'The Professional' by WC Heinz

I came across this republication of the original 1954 book in the library, and after I read the glowing introduction by Elmore Leonard, I decided that I had to read it. Leonard praised Heinz's writing style and dialogue mannerisms extensively, and cited Heinz as a major influence on his writing style. Another positive review for this book comes from Ernest Hemingway, who said "THE PROFESSIONAL is the only good novel about a fighter I've read and an excellent novel in its own right."

Apparently, Hemingway didn't read a lot of books about fighters.

'The Professional' is about a middleweight boxer named Eddie Brown who is at a training camp for a title fight in upstate New York, and is being shadowed by narrator/sportwriter Frank Hughes for a magazine article he is working on. For a book that is about boxing, not much boxing takes place. Instead, the reader is treated to a pretentious, boring look at what a boxer and his coterie go through during a training camp.

Looking back, it occurs to me that a training camp is not really like the montages seen in all the Rocky movies, and even it were, it would not really translate that well in book form. It does, however, make for a boring read that celebrates the elements of boxing that are overlooked for a good reason. In the same way that I would not want to read a book about the pit crew of a racer, reading about the training camp of a boxer is like reading about watching paint dry: You can do it, but why would you want to?

I will say this, however, the characters in this novel are all fully developed and quite interesting. Unfortunately, all they seem to do is sit around and shoot the breeze. This made for a long and arduous read that was utterly unsatisfying and incredibly pretentious. While boxing purists may argue that the subtle nuances of a training camp are what makes the sport of boxing so great, I say that regardless of one's opinion of boxing and all of it's facets, 'The Professional' lacks the key element of what makes a novel great: a good story.

All in all, 'The Professional' does more than disappoint, it reveals Heinz's attitude towards both boxing and writing.

And both of those can be summed up in one word.

Pretentious.

'The Long Fall' by Walter Mosley

Walter Mosley's latest book introduces the reader to a new main character, and a myriad of supporting and passing characters that make their way through the main character's life. The protagonist, Leonid McGill, is a shady New York PI who has turned his life around and is trying to make his way through the world with his new set of values. Though he is not averse to somewhat illegal investigation techniques, McGill is basically the tough but honest PI that dominated the novels of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. This, combined with Mosley's brilliant character development and vibrant setting descriptions, make 'The Long Fall' an amazing read.

Unlike Easy Rawlins, Paris Minton, and Socrates Fortlow, Leonid McGill harbors little anger at the world around him, but rather participates in the world with an ambivalent knowledge of the unfair and seemingly random nature of the world. This makes for interesting confrontations and conversations throughout the novel, punctuated by Mosley's amazing talent for snappy, witty dialgoue.

'The Long Fall' contains most of the staples of Walter Mosley: interracial relationships, infidelity, murder, exquisiste foods, detailed family histories, and a main character that seems to have the world against him. The main difference between Leonnid McGill and Easy Rawlins, Paris Minton, and Fearless Jones, however, aside from the fact that Leonid McGill lives in 2008 New York, is that the plot of 'The Long Fall' is almost secondary to the events, memories, and experiences that make up the foundation for the plot to travel. As I finished the book, I almost didn't care about the mystery, as I was already enchanted with the dialgoue and character development.

If Hammett and Chandler had been born 50 years later, this is what their novels would be like. Walter Mosley has bridged the gap that was left when they stopped writing.

If Leonid McGill is the future of Walter Mosley's prolific literary canon, then I say Long Live Leonid McGill.