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David Peace's Red Riding Quartet

  • 16-11-2009 7:07pm
    #1
    Morzadec
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,952 ✭✭✭


    Just finished David Peace's Red Riding Quartet - 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983.
    Certainly not like anything I've ever read before and very original. Quite a challenging read at times, and certainly not for the faint hearted when it comes to foul language, seedy sex and violence. The 70s and 80s Yorkshire he conjures is a pretty brutal place.

    I'm posting here because I'm interested if anyone has read it and could shed some light on parts of the book. I'm left with so many questions. It certainly isn't your typical 'everything wrapped up in a neat little package' crime book where all the mysteries are answered and everything is accounted for. However, I can't help but feel that I've missed some vital points and that someone could shed some light on things.

    If anyone thinks they have a good grasp on the events of the books I would be interested in discussing them! I feel like it would take at least 2 re-readings of all 4 books to start to understand everything that went on.


Comments

  • #2
    randomguy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 289 ✭✭randomguy


    Am watching the film versions on telly at the moment - recorded them a few months back. Really atmospheric, dark and gritty, but damned hard to follow. So it sounds like they are faithful to the source material from your description.

    It was only at the very end of the second that I actually got what had happened in the first. There's only 3, so going to watch the 3rd one tonight and hope it helps make a bit more sense of the other two.


  • #3
    Morzadec
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,952 ✭✭✭Morzadec


    randomguy wrote: »
    Am watching the film versions on telly at the moment - recorded them a few months back. Really atmospheric, dark and gritty, but damned hard to follow. So it sounds like they are faithful to the source material from your description.

    It was only at the very end of the second that I actually got what had happened in the first. There's only 3, so going to watch the 3rd one tonight and hope it helps make a bit more sense of the other two.

    I saw 1974 (the first one) and I thought that the acting, the atmosphere and the general look of it was excellent, exactly how I imagined. However I also thought the plot would be almost impossible to follow for someone who hadn't read the books. It felt ridiculously rushed as well, and they left out some important characters and diminished the role of others to fit them in.

    Also how they intend to make a quartet into a trilogy is beyond me. The Tv adaptions have left out 1977 and I can't see how the whole thing would tie together without it. From what I've heard about the TV series the plotting of the story is very poor, but what can you expect when you try to squeeze 4 books into 3 2-hour episodes. I would still be interested in seeing the other 2 episodes though, hopefully they'll show them again soon.

    I'd recommend the books though (at least give 1974 a try and see how you go from there). As I said, not always the easiest to read - there are so many charcters in it to keep track of and Peace's writing style can sometimes be a bit strange.

    I guess I'm used to reading crime novels that have very sewn up endings but I feel like I'm left with more questions than answers after these books.


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