The NIGHT GARDENER

by George Pellicanos

I don't think any book we've read has ever engendered a more spirited discussion then Mr. Pellecanos' Night Gardener. This book was recommended to us by one of our most dependable readers and once again, she brought us something memorable. We were in complete agreement on one facet of the book; it's dialog. To all of us, the patois, the expressive language, most importantly, the rhythm of the Washington DC street culture came alive under the author's hand.

We in southern California's San Fernando Valley, of course, live at the opposite side of the country from this particular street culture but we do have our own, and more importantly, it just rang true to all of us. It is an amazing thing to read words that just tumble and rumble to the point you can hear the rhythm and cadence as spoken word in your mind.

Where the spirited discussion began was over plotting and story line, maybe to some degree character development. One half of the group was polarized towards forgiving the author nearly everything as the word pictures and dialog moved the story towards its conclusion. For the other half, who appreciated the author's facility with dialog were less certain of the amazing 5 stars that were being handed out (we almost NEVER give 5 stars to ANYONE!) because of perceived weakness in plotting and pace. We were all pressed to explore how we really felt about this book, some of its implications and how we expressed our feelings about the book.

So whether we agreed on all the points of the book we all agreed that it was a lively and interesting meeting despite the somewhat distracting surroundings and that it would be great to have books that brought such rousing discussions every month. That alone qualifies it as one of our best books read this year.

4 STARS - but our polarization represents two 5's and two 3.5's so those who loved it, really loved it.