THE EXPENDABLE MAN, Dorothy B. Hughes
A resident at UCLA hospital reluctantly gives a teenager a ride on a deserted road near Phoenix. Right from the beginning, he seems guilty, worried, and we wonder if he perhaps is an unreliable narrator. His actions seems blameless so why the fretting. The girl comes to his hotel room later that night, demanding an abortion, which he refuses to do.
But after 50 or so pages of his fretting and pacing, we find out why he is overly concerned and it changes everything we have thought about him until that point. Irritatingly, many reviews will give this away so if you plan on reading the novel, stay away from other reviews. I think this moment in the novel is far too important to be divulged. Written in 1963, THE EXPENDABLE MAN was one of Hughes' last works and it reflects much of what is coming in the later sixties. Although she didn't die for another thirty years, her only other writing seems to be a biography of Erle Stanley Gardner.
I found this to be a moderately exciting read although I must confess that Hughes' progressive thinking in some areas is undercut by her judgmental attitude in others. Perhaps this reflects the time, but she comes down very hard on doctors who provide abortions and girls who need them. It is well-written and the characters are deftly drawn. We get a good sense of Phoenix at the time. All in all, a good if not perfect read.
10 comments:
I read this a few years back. Unfortunately I knew the plot twist in advance which spoiled the story. I found it a good not great novel. I had a similar experience with Agatha Christie's Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
This is one I had heard about, Patti, but not yet read. I'm glad you mentioned it here. I know just what you mean, too, about the balance between progressivism and being judgmental...
I have a couple of Dorothy B. Hughes mysteries on my shelves. I don't recall reading one. Now I'll have to take another look.
IN A LONELY PLACE is the one I have liked most.
I had this in an Avon series I collected in the '70s, the Avon Classic Crime Collection - I still have two Maigrets from that - and definitely remember hearing the 'twist' before I read it.
I've been wanting to read this for years, not sure what happened to my copy, I'll have to track it down again. Thanks for the review, Patti, and bringing it back onto my radar.
It is interesting (putting it mildly) the degree to which the lack of safety with which abortions were frequently offered at midcentury, and the less than savory people who were sometimes the only providers available to some women and girls, led some in literature, etc., to simply treat the whole matter as Of Course purely criminal and no other aspects nor perspectives need apply.
And we may soon be back in that position.
I don't think the default attitude is ever going back that way, however much McConnelling the Supreme Court suffers. It was of a piece with the notion of how girls (of all ages) should know better than to tempt men and deserve what they get as a consequence; as popular as that bit of rancid "wisdom" still is around the world, it isn't as popular as it once was in this country and at least a few others. That that is the most we can say isn't heartening, but it's something.
There's no "title" heading on this post, so it appears as a blank on link lists...
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