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Book Review of Ten Percent of Life

Ten Percent of Life
DameEdna avatar reviewed on + 149 more book reviews


From Library Journal
Uruguayan novelist Conteris has written a Philip Marlowe murder mystery with Raymond Chandler as a character. Marlowe is hired by a Los Angeles Times reporter to investigate the questionable suicide of a literary agent who secretly represented writers on Hollywood's blacklist. The work operates rather successfully on three levels: as a period mystery (1956), an experimental novel blending fact and fiction and shifting points of view, and a portrait of institutional oppression. Ably translated, the novel is a terse drama evoking an unpleasant era that sought to perpetuate systems at the expense of individuals. Recommended. Joseph Levandoski, Free Lib. of Philadelphia
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.