20 - Wednesday, Juty 18, 1990 - North Shore News

books

Kirk Douglas gets racey

NOW HERE’S an interesting pairing: the author ot The
New Centurions and The Blue Knight and the clett-chin-
ned actor who starred in the Academy Award-winning film,

Spartacus.

New novels by foseph Wam-
baugh and Kirk Douglas are
fighting their way up international
bestseller lists as this dueling, lit-
erary duo cuts a broad swathe in
the cutthroat arena of publishers’
marketing.

Which one will be the king o1
the royalties? Will ex-cop Wam.-
baugh swat aside Douglas’ preten-
sions to authordom or will the
celluloid gladiator return from
late-night exile to usurp the in-
cumbent word warrior? And why
does this review read like an ex-
cerpt from Current Affair?

The commercial success of
Douglas’ previous book, the
autobiographical The Ragman’s
Son, apparently imbued the writer
with enough confidence to tackle
fiction. The result is Dance With
The Devil (Random House; 306
pp.; $26.00), a novel that may
raise howls for Douglas’ blood.

Danny Dennison is a man in his
fifties, a prominent film-maker
who, as a young Jewish boy, was
the anly member of his family to
survive Hitler's death camps. Hav-
ing identified religion as the source
of the family’s trials, Danny posed
as a gentile to rescuing American
paratroopers, a masquerade he
has maintained ever since.

His neurotic wife is also a victim,
but of a domineering, wealthy and
bigoted father. He succeeds in
destroying his daughter's marriage
and controlling the life of Den-
nison’s own daughter.

Enter Luba, a Polish refugee 30
years Dennison’s junior and a
woman seemingly without sexual
inhibitions of any kind. Her
subsequent affair with Dennison
might best be described as an
erotic foray into forbidden-fantasy
land.

Here’s where author Douglas
could discover that many readers
will take exception to his charac-

‘ ters’ prurient obsessions.

Graphic descriptions of a pre-
pubescent Luba enthusiastically
engaging in sex acts with a variety

of her mother’s male tnends wal
vie for readers’ wrath with equally
descriptive passages trvolving
Dennison, Luba and a paperboy
the two seduce for a bisexual
romp.

MIKE
STEELE pg. ,

book review

Will Kirk Douglas fans accept
their movie idol’s new role as
purveyor of X-rated fiction and
kiddie porn? Or will they throw
him to the lions? Celebrity or cat-
food: this could be Spartacus II.

awe

Joseph Wambaugh has un-
doubtedly made a few enemies of
his own with his often-caustic
descriptions of California’s wealthy
elite in The Golden Orange
(Morrow/Gage; 317 pp.; $27.95).

Set in the moneyed, coastal
enclave of Newport Beach, The
Golden Orange is a familiar tale
of greed and murder featuring
Winnie Farlowe, an alcoholic
former cop whose 40th birthday
may be his last.

Retired on a disability pension
with an injured back, Farlowe is
just barely keeping his head above
a rip-tide of Polish vodka when he
meets Tess Binder, a Newport
Beach queen temporarily between
husbands and broke — by
Newport standards.

Her Mercedes is several years
old, her island home is worth only
$1.2 million at best (her
“friends’’ refer to her area as
“the ghetto”) and her bank ac-
count is down to $50,000. So why
is she bedding Farlowe?

Farlowe asks himself the same
question but, stoned on

a.

Saturdays 1-9 p.m
Karacke Sing-a-long
Come on — Be a Star!

Plus! The hit of
the nation, NTN
SPORTS & TRIVIA

the

coacd 6e
hnouseinn @xu
700 Lillooet Rd.

BIG screen
SPORTS

985-3111 |

testosterone add vodka cock tads
the answer tust Keops drittinys aut
of reach

Then the unthely tovers become

the target tora bit man who may
have been hired to cut Tess out ot
herinbentance as the plot takes a
deadly twist.

Some parts of The Golden
Orange are predictable (the
disparity between Tess and
Farlowe raises immediate suspi-
cions} yet Wambaugh is adept at
injecting the odd surprise or two.
But the real highlights of this

whodunit are the author's descrip-

tions of Newpart’s idle rich.

Farlowe receives the following
piece of advice on local socialites
from one casualty.

“Ttell you, stay away from
‘hase broads! None of them ever
had an orgasm unless it happened
on shop-til-you-drap day at South
Coast Plaza. If...para:sedics have
to learn lifesaving liposuction it’s
because of them. ...they‘re inter-
changeable. Choosing between
any two of thems like choosing
between fran and Iraq.”

And then there's this line from
one of Tess’ cruising cronies:
“Puh-leeese. How could any-
body in the whole world even at-
tempt to reach orgasm with a guy
that wears a Timex watch.”

Farlowe’s bar buddies don’t fare
any better when it comes to put-
downs. According to one fellow
lush, “They think class is when
most of the words on their
tatoos’re spelled right.”

And Farlowe describes the regu-
lar saloon stool lushes as looking
‘like a panel for the Geraldo
Rivera show.”

So: the bottom line. Does
Wambaugh pull it off this time
around? Well, yes and no.

While The Golden Orange is a
pretty fair read as detective-genre
novels go, it’s not nearly as taut
and action-packed as some of his
previous ones. Compared with
other Wambaugh works, this one
is mediocre.

But the cellulite jabs are great.

i
i
HI
I
I
i
i
I
I
5

!
1
i

Film to Video Transferring

Have your classic family Super 8 & 8mm film
transferred to video cassette.
Don't delay — offer expires August 31

Flickers Video Superstore 988-3394

1431 Marine Dr., N.Van.
988-7778

“Your One Stop Entertainment Store”
ey Se Oe es es ee es 0 es ss

A mature restaurant preparing natural, familiar foods,
without additives, in comfortable surroundings.
Portions for the smaller appetite and dietary wishes
gladly respected. We are here for your enjoyment daily
for lunch or dinner.

iéneuin

445 13th Street, West Vancouver 926-8922