Jonathan Lethem: Gun, with occasional music (2001, Faber)
262 pages
English language
Published Jan. 4, 2001 by Faber.
Gun, with Occasional Music is a 1994 novel by American writer Jonathan Lethem that blends science fiction and hardboiled detective fiction. The novel won Lethem the Locus Award for Best First Novel in 1995. It was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1994 and the cover art, illustrated by pulp artist Michael Koelsch, was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Original Art Work in 1995.
I like the interesting blend of classic hard-boiled/noir with sci-fi in this book. That mix is what lured me in, after seeing this short-but-intriguing review from Anna.
And hey, it delivered! Jonathan Lethem put some classics in the blender; an entertaining and interesting mix came out. A bit of successful salt/fat/acid/heat at the genre level, well played.
Some nicely bent futurist elements in an easy noir tone, but it doesn't bother going anywhere interesting with them.
I saw an article by J. Lethem in the LA Weekly last week; they didn't even refer to this book in his little mini-bio. That's a shame; this is a great book. Lethem captures the essence of the noir crime novel -- the metaphors, the hopelessness, the resignation. That it takes place in the future just accentuates the feeling of doom. The "memory box" that debuts toward the end is one of the most terrifying devices in literature, up there with the scuttling red crabs at the end of Wells' The Time Machine. Oh, the economy in this book is also based on karma. Signs of things to come?
