★★★☆☆ I've had enough

Black Betty

Walter Mosley

OK. I give up. I have now read four of Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins mystery series. I do not look forward to the next with eagerness. In fact, I think of it yet another chore to be gotten through. And with each one I read, it turns out, indeed, to be a chore.

The problem is that they're just too much hard work to read. Now, I am willing to work hard on a novel, if the reward justifies it. These do not. They are not even slightly entertaining. I don't really care about Easy or what happens to him next. (I do rather care about his best friend Mouse, who is overall a far more vivid presence than Easy.)

Now, I DO get it. The Easy Rawlins novels show what life was like for black folks in mid-20th century Los Angeles -- GRIM. I feel like I've gotten the message as well as I'm gonna get it. Enough. I won't read any more Easy Rawlins novels.

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