A Long Slow Screw

Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, Frank Miller and...Eugene S. Robinson?

You may not have heard of Eugene Robinson, or if you have you may have connected him solely with the band he fronts; Oxbow. But Eugene's debut crime fiction novel will probably get you pretty psyched if you're a fan of the former three artists mentioned above.

Eugene is a multi-faceted individual and artist, but since we're talking about the book then that's where we'll start. It's pretty much a pulp noir novel set in New York City, in I believe an undisclosed era. I get the impression it's the 70's, but historical details are intentionally left absent. I'm sure I'm the umpteenth person to compare him to Tarantino and if Eugene is fed up with said comparison then he shouldn't be, because that's like saying you're fed up being favorably compared to a fucking god. As we know, Tarantino is one of the great auteurs of cinematic history and it's clear that both Robinson and Tarantino have similar points of reference that they infuse in their art. This is a gangster novel. There's a heist, there's a femme fatale (kinda), there's an anti-hero protagonist, there're classic mob goons, crooked cops, and plenty of unique 'bad guys' that would find a safe home in a Punisher comic. Frank Castle would love to fuck these crooks over.

The dialogue and general caper are the immediate nods to Tarantino and Ritchie, while the mood and the love interest is a bit more Frank Miller. The book starts off a bit rocky, to be honest. It takes a short while to get used to Robinson's writing. It feels clunky at times. It doesn't have the finesse of Ritchie or the flamboyant elegance of Tarantino. Robinson tries. And it's a good read. But don't expect him to dethrone either of those two when it comes to gangster patter. At times some of his sentences are a little too verbose, but I still appreciate the sentiment behind them even if they're not totally refined. Maybe it's because the flair is peppered in there and not consistent? But if it were consistent then it might be much harder to get through, so maybe he's just decided to throw us some cool little nuggets here and there. It's cool. I appreciate the flair for style. And I'm not one to criticize anyone for being too verbose. Sheeeit.

Bad Eye read the book in two sittings. He really enjoyed it and pretty much agrees with my take on it, I think. I picked the book up after seeing Eugene doing spoken word in support of Scott Kelly's acoustic show. Being a huge Neurosis fan I was stoked to see him and intrigued to see what Robinson would do. I had no idea. I have seen some crazy videos of Oxbow and hoped it wouldn't involve nudity or sleeper-holds. Thankfully he took a seat and essentially plugged the book through stories of his past and stories about him interviewing gangsters to use as fodder for his book. I dug it and bought the book.

Here comes the only bad part: The physical book. For being a label that prides themselves on packaging, Hydra Head need to up their game when it comes to print publications. About an inch of protective covering was peeling and ripping the cover before I even got home from the show. It's bubbling and just reveals the cheap and tacky finishing method they used on the book. The bindery didn't align all the pages correctly and some of the opening pages were slightly askew. But most annoying of all...the fucking editing. Did someone read the manuscript or proof this thing before it went to press? There are a significant amount of carriage returns throughout the book that break paragraphs mid-sentence. It's not like it ruins the book by any means, but it frustrated me (as a designer) since I look for typo's every day at work. Don't let the production values stop you from reading the book. I'm just pointing it out. Hydra Head, please fix for the next edition.

So there you have it. For fans of A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, A Bronx Tale, Sleepers, Reservoir Dogs, Snatch, Sin City, etc. It's a great gangster noir novel and well worth the read.