Post by Vaughan on Aug 8, 2009 7:30:27 GMT
Part of the deal is that we know there is a formula at work, we know key elements are going to be familiar, we know that we’re dealing with kinks in a chain rather than whole new handcuffs. That’s what we like. Pulp. If you change things significantly, then it might be good, but it ceases to be pulp. You know?
Plague Pit is a case in point. I recently read a novel called “Thirst” by Charles Eric Maine, in it the oceans run dry, commerce crumbles, society dissolves, the foulest instincts of man surfaces (with convenient women playing victims), blah blah blah, the end. And guess what, Plague Pit is essentially the same story. It even has the same scenes at times, and while the scope is smaller (England as opposed to global catastrophe) Mark Ronson, the author, proves that what works on a macro level can also work well on a micro level. That’s alright.
As sometimes happens, the main problem faced by Ronson was that he needed a new cause for the effect. Thirst had oceans running dry due to fissures forming on the sea beds of the world. Plague Pit has Bubonic plague. Excavations rupture an old burial pit, people enter to find treasures (at the time victims were buried with their jewellery) and hey presto, scabs, cists, pus, blood, and insanity.
I mention Thirst rather than other, perhaps more obvious antecedents simply because of the scale of the problem envisioned by the author. Another model for this book would be James Herbert’s The Rats, or Stephen Lewis’ The Spiders, or…. Well a lot really. However, Ronson cranks up the headcount, topping out at around two million. Nice!
So are there any downsides to the book? Well, maybe. Well, not maybe - yes, it does get a little odd. You see, Ronson decides to throw in some neo-nazi’s. I suppose it’s trying to bring out the prejudice in every day life, but it sits like a pus filled boil waiting to be lanced. And there’s a shockingly poor encounter with a Jewish lab technician that really can only make you laugh. I mean give us a social message if you must, but does it have to be so heavy handed? And anyway, why try to tie in a Plague Pit story with the death of Jews at the hands of Nazi’s, is this a gas camp reference?
But then it’s quirks like that that can make an ordinary book into an interesting adventure. And while it doesn’t sit very well with me overall, I must admit it was a surprise, if an ill-judged one. The fact that you can figure out a lot of the ending quite early on is a testament to the fact that Ronson isn’t trying to beak new ground here. Fair enough. I honestly think that, ultimately, that’s exactly what we want, or at least it’s what I want sometimes. The same, only different.
Plague Pit came from Hamlyn, and runs a measly 191 pages. And, of its type, it’s quite good. You should probably check it out.