Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Book Review / Spend Game & The Lives of Fair Ladies

Gash, Jonathan. The Spend Game: A Riveting Story of Murder in the Antiques Trade.
Penguin Group. New York. 1980.
The Lives of Fair Ladies. Penguin Group. New York. 1992.



Gash wrote several books in the Lovejoy Mystery Series. The books reviewed in this paper are number four, The Spend Game, and number fourteen, The Lives of Fair Ladies. Both books deal with an antiques dealer named Lovejoy, who restores, fakes, and authenticates antiques. Lovejoy is something of an antique diviner. He can spot a fake sometimes without even touching the piece. He lives a fast paced live style in which he is always broke, borrowing or swapping favors for money and food. Lovejoy is something of a detective who often knows clues without realizing he knows them. The answers to a riddle can be recognized at the last possible moment of hope, pulled reluctantly from memories he does not even know he has.
Both books have a great deal of detail regarding the life of an antiques dealer, scam artist, and lover. Lovejoy manages to have sex with almost every woman he wants without developing ties and is able to get by with having his women pay for both his upkeep and his business ventures. He does it in such a way that the reader understands that if he really had the money he would do it himself. While Lovejoy seems to be an antique addict who will spend his last dollar on something he feels is genuine, Gash does not portray Lovejoy as desperate, at least in the first novel.
The mystery in Spend Game begins with the death of one of Lovejoy’s acquaintances. It is a man Lovejoy knew while serving in the military, someone who once saved his life. Because the man, Leckie, once saved Lovejoy, Lovejoy feels an in ardent amount of responsibility to find Leckie’s killer. The story progresses nicely; although, the mystery is never really hidden from the reader. We can know the killers, and their reasoning, while Gash manages to keep their quest hidden for a while. It is Gash’s treatment of female characters through the book that is interesting. The voice of Lovejoy narrates throughout the entire story and he speaks often of women in a voice that while slightly disparaging also allows the reader to understand the importance of women in his life.
Lovejoy uses phrases like “Women have this instinctive ability to judge…”(29), “That’s the trouble with women.” (115), and “They glow with chemotactic radiation. You can’t take your eyes off them.” (110). Still, even though Lovejoy praises the aspects of women, he is often brutal and abusive stating “When you’ve blacked a bird’s eye you can’t look straight at them like you normally do” (87). Further, Lovejoy is often yelling at some woman or other who never seems to mind.
In this book, women admire him, men fear him if he isn’t given the answers he is seeking because Lovejoy will quickly turn to violence saying; “I decided to start by breaking a couple of fingers, one on Nodge and then one on old George.” (90). In this early book, Gash seems to allow Lovejoy to be a lover of life, truth, antiques, and women of all ages. He speaks kindly of women of all ages, especially older women stating; “That’s why I like older women. They never make mistakes the way younger ones do.” (41).
In the end, Lovejoy manages to denounce the killers, kill a few men himself, find the valuable antique and get the woman. He is a little worse for wear but still seems to be at the top of his game. He retains agility, affection for women and a desire to right the wrongs around him.
In The Lies of Fair Ladies we can see a different Lovejoy. Gash seems to loose some of the unique quality of Lovejoy’s voice, the book is more commercial and Lovejoy has less banter with himself about women and no banter with women. He no longer uses love words when addressing the women in his life. He now calls them “stupid cow”, “dingy old crone”, “silly cow”, “stupid old mare”, and “stupid bitch”.
Lovejoy comes across as much more jaded and mean spirited. His associates are no longer just people trying to make a living, but criminal instead of misunderstood businessmen and women. The narrator is no longer light spirited and the banter (when there is some) is dark and depressed. In Spend Game Lovejoy is affected by the death of his friend but he is not brought to tears. He is beaten up but not beaten down. In The Lies of Fair Ladies, Lovejoy cries hysterically at the death of his friend and takes his beating lying down.
Most of the women Lovejoy comes across in The Lies of Fair Ladies are lesbian or bi-sexual. He longs for a typical woman yet risks everything to save Connie from certain death. Lovejoy remains a hero in this book; however, when he is allowed out of the hospital, there is no welcoming committee, no party, and no one to great him at home. He must find his own cab and then goes out looking for his friends because he is certain they are through him a hero’s party.
This book is sad on so many levels. Lovejoy trusts his partner Luna who turns out to be a traitor. He trusts Laura, who happens to be Luna’s daughter and possibly the only friend he has left (although he still feels betrayed). Connie, whom he saves, ends up with another man, and Lovejoy is left friendless, with a woman he doesn’t trust, and broke. In the end, after having sex with Laura while Luna bangs away at the door, Lovejoy exclaims; “It’s a woman’s world, and that’s not my fault.” (263).
There is a twelve year gap between the first book and the second which may account for the change in the narrator’s voice. Obviously, people change within a twelve year span. Lovejoy has become jaded, soured on people and life and bent on his criminal activities. Still, the time span aside, I much preferred the easy going, light hearted, lover of Spend Game, to the less likeable, rougher, meaner Lovejoy of The Lies of Fair Ladies”.

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