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288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
So I stood on the balcony by myself and stared at the moon which was full and very low. I had a moment then. For the moon spoke back to me. By which I do not mean that I heard voices, or Luna and I indulged in the whimsy of a dialogue, no, truly it was worse than that. Something in the deep of that full moon, some tender and not so innocent radiance traveled fast as the thought of lightning across our night sky, out from the depths of the dead in those caverns of the moon, out and a leap through space and into me. And suddenly I understood the moon.
No, men were afraid of murder, but not from a terror of justice so much as the knowledge that a killer attracted the attention of the gods; then your mind was not your own, your anxiety ceased to be neurotic, your dread was real. Omens were as tangible as bread. There was an architecture to eternity which housed us as we dreamed, and when there was murder, a cry went through the market places of sleep. Eternity had been deprived of a room. Somewhere the divine rage met a fury.
smell 54Steve Rojack is a David-Susskind-style talk show host married to a rich bitch. The murder narrative (chapters 1-3) hooks the reader. But then the story becomes waterlogged by Mailer's long-winded setups and lead-ins. And far to many words are spent on that dull floozy, Cherry.
odor 29
whiff 14
scent 9
stench 6
sniff 5
stink 4