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Read Death Will Have Your Eyes (2014)

Death Will Have Your Eyes (2014)

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Rating
3.54 of 5 Votes: 4
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ISBN
0316403245 (ISBN13: 9780316403245)
Language
English
Publisher
mulholland books

Death Will Have Your Eyes (2014) - Plot & Excerpts

After having read Drive and its underwhelming sequel Driven, I had come to think of James Sallis as a writer of sparse and short crime fiction who succeeded most in moments of violence or action. Death Will Have Your Eyes proves that impression incorrect. Whilst Sallis, in this earlier novel, still manages to engage in tense scenes, the novel is more a metaphysical examination of one's direction in life and identity through the guise of a spy thriller.The plot itself is secondary and, unlike John le Carre's spy novels, it ends in a somewhat anticlimactic and redundant fashion. This is not at all to say it detracts from the enjoyment of the narrative, rather, the pleasure in reading it comes from these almost surreal character moments as David, traveling America in a vague search of a rogue agent, spends most of the novel thinking about his past and, in diners, bars and motel rooms, finding poignant connections with a cavalcade of strangers.It is short enough to be read in few sittings and this is how I would recommend it. As Sallis intentionally misquotes Cesare Pavese, reading this instills in you some kind of mild "fever in my bones", wrapped up in an unreal world.

What to say about this book????It's a spy novel, sort of. It's an existentialist musing, sort of. It's pretty much brilliant, actually.This may not be your cuppa but Sallis is a writer like that. His Lew Griffin books are one of the best modern mystery series, more than equal to James Lee Burke with Dave Robicheaux. Griffin is even more troubled than Robicheaux and a deeper character. But the protagonist here is left unnamed. Here Sallis presents the reader with a plot, sort of, a resolution, sort of, and in between a brilliant rumination on the complexity that is our lives. That complexity is buried in most lives but here the skin is stripped back to the bone.The best comparison I can come up with is "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". Both are short overall, with short chapters but I find myself breathless and overwhelmed after just a few pages of each.

What do You think about Death Will Have Your Eyes (2014)?

Death will have your Eyes is a spy story, shadowy exploration of identity, and a road trip filled with perfect miniature descriptions of characters and places, sudden violence, eerie and surreal imagery, and melancholy. The plot is confusing and complex with shade like characters fading into each other (intentional I suspect). The back blurbs (by Moorcock and Lethem) compare it to Greene, Le Carre, and Borges (leaning strongest towards Borges) all of which I can concur with. Sallis writes nearly perfect books; poetic, existential, funny, cool, sinister, and beautiful.
—Adam

Melancholischer Roadmovie der einen ehemaligen CIA Agenten quer durch die USA führt. Seltsame Begegnungen mit Jägern und Gejagten, Reflexionen über konstruierte und reale Leben nach dem kalten Krieg. Der Plot steht nicht im Mittelpunkt und macht auch nicht den Reiz von Sallis kurzem Roman aus. Für Leute die solche Sätze toll finden:"Tage tragen uns leicht über die Oberfläche der Welt, während die Erde jedes Jahr härter an uns zerrt, uns wie ein verschmähter Liebhaber, allerdings viel hartnäckiger, daran erinnert, wie sehr sie uns will." (S.55)"Gibt man ihm Papier und Bleistift, zeichnet der Affe, schwerfällig und präzise, nur die Gitter seines Käfigs, immer wieder." (S.104)
—Electric

Auch wenn bei Sallis der Plot nie wirklich im Vordergrund steht, hatte ich mit »Deine Augen hat der Tod« meine liebe Mühe. Dies mag dem Umstand geschuldet sein, dass ich mir Ex-CIA-Agenten/Auftragskiller komplett anders vorstelle. Auch wenn ich mir von Sallis keinen klassischen Agententhriller erwartet hatte, hinkt seine Darstellung des Protagonisten. Ich mutmasse, dass Pavese und existenzialistische Betrachtungen in Geheimdienstkreisen wohl weit weniger Platz einnehmen, als Sallis in seinem Roman dem Protagonisten andichtet. Da ist für mich viel zu viel Diskrepanz zwischen Realität und Dichtung. Wie auch immer. Was bleibt ist ein schlanker Roman mit knappen, harten und äusserst unsentimentalen Betrachtungen verschiedener Lebensrealitäten. Also nichts, was in anderen Sallis-Büchern nicht auch schon - allerdings weit besser und schlüssiger - dagewesen wäre.
—Harry

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