In "Early Autumn," by Robert B. Parker, the private eye has come a long way from the dissolute days when he was a hell-raising, hard-drinking womanizer with a license to carry a gun. Spenser, Mr. Parker's detective, is a baby-sitter in the seventh novel of this popular series.
He salvages Paul, a 15-year-old boy whose divorced parents each want him only to spite the other. Paul is "thin, nasty, apathetic and withdrawn." In a surge of supererogation, Spenser takes him to Maine and starts him running, boxing, lifting weights, reading, talking, listening to music and building a house. As you can see, "Early Autumn" is a bildungsroman.
This is a free excerpt of 106 words. There are 188 words (approx.
1 page at 300 words per page) in the full critical essay.
Read the rest of this Criticism with our Parker, Robert B(rown) 1932–: Critical Essay by Anatole Broyard Access Pass.
