Stu’s Reviews
Genre: Novel
Grade: B+/B
Notable People: Jim Harrison
Title: The Big Seven
Review: First thing is, as you may know, I am a huge fan of Jim Harrison. In addition, to an extraordinary legacy of great fiction, he has been a master of the short story collection in recent years. His prose is that of the great legends of the craft. That all said, his recent novels have been a bit tiring with an almost absurd Hemingway-like focus of conquering nature, living the good fight, traumatic aging and conquering younger woman. This is the second is a series he started a few years ago, featuring the retired Upper Peninsula police detective, Sunderson. Sunderson is having hard time living without his ex-wife and turns this into an endless reflection on loss and endless sexual pursuit that tends to drift across the country. The cases to be solved are secondary-it’s certainly not a detective novel-almost a parody of one. The “Big Seven” refers to the seven deadly sins, to which Sunderson wants to add an eight. Harrison remains a great writer and these novels showcase his aging humor, but I long for the more serious novels which left you moved in many ways. Good-not great