The Beetle Leg. [Hardcover]

John. HAWKES (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: NY: New Directions; Second printing. edition (1968)
• ASIN: B002SMC8VW
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nobody writes like this anymore, July 29, 2003

By 

knucklehead (Beloit, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beetle Leg (New Directions Paperback) (Paperback)

This is a surrealistic western, basically, with language so odd, crisp, and surprising that every page has to be savored. Hawkes is a tremendously perceptive writer, whether he's dealing with the violent or the mundane. Readers should give this and THE BLOOD ORANGES a chance. His voice is strange, and takes time to grow on you; but once it does, his books begin to seem like a mixture of poetry and noir.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars recommended by John Gardner, February 21, 2009

By 

Heavy Theta (Lorton, Va United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Beetle Leg (New Directions Paperback) (Paperback)

In Gardner's The Art of Fiction he sites two examples of the rare and difficult "lyrical" format: Finnegan's Wake, of course, and The Beetle Leg. Not an easy read, but not so challenging as, say, William Gaddis, a contemporary of Hawkes. (Both authors could be described as genius.)

Beetle Leg has a very dreamy quality, along with a definite rhythm within the fragments of non-linear plot. It's like sudden moments of clarity flashing within a sleepy haze of resonating detail. And within that detail is an authenticity and intimacy that is both compelling and haunting

Really a stunning piece of work.

3.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Esoteric, October 18, 2011

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ACD - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Beetle Leg (New Directions Paperback) (Paperback)

I feel like I just got finished beating my forehead against a tree trunk. A friend (who's notorious for enjoying viciously difficult literature) recommended Hawkes to me and I picked this one after reading the synopsis in Amazon, something about a 'classic.' I feel there is only so much I could glean from each chapter, with each paragraph unglued from context and full of random descriptions. "The calf raised its bush for love or rain." As they're driving a truck followed by a wagon in the middle of the night towards an artificial lake for what reason? So the fat tourist can fish? And now Lampson is calling Doc "Pa?" Hey, here's a groovy rooster scene, are you confused yet? And why the hell is the drugged sheriff interested in taking Wade down to fish? Why are any of them besides Luke going? Are the Devils in the jail before or after the violence at the end and what can we learn or draw out of the dialog in the jail either way? If serious readers read to learn, as I do, about life and everything in it, to gain perspective, then what have I gained?
I felt like I was reading McCarthy minus the lyricism and philosophy with every other paragraph deleted. If you know of anyone reviewer/scholar that's attempted to put this in chronological order and extract some type of narrative (like a cognitive psychologist who understand how memory and meaning work) from it, then please email me at [e-mail].