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Red Harvest - March 2023 Book Club Reading

Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
Red Harvest is a 'detective' novel by Dashiell Hammett. The story is narrated by the Continental Op, a frequent character in Hammett's fiction, much of which is drawn from his own experiences as an operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency (fictionalized as the Continental Detective Agency). The plot follows the Op's investigation of several murders amid a labor dispute in a corrupt Montana mining town. Some of the novel was inspired by the Anaconda Road massacre, a 1920 labor dispute in the mining town of Butte, Montana.


The book was published in 1929. It was Hammett's first published novel.
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Just got this from the library, Red Harvest was only available as part of a compilation of Dashiell Hammett's novels. Looks like Red Harvest is only 140 pages long? Since I'm going to get a late start on this and won't have much time to read at the end of the month no complaints from me! Maybe I'll get through another one too, I have read The Maltese Falcon but none of the others.
 
Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
I started this yesterday. It's definitely a book written in 1929. Also, the original mystery was solved pretty quickly. Now it's just turning into a blood bath.
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
This really isn't clicking for me. I've never been a huge detective/mystery genre fan so not shocking this wouldn't be my thing but oh well.
 
Falselogic

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
It's definitely showing its age and it from what I've read its Dashiell's most violent work. Someone suggested that you read it from a socialist perspective and as an indictment of the corruption of capitalism, especially the rough-shod version of it that used to, who am I kidding, still controls some towns and cities in the United States. It's still a rough read but in that light its a a good damning of our free market system. Especially, because the book is nearly 100 years old and there isn't much improvement.
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Whoof, I've never been good at economics and now that you say that I'm seeing those undertones too. But reading about economic/class stuff requires a very specific brain place for me so I think it's even less likely for this book to interest me.
 
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