Vintage Vignettes on Varieties of Rain? Dining on Times Past? Casting Pearls Before Swine? Oh Yeah. Tim...

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	• Pastime Robert B. Parker Dove Audio, 1991 average customer review:based on 21 reviews
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highly recommended

Blood may be thicker, but water washes many transgressions away . . .

In this somewhat haunting note in the Spenser series, Paul Giacomin comes to Spenser asking for help in tracking down his mother, who has gone missing. Never the best of mothers - having often abandoned Paul to his own devices when he was younger, causing Paul to develop as a very neurotic youngster before Spenser took him under his wing in Early Autumn (as Paul says at one point "she used to literally hide under the bed . . . but I would find her") - Patty Giacomin had nonetheless kept in at least loose contact with her son through the years. However, when he had recently left several messages on her machine and then stopped by her house to find no one there, he became concerned. Spenser also suspects that Paul is seeking some resolution of the issues from his childhood, as he is now engaged to his significant other Paige and planning on marrying in the next year or so.

When Spenser begins investigating, he becomes concerned that he will learn something about which Paul would rather not know. Paul nonetheless insists on being involved every step of the way. Because of the nature of the investigation and the strain it puts on Paul, Spenser finds that talking about his own background and history to Paul helps distract the boy. (Up until now, much of this information has been a mystery to not only the characters, but also the reader.) Susan manages to get even more out of him. This makes for fascinating reading.

When Spenser's investigations lead to evidence that Patty's new boyfriend may have been involved with Gerry Broz, things begin to turn ugly.

This is a very revealing book, in many ways. We learn a great deal about Spenser; we learn a few things about Hawk. We see that Paul, despite all his hard work over the years, is inside still very much the insecure young boy yearning for his mother's affection and attention. We see some great interactions with Joe Broz and his son, Gerry - there are several very interesting parallels and contrasts which can be drawn between Joe Broz and Gerry's relationship vs. that of Patty Giacomin and Paul. Although Patty is not around by the end of the book, because of her dysfunctional approach to relationships (and as predicted by both Spenser and Paul in the book), I suspect this is not the last we will be seeing of her.

I have to say that my heart almost literally broke for Vinnie Morris, for the decision he had to make toward the end of the book. Vinnie may be a crook, but he is a crook with honor and I felt bad for him being put into the position he was in. I hope we'll see him again in the future, in a better situation.

A very strong recommend from me for any fans of Spenser, not to mention anyone who is a fan of a well-crafted action/suspense tale. I would also STRONGLY recommend that, if you are new to the series, you NOT start with this book; not that it necessarily would be impossible to follow the plot without having read the earlier books, but it would ruin some of the thrill of reading the earlier books and speculating on why Spenser is the way he is.

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This is one of the Better Spensers

I've read most of Robert B. Parker's books, and this is definitely one of the better ones. This novel is technically a sequel to an earlier novel called EARLY AUTUMN, but you don't have to read that book to enjoy this one.

The plot of this novel is nothing special, but PASTIME is unique because it reveals a lot of details about Spenser's early life. This novel also marks the first appearance of Pearl the Wonder Dog, who has appeared in many subsequent Spenser books. Parker obviously loves dogs, and the passages of this novel describing Pearl's behavior are very funny.

I'm not a huge fan of most of the Spenser books after 1990, but this is definitely one of the stronger ones. If you like Parker's writing style, you should find this book a lot of fun, and it's short enough to read in one sitting.

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Resonant

I pick up Robert B. Parker whenever I want a solid plot that comes out of well-developed characters. Pastime is the follow up of "Early Autumn." Ten years after Spenser had rescued Paul from his inept parents, Paul's mother has gone missing, and he wants Spenser's help finding her. Their detecting leads them to believe she might be caught in the crossfire between mob figures who don't care if she gets hurt.

Spenser is a hound for truth, even if he could get killed looking for the answers. My only complaint with Parker's writing (and I'm nit-picking) is "he/she/I said," tags at almost every line. Although you never have to wonder who's speaking, you have to push the tags into the background to enjoy the otherwise seamless storytelling. Parker writes out of the depth of human character, and his stories always come out resonant.

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Skinny

The actual plot of this novel felt more than a little thin, puffed up with a great deal of extraneous information about Paul's and Spenser's childhoods, along with annoying descriptions of what everyone was wearing and what color their garments were. It isn't necessary for a writer to tell every detail about a character or his furniture or his drinks or his food. The story does pick up somewhat in the end, but not enough to save the book completely.

The characters are OK--no better than that. Paul is boring. Hawk is a minor figure in this book. The gangsters are OK, with the exception of Gerry who is quite good. Ditto for the atmosphere. Some of the dialogue is excellent, if not quite attached to the plot. Doing tricks and funny asides with the dialogue doesn't mask the thin nature of the story.

P.S. I did like the dog. She appears in subsequent Spenser novels.

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Vintage Vignettes on Varieties of Rain? Dining on Times Past? Casting Pearls Before Swine? Oh Yeah. Tim Taylor approved!

The beginning chapters of PASTIME used a dramatically different stye from previous books I've read in the Spenser series. As other reviewers have helpfully described, this one's personal, and as such, to me it felt warm and "homey" (though, after the first chapters, the Spenser/Hawk/mob grit got going with full guts and grandeur... then paused periodically for more cozy "cookie" breaks).

Loved the story opening featuring Pearl's entry into the Spenser/Silverman family. Parker has a knack for drawing dogs to life on paper, in their cuddly, lapping, mysterious ways. I have to admit that I love animals, and any story which realistically captures their caricatures usually has me hopelessly hooked.

In fact, pets work so well to draw me into a book, that I was shocked, yes, to read the concluding statement of a delightfully edgy-eloquent review on this novel. I was so impressed, I was ready to click the "Yes" vote, wishing I could click it repeatedly and have each mouse tap add to the tally. Then, oh my. I read the final statement in the review: "But I still hate that damn dog."

I could not do it. Couldn't click "Yes" on a review which ended with that comment. You have no idea how much conflict I felt, wanting so badly to praise and honor that review. But, to vote against a dog? Could not.

Also could not vote "No." The review was too exquisite, and to love or not to love a dog is not the question; it's a matter of taste and heart, not of reviewing talent, or of a review being helpful or not.

BIG sigh. I almost went into a rash of hives of "does not compute" with that click-or-not conflict.

Maybe this is a good place to note that I'm beyond impressed with the variety of customer review posts on Amazon, including many of the spitting, hissing ones. It's this priceless collection of contrasting opinions (some of them profound, most of them interesting) on products which brought me to Amazon's pages; it's what keeps me here (in addition to Amazon's entertaining, colorful, graphics lush, public-carnival atmosphere, of course).

That out of the way, I'll slip out of my moody reverie mode and continue on with a review.

Laughed out loud at the "Boink Brain" term Spenser used for Susan's ex, and a couple clips describing Pearl antics.

Had a difficult time connecting my habitual reading rhythm for a Spenser novel to the first scenes including Paul Giacomin. The mood of those scenes seemed like Spenser might have allowed a somewhat "in process" character, like a son in his late teens, early 20's, to work/write with him on the Paul parts. At first I felt a loss with the seemingly diminished spark, snap, and sizzle of Parker's style, though there were a few perky passages:

>> "I was sixteen," I (Spenser) said. "And she sat in front of me in French class."
"Sixteen," Paul said. "You had a childhood?"

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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