The Turnaround by George Pelecanos Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Turnaround
Book Review: Not Pelecanos' best work
Summary: 3 Stars
Let me first say that I love George Pelecanos. He wrote some of the best episodes of "The Wire" and I read "The Night Gardener," "Soul Circus" and "Hard Revolution" with great earnestness. No writer that I'm aware of captures urban America with as much detail and flair as he does.
He gives you a great feeling of "being there" - in this case D.C. - and he does it through the details of what people wear, the music they listen to, the cars they drive, the booze they drink, the look of the buildings. I love it how he captures the brand names of the products people consume and what it says about them. He's great at that. This is familiar to anyone who's read one of his novels and its almost instantly winnable.
And perhaps that's why "The Turnaround" was, well, too familiar in a way. Pelecanos does not seem to change up the archetypes in his novels too much. There's always pot-smoking wayward youth, a foolish and violent ghetto villain, and the middle-aged, hard-working blue collar heroes who claw their way through the twisted world to find justice.
Unlike his other novels, much of "The Turnaround" is not set in the hood. He doesn't seem preoccupied with society as much in this one as he is with how individual characters respond to and process events. In that sense, it's refreshing and different and perhaps more humanistic. But, come on, can he write one character that does not praise '70s R&B and soul?!? I just feel that he could benefit from changing it up a bit more. The dialogue was too similar to his other stories.
Also, I wasn't happy with the ending. The ending of "The Night Gardener" by comparison was very raw and striking and powerful, but this one was well.... you'll see. I thought the writing in this one was just a touch off too.
Pelecanos is very clear in his stories about who he likes and doesn't like. It makes the story appealing and straightahead, but again, I've been down this road with his other novels. After you read this one, you're gonna wanna head to your nearest grease-spoon diner and just marvel at the people around you. See, not many writers can make you want to do that can they?
Anyways, it's a good read, but I didn't find it as compelling or memorable as his other works. If you're gonna read one of his books, get "The Night Gardener."
Book Review: Not for the crime solver type
Summary: 2 Stars
Generally, I am not a reader of crime or mystery novels. I read Mr Pelecanos' previous book - The Night Gardener - because I saw a number of good reviews, and also the fact that it takes place in Washington, DC. The author and I are about the same age, and we both grew up in DC.
Unlike the Night Gardener, there is not a crime or mystery to be solved in The Turnaround. It starts out with an interesting incident, but beyond that, there is not much to resolve, and very little tension. The little surprise at the end is disappointing, like being 12 years old and getting socks for Christmas instead of a bicycle.
Still, it is pleasant to read, especially if you keep in mind that nothing really happens. And Mr Pelecanos' description in chapter 4 of the July 4, 1972 Rolling Stones concert at RFK was dead accurate and amusing. Just like the characters in the book, I was there as a teenager with my two best buddies.
Book Review: One Incident Impacts Lives
Summary: 4 Stars
The Turnaround is a true story of three white kids who on a summer day, went into a black neighborhood and had an incident with three black kids which affected them for years. It's a real page turner; however, not for everyone. I recommend it to anyone who likes reading about "street life."Book Review: Out of the Past
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been a huge Pelecanos fan since I discovered his books in the early '90s, so every new one from him is something to be savored over a long weekend. I finally got a chance to sit down and read this latest, and am happy to report that it's a return to his usual excellent form after the somewhat disappointing Night Gardener. Fans of out and out crime books may not be so pleased though, because, as is becoming more obvious with every book, Pelecanos is losing his interest in telling crime stories, and is more interested in telling human stories.
Here, he returns to a classic noir theme, the inescapability of the past. The book opens in 1972, where we meet three teenage white boys living in Maryland, just outside Washington, DC. We also meet three teenage black boys, who live in a nearby black enclave (named Heathrow Heights in the book and Ken-Gar in real life). It's obvious that the two groups of boys come from very similar backgrounds and have very similar interests, and that race is more or less all that separates them. So, when the white kids ill-advisedly cruise into black neighborhood and shout the n-word at the black kids, the resulting violence is both inevitable and tragic.
Fast-forward some thirty-five years, and those teenage boys are now middle-aged men trying to get on with their lives. Alex Pappas is literally scarred from that encounter, and is the embodiment of the hard-working, blue-collar, Greek character that pops up in many of Pelecanos' work. Like Pelecanos himself, Alex is the son of a diner owner who is one forced to take over the family business as a teenager when his WWII vet father gets ill. Unlike Pelecanos, Alex is trapped by his role as family provider, and can only dream of a different life. Raymond Monroe has stumbled a few times over the years, but is holding it together as a physical therapist at Walter Reed Medical Center (the country's premier rehab facility for soldiers) and has a nice girlfriend and surrogate son. When Alex and Raymond run into each other one day, they realize that they've never been able to fully escape the tragedy from their childhood.
What follows is a story of redemption and hope for Alex, Raymond, and Raymond's older brother (who went to jail for a long time for what happened in 1972). There is a significant plotline involving a cunning career criminal who attempts to blackmail Alex and the other surviving white kid, and while it does provide necessary drama and tension, it almost feels like something from another book. And to a certain extent, it embodies the thematic tension within Pelecanos's more recent work -- he loves the crime genre, but with fifteen books now, one gets the sense he's more than ready to move beyond it. In his last few books, the best parts have been the domestic scenes, problems, and characters, and although his next book is still crime-centric, it wouldn't be surprising if book #17 is completely crime-free. If the book has a flaw, it might be that it's a little too, well, hopeful, at the end. Things get resolved rather more conveniently than in most of Pelecanos' books, and again, it's not hard to imagine that as he gets older as a writer and father, he need to find some measure of hope in the world, for both his characters and his own kids.
Book Review: Outstanding, Feel Good Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a story about the pain and hardships of growing up in 1972 era Washington DC. It really is not your typical who-done-it, you basically know who committed the crime, however, that is not the point of this great read.
Three young stupid white kids, high on smoke and beer, drive into an all black neighborhood to harass anyone who gets in their way. They pick the wrong three teens and someone gets killed. The remainder of the book details the lives of all the participants during the next 35 years. All of them are touched somehow by the "incident." Some grow through the experience and some just grow old. The ending of this story is extremely touching and heartwarming. You too will be touched by another great work by Mr. Pelecanos