I have made it through Touch in my sequential re-reading of the non-western novels.  My opinion that Touch is my least favorite of those books was reinforced.  I think it violates Rule #10.  I found myself skipping over stuff. 

I am curious about the locale of St. John Bosco.  Almont, Michigan is a relatively obscure place.  The 2000 census lists the population of the village to be 2803, which surprised me.  I would be willing to bet it was half that when the book was written in 1977.  I know Almont well, having spent my high school years in the next village north of there.  Knowing that Elmore Leonard does not pick names out of a hat, I am curious if Gregg has any insight into his Almont connection.

One note to the researcher, the school bus that brought Richie Baker and the other kids to St. John Bosco said Lapeer County Schools.  Schools in that neck of the woods, like in the Detroit area, are organized by school district, not county, and the bus would have been labeled Almont Community School District, or something similar.

pbenjamin - 07 August 2007 07:37 PM

One note to the researcher, the school bus that brought Richie Baker and the other kids to St. John Bosco said Lapeer County Schools.  Schools in that neck of the woods, like in the the Detroit area, are organized by school district, not county, and the bus would have been labeled Almont Community School District, or something similar.

Gregg wasn’t the researcher in 1977.

Robb - 08 August 2007 12:36 AM

Gregg wasn’t the researcher in 1977.

I figured he wasn’t but I had to tell somebody….

Ben, what parts did you start skipping? I’d like to know because I admire Touch unreservedly. It’s the only example of the EL Method being applied to a subject that not even a perverse mind could call “Genre”.

If I had the book in front of me I could cite some examples, but the short answer is “the religious stuff”.  I get it that here he is writing about something different for a change, I just don’t have much interest in what he is writing about.  I had a similar reaction to all of the AA discussion in Unknown Man No. 89, but it wasn’t as dominant.

It’s Paul, by the way, not Ben.

pbenjamin - 08 August 2007 02:27 PM

If I had the book in front of me I could cite some examples, but the short answer is “the religious stuff”.  I get it that here he is writing about something different for a change, I just don’t have much interest in what he is writing about.  I had a similar reaction to all of the AA discussion in Unknown Man No. 89, but it wasn’t as dominant.

It’s Paul, by the way, not Ben.

The AA part in UNKNOWN MAN is excellent!

The religious stuff in Touch boils down to 2 important principles found in much of Elmore’s work: seeing what… hold on, this could be the opportunity for a Slater kind of riff.

The religious stuff in Touch
Two important threads
Running through EL’s stories
Looking
Seeing
Looking at what is there
Seeing what is really there
Rule #94 to see you have to look
Accepting what you see
Accepting what you really are.

I had no issues with, enjoyed and understood the business that says here is this guy, he is what he is, accept what is going on, don’t assign things to him and so on.  Maybe I should have said the historic (curious word) religious stuff.  There was all of this context about St. Francis, and the martyrs and suchwhat that August Murray was obsessed with.  That is what I didn’t like.  Sorta like why I prefer the Orsay over the Louvre.

personal preferences are hard to overcome
we’ve heard that EL does not appear in his writing
these are two very real examples where he does
two very important real life issues that Dutch knows about
has struggled with
found comfort
understanding

sequential rereading of non westerns
sounds like a messier catagory
call it
Eastern Elmore?

Yeah, whatever. Did you know it’s easier to pick up girls in the Louvre? It’s a fact,.

good point ddog
to see
you have to look
meteor showers tonite
soak your head