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Seven
Short story collection.
160 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1971
41 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
John D. MacDonald
564 books1,369 followersJohn D. MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, and educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Syracuse and Harvard, where he took an MBA in 1939. During WW2, he rose to the rank of Colonel, and while serving in the Army and in the Far East, sent a short story to his wife for sale, successfully. He served in the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. After the war, he decided to try writing for a year, to see if he could make a living. Over 500 short stories and 70 novels resulted, including 21 Travis McGee novels.
Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 30, 2022
Interesting collection published in 1971 as the popularity for MacDonald’s Travis McGee series was taking off. The four shorter stories were published in Playboy and likely solicited. “Dear Old Friend” has an epistolary structure where through four shifting attempts at a dictated letter we learn the story. “The Annex” is sort of a white light story or a dream of a dying man. “Quarrel” is a bit of hilarity about an “accidental play” via tape recording. “Double Hannenframis,” my favorite of the shorter stories, is a neat noir about an executive caught insider trading and siphoning cash. The three longer stories were all previously unpublished. “The Random Noise of Love” can best be summed up by what a friend says to the protagonist: “Don’t lose your head for a piece of tail.” Oops, too late. The story has a five-page obsessive description of the girl as she comes out of the shower, gets dressed, does her makeup, etc. Yes, he’s lost his head. “The Willow Pool” is novella length with multiple narrators each describing their view of the events, which is a good technique for broadening the scope of the narrative in ways it couldn’t otherwise. “Woodchuck” seems the class of the collection, with MacDonald at the top of his craft using concrete descriptive writing, insightful psychology, and wicked characterization via action in this long story about a man cynically seducing the wife of a man who works for him. The woodchuck of the title is a story within the story and MacDonald even pulls that digression off and makes it work thematically. Three of the stories I’d give five stars, but the others are not to that level.
September 7, 2010
John D MacDonald is better known for "The Executioners," which became the film "Cape Fear," and for his Travis McGee novels. Jimmy Buffett listed Purple Place For Dying as one of his three desert island books, and I went on to read 20 of the 21.
Knowing that last one is the last one, as JDM died years ago, I've gone back into his back catalog, and this tome of seven of his short stories (several originally published in Playboy in the late 60s/1970, several never published before this book) was an impressive and entrancing display of the man's craft in smaller doses. Not every story is for everyone, but if you're hesitant to get into Travis McGee for fear of being sucked into a series of 21 novels, try some small doses here and in a couple of his other story comps. You won't regret it.
Knowing that last one is the last one, as JDM died years ago, I've gone back into his back catalog, and this tome of seven of his short stories (several originally published in Playboy in the late 60s/1970, several never published before this book) was an impressive and entrancing display of the man's craft in smaller doses. Not every story is for everyone, but if you're hesitant to get into Travis McGee for fear of being sucked into a series of 21 novels, try some small doses here and in a couple of his other story comps. You won't regret it.
January 29, 2015
29 jan 15, thursday morning, 5:35 a.m. e.s.t.
#33 from macdonald for me and i'll state at the outset that i have only read one travis mcgee story...if memory serves and i believe it does. you're missing out if you never look at the stack of stories, other than travis mcgee, that macdonald wrote. verily
just finished The Good Old Stuff, stories from 1947-1950, a few clunkers in that one, two that are actually noted for their "pre-travis" kinda touch, noted as such by the man himself...he was still polishing the gem that was to become travis. now these.
(1971) s*e*v*e*n, john d macdonald
okee dokee then, as the good doctor said (would you still love me if i lived on the dirty edge of disaster?, 1982), onward and upward:
quarrel, the annex, dear old friend, and double hannenframmis originally appeared in playboy magazine, 1967, 1968, 1970
1. the random noise of love
time place scene setting
*the time...covers probably 4 months give or take
*new york
*andrea's apartment
*the harris home
*harris's place of business, an accounting firm
*all night cafeteria where andrea works
*queens
*kash-way, a business harris's business services, accounting
*a few street locations
*10th avenue, speedy-parcel
characters, all
*irene and joe, good friends of glad and marty harris
*martin harris, 1st person narrator, 40-year-old, accountant/bookkeeper, has a soon-to-be fourteen-year-old daughter, has been married 17 years, has been with the company 19 years
*glad harris, his wife
*debbie harris, his daughter
*crandall, at a stationary store, customer of harris
*andrea, 22-year-old,cashier at an all-night cafeteria, a business that harris services, and martin and her have been carrying on an affair for months
*new girl on cash register, a cab with people getting out
*mccracken, the boss
*god and all the angels
*a bunch of her [andrea's] girlfriends
*smart guys
*a girl she used to share the apartment with
*a short line of people leaving
*the girls...at harris's work
*andrea has family, a grammaw who raised them, she and four siblings:
*joe who is married to a woman pregnant again, ruthie, and lew
*jesus...later, jesus christ
*leo, martin's co-worker, gives martin the news
*bookkeeper at kash-way...myra...pritchard bitch...the old man/boss
*sent walker out there...another co-worker
*rothstein, co-worker...saw martin with andrea on street, followed
*glad's old man was a bum
*velma, a friend of andrea's
*who has a friend, a man, who can get the 2,500
*floss, lady who works at speedy-parcel
*mr baum...the boss there
*guy we got to replace kramer...at speedy-parcel
my take on the story
3-stars i liked it
this is a 1st-person, martin harris narrated story about a man having an affair with a much younger woman. there is a 6-page description of her preparing herself to go out with her girlfriends. interesting, how macdonald wrote this, somewhat disjointed, to show how martin was losing himself...losing his job...losing it all.
2. dear old friend
scene setting time
*letter-writing i-narrator and another had an agreement dated 16 sep 63 and it is not seven years later, 10 jan 70
*weston, ohio home to i-narrator and business
*ray-fax associates, incorporated, business started after the i & howie left win-tech back in 1956
*holiday inn...where howie is staying
*the eye-narrator's home
characters all
*lucy, presumably a secretary to the i-narrator
*d. franklin raymond, the "ray" of ray-fax, c.e.o and c.o.b. of ray-fax, inc, married to ruthie. he is the i-narrator of this letter-writing story
*howard "howie" j faxton, the "fax" of ray-fax, incorporated
*annabelle, howie's deceased wife, leukemia
*some hot young kids (now on the payroll at ray-fax)
*600 employees now...100s of shareholders
*investment bankers
*mike shanniger of the legal firm of finch, dickinson and shanniger
my take on the story
2-stars. it was okay. honestly, i turned the page without realizing the story had ended, and there i was, at the start of the next one. there are three attempts by raymond to write a letter to howie after a night of talk and booze, this after howie has been away for seven years, and 3rd and final letter in a different font than the text of the story, signed, sealed...presumably to be delivered. i don't know what macdonald was trying to accomplish with this...other than to say that the 3rd and final letter was so unlike the initial two false starts, more official, to-the-point, legal, somewhat dismissive. 2-stars, it was okay
3. the willow pool
time place scene settings
*story covers several happenings that took place two years apart
*watkins glen...ithaca, new york...the turner farm
*a small cabin located on the turner property
*a pond there
*several schools that figure in the story, coulter college, new college, sarasota florida, university of the state of new york, haven institute, chicago
*a commune in arizona
*the apartment of "mush"
characters, all
*mabel turner, older woman living w/her husband on 300 acres of apple trees, land her grandfather had, then her father
*ralph turner, her husband, theyhad three children gone and married now
*mabel's mother
*elizabeth norris "norrie" ames, a 20-year-old student
*one of the girls, coulter college...a roommate of that girl...a trained nurse
*norrie's parents in philadelphia
*a colleague of the doc:
*dr. wyndam harger
*amelia ames, norrie's mother, mrs jonathan ames, norrie is their only daughter
*jonathan ames...diddling another woman, caught, they work it out
*corrine hallowill, friend of amelia's, lives in cambridge
*that wretched warrington woman..with whom jonathan has been diddling
*tom warington, died of a heart attack
*phyllis, a bit of an ass
*party at the gordons'
*every mischievous bitch in the countryside...that would talk about amelia/jonathan
*a nurse in attendance...in ambulance that takes norrie from one place to another place
*dr grenko, a head doctor the ames got for norrie
*other young people...in group therapy
*a student to drive norrie's car back
*paul warcroft, a boyfriend of norrie's...norrie and he get married, son of the renowned hazzlet & warcroft investment banking
*kellaher "kelly" mason, going to boston university when he met norrie ames
*pretty heavy off-campus people that kelly knew ran with
*two of us (guys), norrie, and another female kelly forgot the name of
*mush, fellow, evil, a speed freak, repeatedly raped norrie
*ralph turner: as one of the 1st person narrators, he is 41, 41 years older than norrie, saw her nakkid, the old goat felt the growlings in his stomach, spied on her
*lord, god
michael lewis henderson, jr. , he met norrie when she was living in the cabin, he was backpacking, he was 3+ years younger than her, left with her, they went to arizona, parted, and he was in florida going to school when the murder happened
*his parents divorced, remarried, stuck him in schools, high i.q.
*an uncle in scarsdale..to whom he was hiking when he met norrie
*a fat kid, got on the teeter-tooter, another kid...michael was on other side
*william d maas, criminology, university of the state of new york, offers advice to police
my take on the story: 3-stars
there is a novel, All These Condemned, that has a similar narrative-style, 1st person takes from a multitude of characters, those in bold above. in this story, they take the form of a confessional, each one introduces their self, "i am..." followed by their name. 4-stars, but there is a preachy tendency here...the idea that the world is over-populated, acted on by hitler and company, an idea gone underground since hitler but very much with us...touches on pesticides...sex...drugs...and too, in this one, unlike almost all of the other macdonald stories i've read...he uses vulgar language, noted above...bitch...ass. macdonald has never stopped to take the lord's name in vain...or to have his characters do so...but in the past, they'd use words like...basser...instead of spelling it out. a bit taken back reading ass...bitch. hi ho. we've advanced so far. i think the story'd be 4-star save for the tendency to preach a tad, the foul language. i've enjoyed reading stories where the f-bomb isn't being dropped by every character. it can be done.
4. quarrel
time place setting characters all
*place is new york, an apartment on twelfth street, a park bench
*kaberrian, whom the i-narrator has known for seven years, a playwright, and he uses tapes, records
*noonan, i-narrator, still auditing an oriental religions course...for seven years
*a girl in a green suit, ellie, kaberrian's new wife, she had moved into a room on one side of kaberrian
*buckley, a mouse in noonan's pocket
*geoffrey, moved into the room on the other side of kaberrian, also a playwright thought he can't finish anything
*snake, who plays clarinet
*walker, who plays french horn
*marty, who built kaberrian speakers
*today show, lescoulie
my take on the telling
5-stars. an interesting story...for what is shows. kaberrian has been working on a play, quarrel, and apparently he uses tapes to record geoffrey and ellie...who are an item at one time, though they tend to argue. then he comes up with the idea of putting music in the piece, the clarinet for ellie's voice, the french horn for geoffrey's. this actually sounds like something that would work, that it would be...i dunno, hilarious? i think that's the point, considering ellie's response, geoffrey not so much. another title is considered, duet...ellie suggests a better one, the cure
5. woodchuck
time place scene setting characters all
*caribbean, an island
*club de playa, newly constructed multiple-unit...like what has come be known as time-share...and will be sold to a swede.
*several rooms in the club de playa
*the pool, the beach, the ocean by the club de playa
*miami...nassau...uruguay...tulsa
*suite of offices in a new bank building, tulsa
*mr aldo bellinger, 3rd-person narrator of this piece. rich. single. sees a doc who keeps his package in working order. goes after the ladies, all ladies are fair game, emphasis on game. he is divorced, and i think there is one child, or one almost child.
*larssen, from stockholm, will be purchasing the club de playa
*with four cool-eyed young swedish specialists
*lee roundtree, 26-year-old, newlywed, employed by aldo, think bathsheba's husband here and you have the picture
*ray, aldo's pilot
*elizabeth, lis roundtree, lee's amazon wife, 5'11", 22-year-old, young enough to be aldo's granddaughter
*ann faxton, aldo's private executive secretary, they have had an ongoing affair for some time now.
*cramer, transfers, employee of aldo
*roberto perez, uruguayan, next big project of aldo's
*winkler, owns a sloop, says to aldo take it whenever
*grandfather of aldo...and the woodchuck
*rest of the staff...at the tulsa offices
*cramer, hollister, keyes, in miami...lawyer types, paperwork
*hilda, grandfather's cow and a member of the family
*marburg, doctor who provides aldo with shots, whatever, to keep his project in shape
my take on the story
3-stars...an island in the caribbean where the club de playa has been built,or phase one, by the 3rd person narrator, aldo bellinger, who visits marburg for the essentials to keep his package in working order. aldo hunts trophies...has all the arguments down...and provides them to the ladies he conquers. one lady, his private executive secretary, a conquest, walks out. i imagine the readers of playboy magazine got a charge out of this one. in many of macdonald's stories there are characters who ague with themselves, with society, with values...to enable them to do what they want, sex on demand...and in this one, aldo has it down to an art. he diddles a lady young enough to be his granddaughter, then he provides her with an argument to justify what happened...then, they do it again, again is unforgivable and easier to maintain silence about. there is everything to indicate this will continue until something new comes along.
6. double hannenframmis
time place scene characters
*hotel contessa royale, room #911, room #938
*later, we get a "four months four days later" time passes
*later in story, a new hotel, puerto rico
*wyatt rutherford ross, 3rd person narrator, out of dallas, a move & shaker, stock manipulator, shark, in trouble with all concerned, the senate, the assorted groups that watch wall-street types, c.e.o of wyro international services, incorporated, married, two small sons
*gus and kelly, pilot, copilot
*geri housner, executive secretary, bedmate
*stanley silverstaff, ratios
*stannard, legal
*haines, systems analysis
*a driver
*ross's wife and two small sons, mary lou ross, denny, one of the sons
*doorman, bell captain, bellhop, desk clerk
*miss ruthie mcgann, a woman who manipulates tape recordings for mr russo
*mr willy russo, a man ross contacted to get him out of the jamb he is in
*maria, sounds like a maid for the ross family
*her sick sister in brownsville, texas
*mother of mary lou ross
*kallen girl at school...kallen a name of a company ross, whatever, moved on, manipulated
my take on the story
3-stars. i liked the idea of the tape manipulation, manipulating voices to make a scene a happened that never happened, though it cost ross his marriage. got tired of the proverbial romp in the bed, boss and secretary. kee-hrist, do all macdonald characters diddle airy-theeng? heh! i think maybe nice idea, not the best execution.
7. the annex
time place scene setting characters
*a hospital, critical in room #11
*room 4242 and later i wondered if ole what's-his-name, with the "42" as the answer, if he had this story in mind? it has to do with age, 42, a guy with a bad heart.
*the annex
*pretty little special
*red-headed intern
*third-person he narrator, md. davis, david dave davis
*nuns, taxi
*leo, the manager now
*mrs dorn...whom he will see upstairs
*crews...wrecking, working on the annex
*an old couple...we're told that some people refuse to leave...the annex...the building...that is being torn down around them
*ricky, 14-year-old voice, past, of the eye
*degas...as in degas print, a woman standing just so
*dr samuel barringer
*young nurse
*sylvia dorn, the wife
*ricky susan timmy...dave, 42
my take on the story
5-stars. a touch of the macabre. a dream-like story. a sense, later, that the critical in room 11, who sounded like he walked out earlier...a sense he visits a new place, called there...there's this gold dog tag business...mrs dorn up there on the floors. the elevator that only goes to 21...though he has to go to the 42nd floor. doug adams was it? one of those stories. ultimate guide to the universe, so forth, so on. is it as it is? heh! but yeah, strange weird tale. cue the twilight zone soundtrack. if interested, "miranda" in that other collection, linked up above, is another 5-star macabre tale from macdonald. good stuff.
overall rating: 3.35
finished, 29 jan 15, thursday afternoon, 4:14 p.m. e.s.t.
#33 from macdonald for me and i'll state at the outset that i have only read one travis mcgee story...if memory serves and i believe it does. you're missing out if you never look at the stack of stories, other than travis mcgee, that macdonald wrote. verily
just finished The Good Old Stuff, stories from 1947-1950, a few clunkers in that one, two that are actually noted for their "pre-travis" kinda touch, noted as such by the man himself...he was still polishing the gem that was to become travis. now these.
(1971) s*e*v*e*n, john d macdonald
okee dokee then, as the good doctor said (would you still love me if i lived on the dirty edge of disaster?, 1982), onward and upward:
quarrel, the annex, dear old friend, and double hannenframmis originally appeared in playboy magazine, 1967, 1968, 1970
1. the random noise of love
time place scene setting
*the time...covers probably 4 months give or take
*new york
*andrea's apartment
*the harris home
*harris's place of business, an accounting firm
*all night cafeteria where andrea works
*queens
*kash-way, a business harris's business services, accounting
*a few street locations
*10th avenue, speedy-parcel
characters, all
*irene and joe, good friends of glad and marty harris
*martin harris, 1st person narrator, 40-year-old, accountant/bookkeeper, has a soon-to-be fourteen-year-old daughter, has been married 17 years, has been with the company 19 years
*glad harris, his wife
*debbie harris, his daughter
*crandall, at a stationary store, customer of harris
*andrea, 22-year-old,cashier at an all-night cafeteria, a business that harris services, and martin and her have been carrying on an affair for months
*new girl on cash register, a cab with people getting out
*mccracken, the boss
*god and all the angels
*a bunch of her [andrea's] girlfriends
*smart guys
*a girl she used to share the apartment with
*a short line of people leaving
*the girls...at harris's work
*andrea has family, a grammaw who raised them, she and four siblings:
*joe who is married to a woman pregnant again, ruthie, and lew
*jesus...later, jesus christ
*leo, martin's co-worker, gives martin the news
*bookkeeper at kash-way...myra...pritchard bitch...the old man/boss
*sent walker out there...another co-worker
*rothstein, co-worker...saw martin with andrea on street, followed
*glad's old man was a bum
*velma, a friend of andrea's
*who has a friend, a man, who can get the 2,500
*floss, lady who works at speedy-parcel
*mr baum...the boss there
*guy we got to replace kramer...at speedy-parcel
my take on the story
3-stars i liked it
this is a 1st-person, martin harris narrated story about a man having an affair with a much younger woman. there is a 6-page description of her preparing herself to go out with her girlfriends. interesting, how macdonald wrote this, somewhat disjointed, to show how martin was losing himself...losing his job...losing it all.
2. dear old friend
scene setting time
*letter-writing i-narrator and another had an agreement dated 16 sep 63 and it is not seven years later, 10 jan 70
*weston, ohio home to i-narrator and business
*ray-fax associates, incorporated, business started after the i & howie left win-tech back in 1956
*holiday inn...where howie is staying
*the eye-narrator's home
characters all
*lucy, presumably a secretary to the i-narrator
*d. franklin raymond, the "ray" of ray-fax, c.e.o and c.o.b. of ray-fax, inc, married to ruthie. he is the i-narrator of this letter-writing story
*howard "howie" j faxton, the "fax" of ray-fax, incorporated
*annabelle, howie's deceased wife, leukemia
*some hot young kids (now on the payroll at ray-fax)
*600 employees now...100s of shareholders
*investment bankers
*mike shanniger of the legal firm of finch, dickinson and shanniger
my take on the story
2-stars. it was okay. honestly, i turned the page without realizing the story had ended, and there i was, at the start of the next one. there are three attempts by raymond to write a letter to howie after a night of talk and booze, this after howie has been away for seven years, and 3rd and final letter in a different font than the text of the story, signed, sealed...presumably to be delivered. i don't know what macdonald was trying to accomplish with this...other than to say that the 3rd and final letter was so unlike the initial two false starts, more official, to-the-point, legal, somewhat dismissive. 2-stars, it was okay
3. the willow pool
time place scene settings
*story covers several happenings that took place two years apart
*watkins glen...ithaca, new york...the turner farm
*a small cabin located on the turner property
*a pond there
*several schools that figure in the story, coulter college, new college, sarasota florida, university of the state of new york, haven institute, chicago
*a commune in arizona
*the apartment of "mush"
characters, all
*mabel turner, older woman living w/her husband on 300 acres of apple trees, land her grandfather had, then her father
*ralph turner, her husband, theyhad three children gone and married now
*mabel's mother
*elizabeth norris "norrie" ames, a 20-year-old student
*one of the girls, coulter college...a roommate of that girl...a trained nurse
*norrie's parents in philadelphia
*a colleague of the doc:
*dr. wyndam harger
*amelia ames, norrie's mother, mrs jonathan ames, norrie is their only daughter
*jonathan ames...diddling another woman, caught, they work it out
*corrine hallowill, friend of amelia's, lives in cambridge
*that wretched warrington woman..with whom jonathan has been diddling
*tom warington, died of a heart attack
*phyllis, a bit of an ass
*party at the gordons'
*every mischievous bitch in the countryside...that would talk about amelia/jonathan
*a nurse in attendance...in ambulance that takes norrie from one place to another place
*dr grenko, a head doctor the ames got for norrie
*other young people...in group therapy
*a student to drive norrie's car back
*paul warcroft, a boyfriend of norrie's...norrie and he get married, son of the renowned hazzlet & warcroft investment banking
*kellaher "kelly" mason, going to boston university when he met norrie ames
*pretty heavy off-campus people that kelly knew ran with
*two of us (guys), norrie, and another female kelly forgot the name of
*mush, fellow, evil, a speed freak, repeatedly raped norrie
*ralph turner: as one of the 1st person narrators, he is 41, 41 years older than norrie, saw her nakkid, the old goat felt the growlings in his stomach, spied on her
*lord, god
michael lewis henderson, jr. , he met norrie when she was living in the cabin, he was backpacking, he was 3+ years younger than her, left with her, they went to arizona, parted, and he was in florida going to school when the murder happened
*his parents divorced, remarried, stuck him in schools, high i.q.
*an uncle in scarsdale..to whom he was hiking when he met norrie
*a fat kid, got on the teeter-tooter, another kid...michael was on other side
*william d maas, criminology, university of the state of new york, offers advice to police
my take on the story: 3-stars
there is a novel, All These Condemned, that has a similar narrative-style, 1st person takes from a multitude of characters, those in bold above. in this story, they take the form of a confessional, each one introduces their self, "i am..." followed by their name. 4-stars, but there is a preachy tendency here...the idea that the world is over-populated, acted on by hitler and company, an idea gone underground since hitler but very much with us...touches on pesticides...sex...drugs...and too, in this one, unlike almost all of the other macdonald stories i've read...he uses vulgar language, noted above...bitch...ass. macdonald has never stopped to take the lord's name in vain...or to have his characters do so...but in the past, they'd use words like...basser...instead of spelling it out. a bit taken back reading ass...bitch. hi ho. we've advanced so far. i think the story'd be 4-star save for the tendency to preach a tad, the foul language. i've enjoyed reading stories where the f-bomb isn't being dropped by every character. it can be done.
4. quarrel
time place setting characters all
*place is new york, an apartment on twelfth street, a park bench
*kaberrian, whom the i-narrator has known for seven years, a playwright, and he uses tapes, records
*noonan, i-narrator, still auditing an oriental religions course...for seven years
*a girl in a green suit, ellie, kaberrian's new wife, she had moved into a room on one side of kaberrian
*buckley, a mouse in noonan's pocket
*geoffrey, moved into the room on the other side of kaberrian, also a playwright thought he can't finish anything
*snake, who plays clarinet
*walker, who plays french horn
*marty, who built kaberrian speakers
*today show, lescoulie
my take on the telling
5-stars. an interesting story...for what is shows. kaberrian has been working on a play, quarrel, and apparently he uses tapes to record geoffrey and ellie...who are an item at one time, though they tend to argue. then he comes up with the idea of putting music in the piece, the clarinet for ellie's voice, the french horn for geoffrey's. this actually sounds like something that would work, that it would be...i dunno, hilarious? i think that's the point, considering ellie's response, geoffrey not so much. another title is considered, duet...ellie suggests a better one, the cure
5. woodchuck
time place scene setting characters all
*caribbean, an island
*club de playa, newly constructed multiple-unit...like what has come be known as time-share...and will be sold to a swede.
*several rooms in the club de playa
*the pool, the beach, the ocean by the club de playa
*miami...nassau...uruguay...tulsa
*suite of offices in a new bank building, tulsa
*mr aldo bellinger, 3rd-person narrator of this piece. rich. single. sees a doc who keeps his package in working order. goes after the ladies, all ladies are fair game, emphasis on game. he is divorced, and i think there is one child, or one almost child.
*larssen, from stockholm, will be purchasing the club de playa
*with four cool-eyed young swedish specialists
*lee roundtree, 26-year-old, newlywed, employed by aldo, think bathsheba's husband here and you have the picture
*ray, aldo's pilot
*elizabeth, lis roundtree, lee's amazon wife, 5'11", 22-year-old, young enough to be aldo's granddaughter
*ann faxton, aldo's private executive secretary, they have had an ongoing affair for some time now.
*cramer, transfers, employee of aldo
*roberto perez, uruguayan, next big project of aldo's
*winkler, owns a sloop, says to aldo take it whenever
*grandfather of aldo...and the woodchuck
*rest of the staff...at the tulsa offices
*cramer, hollister, keyes, in miami...lawyer types, paperwork
*hilda, grandfather's cow and a member of the family
*marburg, doctor who provides aldo with shots, whatever, to keep his project in shape
my take on the story
3-stars...an island in the caribbean where the club de playa has been built,or phase one, by the 3rd person narrator, aldo bellinger, who visits marburg for the essentials to keep his package in working order. aldo hunts trophies...has all the arguments down...and provides them to the ladies he conquers. one lady, his private executive secretary, a conquest, walks out. i imagine the readers of playboy magazine got a charge out of this one. in many of macdonald's stories there are characters who ague with themselves, with society, with values...to enable them to do what they want, sex on demand...and in this one, aldo has it down to an art. he diddles a lady young enough to be his granddaughter, then he provides her with an argument to justify what happened...then, they do it again, again is unforgivable and easier to maintain silence about. there is everything to indicate this will continue until something new comes along.
6. double hannenframmis
time place scene characters
*hotel contessa royale, room #911, room #938
*later, we get a "four months four days later" time passes
*later in story, a new hotel, puerto rico
*wyatt rutherford ross, 3rd person narrator, out of dallas, a move & shaker, stock manipulator, shark, in trouble with all concerned, the senate, the assorted groups that watch wall-street types, c.e.o of wyro international services, incorporated, married, two small sons
*gus and kelly, pilot, copilot
*geri housner, executive secretary, bedmate
*stanley silverstaff, ratios
*stannard, legal
*haines, systems analysis
*a driver
*ross's wife and two small sons, mary lou ross, denny, one of the sons
*doorman, bell captain, bellhop, desk clerk
*miss ruthie mcgann, a woman who manipulates tape recordings for mr russo
*mr willy russo, a man ross contacted to get him out of the jamb he is in
*maria, sounds like a maid for the ross family
*her sick sister in brownsville, texas
*mother of mary lou ross
*kallen girl at school...kallen a name of a company ross, whatever, moved on, manipulated
my take on the story
3-stars. i liked the idea of the tape manipulation, manipulating voices to make a scene a happened that never happened, though it cost ross his marriage. got tired of the proverbial romp in the bed, boss and secretary. kee-hrist, do all macdonald characters diddle airy-theeng? heh! i think maybe nice idea, not the best execution.
7. the annex
time place scene setting characters
*a hospital, critical in room #11
*room 4242 and later i wondered if ole what's-his-name, with the "42" as the answer, if he had this story in mind? it has to do with age, 42, a guy with a bad heart.
*the annex
*pretty little special
*red-headed intern
*third-person he narrator, md. davis, david dave davis
*nuns, taxi
*leo, the manager now
*mrs dorn...whom he will see upstairs
*crews...wrecking, working on the annex
*an old couple...we're told that some people refuse to leave...the annex...the building...that is being torn down around them
*ricky, 14-year-old voice, past, of the eye
*degas...as in degas print, a woman standing just so
*dr samuel barringer
*young nurse
*sylvia dorn, the wife
*ricky susan timmy...dave, 42
my take on the story
5-stars. a touch of the macabre. a dream-like story. a sense, later, that the critical in room 11, who sounded like he walked out earlier...a sense he visits a new place, called there...there's this gold dog tag business...mrs dorn up there on the floors. the elevator that only goes to 21...though he has to go to the 42nd floor. doug adams was it? one of those stories. ultimate guide to the universe, so forth, so on. is it as it is? heh! but yeah, strange weird tale. cue the twilight zone soundtrack. if interested, "miranda" in that other collection, linked up above, is another 5-star macabre tale from macdonald. good stuff.
overall rating: 3.35
finished, 29 jan 15, thursday afternoon, 4:14 p.m. e.s.t.
November 20, 2021
Almost experimental fictions. Very unlike MacDonald's character-series books which are straight story telling. In Seven stories are told by different characters or at different times or different points of view.
And twisty sentences like "When the diffused brightness of direct sunlight no longer made a blue green glow through the closed draperies in front of the sliding glass that opened onto the beach-front bedroom terrace, Mr. Aldo Bellinger got up from the broad bed and padded naked across the thick tufted pile of the aqua rug and parted the draperies a few inches and looked out."
These were published in the 1970s. (This e-publisher puts the copyright page at the back of the book.) I'm glad somebody mentioned that several first appeared in Playboy, because there is graphic language and action not normally used in 1970s US literature.
MacDonald reader-fans will of course need to read this. And curious writers may want to dip into it as a study of different storytelling techniques and how they come off in the hands of a Master (some not so well). If you are starting to read MacDonald, leave this for later.
And twisty sentences like "When the diffused brightness of direct sunlight no longer made a blue green glow through the closed draperies in front of the sliding glass that opened onto the beach-front bedroom terrace, Mr. Aldo Bellinger got up from the broad bed and padded naked across the thick tufted pile of the aqua rug and parted the draperies a few inches and looked out."
These were published in the 1970s. (This e-publisher puts the copyright page at the back of the book.) I'm glad somebody mentioned that several first appeared in Playboy, because there is graphic language and action not normally used in 1970s US literature.
MacDonald reader-fans will of course need to read this. And curious writers may want to dip into it as a study of different storytelling techniques and how they come off in the hands of a Master (some not so well). If you are starting to read MacDonald, leave this for later.
July 17, 2020
A friend of mine who ran a used bookstore introduced me to John D. MacDonald and Travis McGee over 30 years ago, and I read every one of them. I ran across three paperbacks by MacDonald in an antique store and purchased them. I just finished reading Seven, and it is fantastic. I especially liked the shifting points of view in "The Willow Pool," but every story in this book is a gem. MacDonald truly was a master of the craft, be it a short story or a novel. Every aspiring writer should read at least some of his work. Now on to those other two old paperbacks.
April 24, 2024
JDM puts a sentence together like know one else. The feel of hotel light. The particulars of someones face. A real estate convention hall.
These seven stories have a bit of everything he does well without dragging on. Mystery, depraved love affairs, suicide, humor.
If you're like me and youve gone through the Mcgee books and are now in his many many other works, you'll get temporarily lost in a rich moment that only the most talented writers are capible of.
These seven stories have a bit of everything he does well without dragging on. Mystery, depraved love affairs, suicide, humor.
If you're like me and youve gone through the Mcgee books and are now in his many many other works, you'll get temporarily lost in a rich moment that only the most talented writers are capible of.
April 16, 2024
Seven short stories from JDM. I did not find this group as entertaining as some other non Travis
McGee books. But if you can find this anywhere, anything from JDM is with a read. And this one is quick, 160 page paperback I think. Published in 1971 if memory serves.
McGee books. But if you can find this anywhere, anything from JDM is with a read. And this one is quick, 160 page paperback I think. Published in 1971 if memory serves.
August 10, 2013
Pleasant and interesting to read, but no page turner like MacDonald's Travis McGee series. Most of the stories were written in the late 1960s and published by Playboy. Fascinating to observe the relationships portrayed in the book from that perspective.
August 4, 2008
This is a short story collection by MacDonald. I have the paperback.
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