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the master of dialogue, direct and indirect

Without a doubt, Elmore Leonard is the single most able author writing today when it comes to dialogue. That means not just who said what, and what they didn't say, but Leonard's finely tuned balance of direct and indirect dialogue.

Having said that, I'll point out that while Leonard's dialogue is always on target, not all of his novels work for me. Out of Sight was weak in a lot of ways, most especially the ending (in my view of things, of course). This is one of those rare occasions where the screenplay improved a great deal on the novel.

Most of Leonard's work is contemporary, but he wrote a wonderful historical, Cuba Libre -- set in Havana in 1897. This is a book that bears re-reading multiple times, not just for the characters and the story, but also just for the joy of his dialogue. I sometimes use a passage from Cuba Libre when I'm teaching creative writing that's quoted in the extended entry (click "continue reading").

Cuba Libre
Elmore Leonard
HarperTorch; (July 30, 2002)
ISBN: 0060084049

September 26, 2003 10:40 PM

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