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Title: Mailer's genre novel
Review: A frustrated writer awakens after a drinking binge to discover evidence that he may have committed murder. Like the hero of "An American Dream," he is mentally unstable and prone to superstition. Many have compared this novel to the books of Chandler and Hammett, but I did not find the prose to be as lean and mean as many reviewers would lead us to believe. Although the language is extraordinary, it is also filled with lengthy digressions, particularly toward the beginning, so much so that I began to despair of anything ever actually happening. Once the tale gets rolling, however, its a good one with terrific dialogue. Mailer brilliantly evokes a grim atmosphere in a struggling New England seacoast village.
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