Customer Reviews

A Diet of Treacle (Hard Case Crime)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lawrence Block has been writing for around fifty years, primarily mysteries. In his early days, he churned out novels quickly, more interested in making a little money and establishing himself than trying to produce material of real quality. That would come later. A Diet of Treacle is one of his earliest works, originally published in 1961, and while it definitely has a feel of a cheap, throwaway paperback, it also is a Lawrence Block book, and that means it is good.

A Diet of Treacle focuses on the lives of three characters in New York's Beat culture, where you're either Hip or Square. Joe Milani is an ex-soldier who after Korea, has come back to the States disillusioned and gone from Square to Hip, spending his days getting stoned on pot and not doing much else. Shank is his drug-dealing roommate, a sociopath who has little regard for most people but who likes Joe and allows him to live off of Shank's drug profits. Anita is a nice girl who goes slumming and falls quickly for Joe; she wants to shed her Square life and become Hip, but she finds it hard to completely shed her Squareness.

The three will wind up sharing the same apartment, a recipe for potential disaster, especially considering that Shank views women as mere objects that he has no qualms about raping if they don't willing give in to his attentions. When Shank goes from dealing pot to the more profitable heroin, things will get them tangled up with the law and the unplanned complications that result.

This novel is good but not without its problems, most notably with Joe, the story's nominal hero who is such a willing loser that he's hard to really sympathize with. Anita has her own self-destructive streak, leaving the reprehensible Shank as the dominant character. I think this is what Block intended as he is somewhat critical of the Beat Generation (although he is never condescending and also sees the flaws of the Squares); still, it makes it harder to really embrace anyone in this book. Nonetheless, for fans of Block - or of these old pulpish novels - this is worth reading.

One of Lawrence Block's early pseudonymous books. Very short; I finished in about 3 hours. It was originally marketed in 1961 as a soft-core "smut" paperback, which is odd since there is very little sex, and the few scenes barely rise to a PG13 level. It was re-released in 2008 under the Hard Case Crime imprint, which is also odd since the murder subplot doesn't occur until the final 50 pages.

It feels like an experimental work by a young but obvously talented author who was testing his chops and finding his voice. And, some 50 years after its initial release, it is most interesting for its social satire of the beatnik movement of the 50's and the emerging hippie drug culture of the 60's.

Recommended for Block fans, obviously, but not necessarily on its own merits as a very good book.

It's really too early to tell, but it appears that one of my favorite books of 2008 is one that was originally published in 1961. Re-released by Hard Case Crime, A DIET OF TREACLE by Lawrence Block is a title worth re-reading --- or discovering for the very first time.

The novel is set in mid-20th century Greenwich Village during what has been called the "Beat" era. Glamorized by the mainstream media, the reality for most was far darker and seedier than the down-at-the-heels glamour that was imputed to it. Block focuses on that dark side with a laser-like aim, injecting a set of characters into a web of excess of sex, drugs and violence with a subtle undercurrent of world-weary nihilism.

There are three principals in A DIET OF TREACLE, somewhat different people whose lives intersect with dire results. Joe Milani is a Korean War veteran who is attending college in New York on the G.I. Bill, and doing well, when he abruptly terminates his studies and sinks into the idle Beat lifestyle. He is living with, and supported by, Leon "Shank" Maston, a quietly sociopathic marijuana dealer who is content with the living arrangement for reasons never quite made clear (there are some mild, though not overt, homosexual overtones to their relationship).

The dynamic between the two men changes when Milani meets Anita Carbone, a college student living in "wop Harlem" with her grandmother. Carbone is the stereotypical good girl (she agonizes about smoking on a public street), and her life appears to be all planned out. She is on her way to getting a degree and is in some state of pre-engagement to a man on the fast track to success. However, she is bored and, as a result, is attracted to Milani, who is everything her boyfriend is not. Carbone abruptly moves in with Milani and Maston, embracing the Beat lifestyle wholeheartedly and without reservation. Interestingly enough, it is Maston, not Milani, who changes, and not for the good.

Maston begins dealing heroin, in addition to the marijuana he previously had been selling, and his psychopathic tendencies move even farther to the forefront of his personality, culminating in an angry and shocking encounter that will have lasting repercussions for the three of them. His impulsive actions put the trio suddenly on the run, involving them in a dilemma from which there seems to be no escape --- until Milani and Carbone find one that is as obvious as it is unexpected.

Block has appeared to be incapable of writing badly, yet A DIET OF TREACLE is stunning on so many levels --- its characterization, its setting, its plotting --- as to exist in a class all by itself. It is hard to believe that this work did not remain in print since its initial publication. So it is a tribute to Hard Case Crime that it's available again, hopefully for good this time.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I have read many of the short stories by Lawrence Block on Kindle and have really liked them, then I saw this novel offered as an Amazon Prime selection so I figured I would give it a try.

Well I'm so glad I did, what an amazing read I loved it. Giving you a look into a world of sex, drug, and violence in the 60's as we get to live with these three lost souls who find themselves falling further and further into despair. Block's writing is top notch I read the whole book in one day I could not get away from it. I will be defiantly diving deeper into his Kindle catalog.

A Diet of Treacle is one of my all-time favourite Block books. New York in the swinging 60's is vividly brought to life, telling the story of Joe and Shank. Drugs play a major part of the story, but murder and rape is also brought to the table. Perhaps not to everyone's taste, but Block manages to make the reading compelling. Highly recommended. Buy it. Read it. Steal it.

This book hits you hard with the counter culture of the beat generation of the late 50s in Greenwich Village. A trio of young beatniks entertain themselves with drugs and philosophizing about how uncool the squares are. But you know something is brewing with the young drug dealer, who is volatile. He creates tension with the girl, and just as she is trying to get her and her boyfriend in a safer situation, things implode in a hurry. Soon our trio of misfits are on the run from the law, and just like so many black and white movies from the 50s, you know it isn't going to be a pretty ending.

A very enjoyable read!

It's a rare crime novel that sends the reader to a dictionary just to learn the definition of a title word. That's what I had to do for "treacle" in Lawrence Block's A Diet of Treacle. Bachelor's degree, Master's degree. I hold both and didn't' know that word. Go figure. Now, I do. It's an odd word, evoking fantastical things and people, not criminals and guns. Sure enough, the opening quote is from Alice in Wonderland. One word of advice: when you finish the novel, go back and re-read the excerpt. You'll have your `a-ha' moment. I did.

The cover synopsis focuses on Anita Carlone, good girl who is bored with life so much so that she starts living with her new man, Joe Morelli, and his roommate/sugar daddy, shank. As the novel progresses, I kept wondering why the focus was on her. This was clearly a book with three protagonists. Each person has his or her own life view and that worldview influences his or her decisions and reactions.

Joe and Shank live in Greenwich Village circa 1960: pre-JFK, pre-Vietnam, pre Summer of Love, pre-counterculture. They both smoke weed that Shank sells, talk in beat lingo, and that's about it. I have to praise the reader, Christian Conn, for employing different voices to bring these cats to life, Shank, especially. Conn gives Shank the nasally quality of a weasel. At first, I didn't like the reading. Then, I began to fear what's behind the voice. Block skillfully gives a little background on Shank early on so that each subsequent scene has some underlining tension to it.

As the story progresses, I kept waiting for the murder the cover blurb ("She went looking for thrills...and found murder") promised. It finally arrived at, of course, the most inopportune moment. One can guess what happens next. However, as their flight and hiding out continues, I kept wondering why Shank kept bothering to keep Joe and Anita around. Shank himself wonders why, too. Maybe it goes back to the quote. I couldn't figure it out, but the quote ties directly into the last sentence.

I rewound the track a few times, listening to the last line over and over before I smiled. As I mentioned in my reviews for Money Shot and Kiss Her Good-bye, it's a great book when the last sentence delivers a punch. This last sentence doesn't deliver that kind of blow, but it's a good one. It makes you pause and think, which is sometimes just as good as a punch in the gut.
[...]

Block is a grand master who never disappoints. This 1961 reprint offers a rat and roach's eye view of the beatster's Village. Two barely-likeable individuals and one distasteful thug come together and form a dysfunctional trinity. When the latter begins killing anyone and everyone who gets in his way the other two start to reconsider their triangulated relationship and the degree to which it is guaranteeing them a one-way trip to a ride on Old Sparky. Decision time.

As always with Block, the plotting is economical, the dialogue excellent, the multi-dimensional characters contributing to a bad juju stew. The suspense holds and the resolution is satisfying. Another gift from the past via Hard Case Crime. Enjoy.

"A Diet of Treacle" is another great novel from Hard Case Crime. It's not a mystery; it's more like a psychological portrait of three misfit characters on the fringes of "beat" culture in Greenwich Village in the late 1950's. The novel was originally published in 1961, so it has the ring of authenticity from that era. The story shows how ordinary, misguided people can get caught up in their own webs of confusion and aimlessness and make one bad choice after another, leading to acts of crime and betrayal. Highly recommended - this is a good story with compelling characters.

Lawrence Block has always produced excellent fiction and "A Diet of Treacle" is no exception. His exciting cast of characters are straight out of the beatnik generation, and for modern readers, read fresh and 'new'. Where the 1961 era would have found this book ground breaking, we see it on TV every night, but Mr Block makes it jump off the page.

Plot-wise, Anita Carbone meets two room-mates, Joe Milani and Shank. Selling pot to pay the rent, Shank becomes a vile, negative influence in their lives threatening to drag them down to his level. Block concocts a thrilling tale of escape and redemption.

This is one of Hard Case Crime's best entries over the last year.

Tim Lasiuta