FROM THE MANSION TO THE TRAILER PARK

In another diversion from my usual diet of Italian and Scandinavian crime fiction, I have just started reading Tomato Red by Daniel Woodrell. Although this book is classified under the lable of "Country Noir" I have a strong feeling that West Table, Missouri might have a few things in common with Vigata, Sicily.

In the first few pages I have come across lines that struck me as very evocative of small rural towns in both the USA and the UK, and the immense social gulf that exists in them.

"Rich folk apparently love their spectacular views, pay dear for them, I'm sure, so there was all this glass."

"This mansion is not but about a rifle shot from the trailer park, but it seemed like I'd undergone interplanetary travel. I'd never collided with this world before."

"This caliber of a place makes you want to discriminate against yourself, basically, as it reveals you as such a loser."

I do envy Woodrell's ability to convey so much anger with so few words