Originally published on my blog here in April 2001.Apart from his debut novel, thriller High Hunt, The Losers is Eddings' only attempt at something outside the fantasy genre. Interestingly, it has aspects in common with the much earlier novel, including the Washington state setting (though that is where Eddings lives) and a plot incorporating ideas about sibling rivalry (less literally here).Raphael Taylor is bright, good-looking and athletic - a high school American football hero. When he goes to university, he meets the strange but fascinating Damon Flood, and is basically led astray. A drunken driving accident leads to the loss of a leg, and Raphael has to face up to life as a cripple.Unable to face his friends, Raphael moves to a poor area of Spokane to begin his convalescence, only to become fascinated by the lives of those around him (in a Rear Windows kind of way). These people, living on the edge of crisis, unwillingly dependent on an institutionalised social services, are the losers of the novel's title.The losers are really what the novel is about, and there are lengthy debates about what drives them and if (and how) they can be helped. A lot of what is said is criticism of the American social services, which, in Taylor's (and presumably Eddings') opinion, fails because it regards these people as a catalogue of problems to be matched against programs, rather than as individuals. It is, of course, an easy criticism to make of any enterprise of a large scale, and it is much more difficult to suggest anything which canbe done about it.As a novel, The Losers is more interesting than successful, with the traces of arch humour characteristic of Eddings' fantasy novels seeming distinctly out of place. (This is particularly the case as some jokes are repeated word for word.) Raphael is not believable enough to hang the novel on; the loss of his leg has remarkably few psychological effects, and this combines with his role as observer to make him seem too detached from reality. Charles Dickens would have made wonderful characters out of the losers, and Eddings is no Dickens. The Losers is probably Eddings' most ambitious and least successful novel.
Okay, I know this is fiction, and it's by an author who write mostly fantasy, so I'm a little embarrassed by how much this book meant to me. I was a third-year social work major in college when this book was recommended to me by a friend who thought I was making a terrible mistake with my life (I'd started out as a Chemistry major and always intended to end up in research but got a wild hair stuck somewhere and changed to the social sciences). While this book didn't have much, if anything to do with my decision to change majors again, it had a lot to do with my change of perspective. Through the character of Raphael, Eddings talks a lot about the trappings of poverty and why it persists through generations. He's not condemning the poor, but he's critical of the system that's designed to keep them that way. I was pretty soft-hearted and wanted to help everyone in the world before I read this book, and became a solid behaviorist after. Now I spend my energy giving extra help to the people who are already trying to make their own changes instead of wasting all of my time on those who are content to wallow in their current situation. That probably came out much harsher than I meant it to. Still, I recommend this book to anyone who thinks they want to be a social worker.
What do You think about The Losers (1993)?
This was a hard book to enjoy. Eddings is very well-written and it shows here. This is much better written then either his Belgariad or Malloreon series, which while I enjoyed immensely, always seemed to parallel the Lord of the Rings just a little too much. With the Losers we are presented with a lot of drudgery. It's well-crafted but its a very dark and depressing book. Its that much more of a depressing read, because I'm a Spokane native where this book is primarily set. While Eddings does a fine job of thorougly trashing the city, I can also see why he feels the way he does, despite my feelngs to the contrary.
—Patrick
I really loved this book. You always hear about the American dream, and this is reflected in the TV shows and films, mainly all good looking people, all with happy endings. This book showed a different side to the country. Where the lack of welfare means life can be pretty bleak if you hit misfortune and it can be tough to get back up once you're kicked down. David Eddings really fleshes out the characters in his books as well as establishing a plot so you can really relate to the people in the book. His fantasy books were better than Tolkien's too,as tagain the characters all had personalities and even a sense of humour!
—Jamie Haddigan
If I could talk to David Eddings about this book, I’d ask him just one question: Why? Why social workers as the symbol of all evil in modern society? I mean, obviously the main character is going to be bitter about what he goes through. And a formally independent person isn’t going to LIKE being thrown onto government support. All that I can understand. But to say that ALL social workers, by their very nature, are dedicated to draining people’s souls and FORCING them to go on welfare, well that’s just crazy. We’re talking Dave Sim crazy here. And to have a thwarted social worker actually shake her fist and shout “You’ll come crawling back!” (God I wish I was making that up) was just the final silly touch.
—Kathryn
