Warlock

De: Oakley Hall, Robert Stone

Narrado por: Patrick Lawlor

Oakley Hall's legendary Warlock revisits and reworks the traditional conventions of the Western to present a raw, funny, hypnotic, ultimately devastating picture of American unreality.

First published in the 1950s, at the height of the McCarthy era, Warlock is not only one of the most original and entertaining of modern American novels but a lasting contribution to American fiction.

©1958 Oakley Hall; Introduction copyright 2006 by Robert Stone (P)2018 Tantor

book 1 was great

started to get convoluted now I'm going to stretch this out to fifteen words yes yes

Mixed feelings about audio performance

Thought the voice actor was ok, but perhaps not a good fit for this story. I expected a more gravelly, deeper voice to accompany a western, though like Warlock itself, maybe those expectations should be more nuanced. Given that the book was from the 1950’s I’m thankful someone performed it at all.

A great story, well-told

A classic western, but much more than a western. An excellent reading of this rediscovered classic.

Solid

Patrick Lawlor delivers a solid performance of Warlock, and you can hear the effort and commitment throughout. It’s a demanding book with a large cast of characters, and he does a good job keeping voices distinct enough to follow the story without confusion. There’s a clear sense of engagement in his delivery—he’s present with the material and takes it seriously.

That said, the performance doesn’t quite rise to the level of the novel’s depth. While competent and often effective, it lacks a certain dynamism or range that would fully bring the characters and emotional shifts to life. It’s good, and at times very good, but not especially memorable.

A rare perfect novel

Finished this a month ago, and I think it’s a masterpiece, a rare perfect book.

Occasionally, I run into these: The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton, Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg, and Possession by A.S Byatt to name a few of the novels that God has let us forget about so that they won’t tarnish over the years in the hands of the mob (canons are so messy), but also because He wants to reveal them to His special favorites in the fullness of time. It me. I’m God’s special favorite because he let me know that Warlock exists and now, since you’ve read this far, so are you.

True, the narration leaves something to be desired, but the power of the text soon eclipses these narratorial deficiencies.