suffer a chocolate-covered-dick anal intrusion, as a boy, no less, but he can’t wrap his thoughts around this one?

-I think another really bad move on Vachss part, especially if he was after some Blues-esque feel, was the mentioning of Misty and Ghost having seen “Goodfellas” (70). Up until that pint the book had a pretty timeless mood. One really couldn’t pinpoint when these stories were taking place. That, as a formula, is a good thing.
Obviously if a character needs a cell-phone or something then they need it, but up until then, and I believe throughout the rest of the story (as much as a read) there were no other real Time Points.
-Why does Monroe set Ghost up to go to Cleveland (70) on a supposed lead to where Shella is? Ghost has never crossed Monroe in any way (that we know of), and the beating up of Redhead, while stupid and pointless, was (so to speak) justified.
-Misty _never_ knew Ghost’s name? (77) Come on…

Thoughts?

j(ay)

[QUOTE=jay]...I would, however, be a bit wary if everyone chimed in with “love it!” for every book that Chuck or anyone else (I believe Clevenger has this listed this as one of his favourite books, which I’m surprised about) like or recommend, based solely on that fact.
...[/QUOTE]

is it just me, or did this book read like a watered-down, incomplete and half-assed version of the contortionist's handbook? clevenger is, by far, the better writer, but i'm amazed by the similarities in themes and story structure.

[QUOTE=moe.ron]is it just me, or did this book read like a watered-down, incomplete and half-assed version of the contortionist's handbook? clevenger is, by far, the better writer, but i'm amazed by the similarities in themes and story structure.[/QUOTE]
Hmmm, well, be that as it may, but the Vachss book has about 10 years on Clevenger’s.

And as Craig *has* mentioned this book, your noted similarities would lead to a more _The Contortionist’s Handbook_ being a ‘watered-up’ version of this.

j(ay)

well, no, because i read TCH before i read shella. and yes, i understand shella was published in 1993. all i'm saying is sometimes the copy/sequel really IS better than the original.

The ending really broke my heart. Not even a last BJ...