Train

Rating:
Summary: Violence and Tenderness
Review: In the grand tradition of Los Angeles noir, Pete Dexter's new novel Train, is framed in black and white by the minds eye. Yet Dexter has applied his considerable skill to softening the edges; it is delicately written noir.

Train is Lionel Walk, a black caddy at a posh Brentwood country club, whose world seems populated only by malevolent forces: the crass racism of the country club members, the criminal element among his fellow caddies, and the undisguised malice of his mother's lover. In the same city, and yet, of course, in another world entirely, a woman named Norah is brutally attacked and her husband is murdered while they are on their yacht, anchored off the coast. Norah manages to escape into the arms of a mysterious cop, Miller Packard, whom Train will later dub "Mile Away Man," which sets the book careening towards its inevitable conclusion. Packard is brilliantly written as both heroic rescuer and herald of malignant chaos.

The mystery inherent in this book is not of the whodunit variety - we know from the start who commits the murder on the yacht - rather it is to see which of the forces that seem to inhabit Packard will win out in the end. In fact, one of the strengths of the book is Dexter's ability to embody his characters with such ethereal qualities. Packard seems as though he has been touched by some unmentioned force that torments him. Train, meanwhile, has been similarly touched, and though this force is of pure benevolence, one cannot be sure if it will be strong enough to lift him from his circumstances. Train turns out to be, of all things, a golf prodigy, which would be a lucrative gift for almost anyone except someone in Train's circumstances. Instead, his unaccountable proficiency serves only to further enmesh his life with that of Packard and Norah and a blind former boxer named Plural.

Train is bleak but captivating. The book unfolds in front of you, and you find yourself not wanting to look away.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent writing, flawed story, extreme violence
Review: Pete Dexter paints a vivid picture of life for Afro-Americans in 1950s L.A., but he doesn't have the plot to go with it. The story of Train, an Afro-American golf caddie, is excellently told. The other two characters are less well-rounded. Is Packard really a police sergeant? He seems to work only part-time, if that. I couldn't get a real reading on him. And Norah. The description of what happens to her is almost too awful to read. I feel that Dexter invented her as a pivot to connect Packard and Train.

I think the plot lost steam as Packard began taking Train to play golf for money. Dexter tried to tie it all up in the end, but the novel lost its focus in my opinion. Who is the lead character afterall? I finished the book feeling up in the air about what I am supposed to think.

As for Train, why is he so tied to Plural? I guess he'll just go on as best he can. The descriptions of him and his dog tugged at my heart. Being inside Train's head is a wonderful experience. But readers who want a more well rounded Dexter book should go for his novel "Paris Trout." That is a real winner.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't work
Review: The author tries to pull together a varied cast of characters,
and from various periods of our history, and it doesn't
seem to work.
There is much brutality presented, and old-time racism is at
the heart of much of the writing, but this book doesn't make
it very interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Racism is a Losing Proposition
Review: This is a tough book to like. None of the characters are all that redeeming yet I recommend this book because of its insights on the destructive results of racism and discrimination. Dexter has an important perspective on the subject which tends to show how everyone loses. He also tends to imply that as destructive as racism is, we are all vulnerable to being sucked into it.

The main character in this book is a caddy names Lionel "Train" Walk who is truly a great golfer and eventually is befriended by a policeman/hustler Miller Packard.

Being a black caddy in Los Angeles a number of decades ago was not a pleasant experience. During the book, Lionel will be wrongly arrested and will have problems keeping a job.

The one job he eventually lands is in playing golf for high stakes with Miller Packard who funds the entire enterprise while relying on Train's abilities. Packard's experience with racism is exacerbated by the experience of his girlfriend, a social activist whose husband is brutally murdered.

Throughout the book, the characters will encounter a number of challenging events that often force them to reconsider their stands on race and relationships. The only constant in the book is a dark and bleak outlook along with Lionel's stellar golfing.

As a whole, the book will not leave you with a warm feeling about humanity but will cause you to think long and hard about an important subject.

The only annoyance is there seems to be a few plot threads that are left hanging in the end. Still, worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Really 4 and 1/2 stars.
Review: This was my first encounter with Pete Dexter's writing, and it certainly makes me want to find his other works. This novel avoids the cliches and easy answers that many books dealing with race seem to embrace, and that makes it a welcome change from other works.

It is 1950's era Los Angeles, and the three main characters are headed for a kind of awkward collision through the course of its pages. There's a mysterious detective (who doesn't do much detecting, oddly), an heiress who is the victim of a horrific attack, and the title character who caddies and eventually golfs his way into a kind of respectability. Dexter's brilliance resides in his ability to describe concisely both the characters and the scene, building his plot through seemingly small events to a logical conclusion.

This book will appeal to people familiar with film noir and its trappings, but it will also resonate with anyone interested in the recent past and the plight of African-Americans and those who have exploited race issues for their own ends. Parts made me angry, and other parts gave me a real sense of how Train saw the world.

Any time a writer can open a world for me, I feel better when finishing his work. Although it's not a feel good kind of book, Train did give me a fresh perspective on the recent past.