Twenty or so years ago my mother said to me "son, you should read the Fletch books." I didn't. I don't know why -- I loved the movie Fletch and generally enjoyed the books my mom recommended. But, I guess I chose this refusal as my way to rebel. And rebel I did! I did not read Gregory Mcdonald's Fletch series until now, as a thirty-four year old who has sown his wild oats. And, oh what wild oats they were! I was freaking crazy.
I was hanging out at 1/2 Price Books trying to save a buck when I happened by the "M" section of the old paperbacks. The Fletch books called out to me and I finally gave in. One of the great things about buying old books at this store is that they really stick to the 1/2 price idea. Back in the '70s and '80s these books were going for $3.50, so I walked out of there paying just $1.75 each. I bought the only three they had (while the stories are the same, I did not buy those sleek reissues shown on the right. Amazon.com doesn't offer pictures of my copies and I like pictures....).
If you liked the movie Fletch, and who didn't?, these books are great. The Fletch theme music is buzzing through my head at every page. The dialog is the best I've ever read, and I've read a lot of dialog. An easy 50% of the things Irwin Maurice Fletcher says makes me think "I wish I said that." Ninety-five per cent of what he says makes me think "I wish I wrote that." The dialog is crisp, fast, hardly ever cluttered with unnecessary "he saids" and "she saids," and goes on for pages and pages without silly filler information about where the characters are or what they see. Stuff you think is important until you blast through ten pages of witty repartee with a smile on your face.
Fletch's Fortune is the first I read. Like I said, the dialog floored me. I recently poked around the Internet and found that Kevin Smith, famed director of Clerks, claims that he learned how to write dialog from reading these books. Also, he has owned the rights to a Fletch book for some time and is in the process of figuring out who can play I. M. Fletcher. Fletch's Fortune moved quickly and was a joy to read. The story was there and it was solid enough, but that's not why I was tuning in. I was there for the banter. Gregory Mcdonald was/is a master (I have no idea if he's still writing -- Greg, if you're reading, please let me know if you're okay).
Fletch and the Widow Bradley was next. Another fun story filled with wisecracks and whatnot. I figured out the ending with about 70 pages to go so I only gave it a four of five stars. I'm harsh like that. I am now reading Carioca Fletch. It started out slowly compared to the others and at one point I wondered if it was written by someone else, but it's returned to the dialog-rich storytelling I was looking for.
1/2 Price Books is now my favorite haunt. I'm going to hang out there waiting for some chump to come in hawking his used Fletch books. I got a buck six bits on me, sure I do. Good clean fun is what it is. If only I'd listened to my mom back in '85, I wouldn't have wasted these last 20 years knowing nothing of the allure of Fletch novels. Mom, you were right.
It warms a mother's heart to hear that!
Posted by: Mom | February 22, 2006 at 12:14 AM