Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Jan. 9, 1975, edition 1 / Page 5
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Thunday, January 9, 1375 1 U U)J(0Jll!ij U r .- L- J L. . . --.H....ir3 N L - Cy) 'i VnT Harriet Sugar pi J y . I "OX Features Editor u L!5l1 J VHUiiz - : : i- - - - - i I MA:e McFee rmn 1 MOMfiir ti o Ji sit &m noose o Mi "Harlequin," by Morris West. Morrow and Co. $7.95 William "If you don't like the beans, don't open the can." growls an underworld connection in Morris West's Tatest thriller. Harlequin. It is good advice to his potential readers.. The beans are international terror, political corruption and financial intrigue in i world - No mere coincidence, this. Once recovered. Harlequin et company set oit to exonerate themselves, prove Yonko ; the framing, ambitious liar that he is, and restore the bank's image in the world market. Paul Desmond, narrator of the book j and Harlequin's right-hand man. soon discovers an unbelievable international code of deceit and violence. He finds that his gang can't Book review with weak laws and weaker morals.! The book follows George Har'lequin. sensitive, civilized and eminently likeable owner of an established Swiss bank J who is . near death in a Los Angeles hospital as the story begins. While he lies helplessly Basil Yonko, evil mastermind of the computer firm that programs the bank's operations, makes two moves: he bids to bey out Harlequin's bank, and he reveals tjiat his computer check-up shows that Hajlequin has embezzled $15 million from hfs own bank. I fight clean and win against a world full of dirties: it is terror for terror. ! Desmond encounters a host of dubious characters Israel agents of death, -Arab liberationists, Zionist journalists, distrustful FBI men, other greedy bankers and hit men who are all hungry for slices of money and power. Corpses pile up on both sides in his world of computerized genocide as the tale races to a predictable conclusion It is easy to identify with the anxieties ' of Desmond, who is the most human character, in the book. His lightly-held principles of Y to offer courses The Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA jwill be offering a large selection of craft courses this semester. Many of the popular classeis from past years are being continued, and leveral new courses have been added. Prospective students may enroll at the YMCA office on Spring Lane. , I Basic Jewelry Making: Monday, 7-$ p.m., beginning March 25th for 8 weefs. Y M embers: $16. Non-members: $21. j Batik: Monday, 7:30-9:30 p.m., beginning January 13. Members: $16. Non-members: $21. " ir ; Bridge: Monday, 7:30-9:30 'p.m., beginning January 13 for 8 sessions. Y members: $16. Non-members: $21. j Children's art: Saturday, 10-1 l:30j a.m., beginning January 18th for 8 veeks. Members: $12.50. Non-members: $17.50. Guitar: Tuesday, 7-8 p.m.. beginning January' 14 for 8 weeks. Y-M embers: $10. Non-members: $15. Gymnastics: Thursday.. 4-5 -.(p.m., beginning J anuary 1 3 ; for k 1 4 ? veeks: Member .zt). Non-mem oers: 3 zo. ; " :.4l!rlie-evafuatib''c6uriseiin 9" I ' . t C iT tJ a.m.-noon, oegmmng January ?or o sessions. Y-Members: $25. Non-meribers: $40. ; Hatha Yoga: Several classes beginning January 13 for 8 weeks. Members: $ Non members: $17. Interior decorating: Monday, 7:30-9:30 p.m., beginning March 24 for 8 weeks. Members: $16. Non-members: $21. Beginning bridge: Wednesday, 7:30-9:30 p.m., beginning January 15. Members: $16. Non-members: $21. Karate: Several classes have already begun. Ladies physical fitness: Tuesday' and Thursday, 7-8:30 p.m., beginning January 14 for 12 sessions. Members: $9. Non-members: $14. Babysitting will be provided for $1 per session. ; Needlepoint: Monday, 7:30-9:30 p.m., beginning January 13 for 8 sessions. Members: $14. Non-members: $19. j Painting: Tuesday, 7:30-9:30 ip.m., beginning January : 14 for 8 sessions. Members: $16. Non-members: $21. j- Painting: Tuesday, 10 a.m.-noon, beginning January 14 for 8 sessions. Members: $16. Nom-members: $21. Pottery: Several classes have begui! for 14 sessions. Y-members:-$16. Non-members: $21. , :. ..J I',. Quilting: and Patchwork: Wednesdayr7- 9:30 p.m., starting January 15 for6 6 s&sionsV Y-Members: $16. Non-members: $2jl.? Tapestry: Tuesday, 7:30-9:30 jp.m., beginning January 21st. Members:! $20. Non-members: $25. I All classes except for interior decorating and needlepoint will be held in the University Presbyterian Church. integrity are quickly shattered in the cold, selfish world. But although he becomes disillusioned and cynical, he cannot embrace the political creed of terror, so he leaves the banking world to the Yonkos and the assassins who will always remain. Harlequin is not the highly-touted thriller it is advertised to be, but neither is it boring. It is only loosely compelling, a diversion . novel to be read in paperback late at night in the Holiday Inn or between flights at the airport. It reads quickly, because it moves quickly. And it moves quickly because of its style: . all verbs and no adjectives. As in any thriller, speed is the key element, which results in hardnosed, rapid-fire dialogue. Every character is revealing important secrets or making a quick deal, so that the book reads like a polished, terse cross-examination: 44 You're an idiot,' said George Harlequin mildly, I know it. You can have my head on a dish if you want it. 'I'd rather have the facts, Jose." West's attempts at simile are pure terror in themselves: "Bankers are like sea anemones"; orKruger thinking was like a stone crusher masticating gravel." In addition to his rapid, unadorned use of words, West further entices the Book of the Month Club patrons with a parade of international characters and places. He moves his exotic pawns in a global game of intrigue which would leave any home-bound housewife drooling with disbelief and envy. . Such extravagance also permits him to pepper his bare-bones prose with cliche phrases in foreign tongues. The most worthy element of Harlequin is its theme. How far can law be manipulated and perversely used when it is ineffectual and when "great corporations have no morals" outside the law? It is a sobering thought, a chilling world, when death is a banal event, an expedient means to an unfulfilling end. Morris West has written 1 1 other books, including The Shoes of the Fisherman and The Salamander, the predecessor to Harlequin which was also in the thriller mold. Such a mold often depends on mere action, and not substance, for its , sales, - wasting valuable insight Cohf especlacle,; f ! as West wrote in this bookv "Politics and money make a very explosive mixture." He lights the fuse to this particularly relevant theme, but it just makes a lot of noise and finally fizzles out. With a smooth resolution to such a bleak web of terror. West himself emerges as the harlequin, leaving us teased and amused but unsatisfied. FREE Photographic classes including 2 hours FREE enlarger time. - PHOT (SKA FT Darkrpom rental service. Featuring al) Simmon-Omega Equipment. I! f RT i r VWYV IWA II Darkroom facilities and equipment rented by the hour. Processing time only Washing and drying time FREE. Darkroom Chemicals Provided Supplies Available. . FILM and PAPER processing available. Both COLOR and BLjVCK and WHITE facilities. FREE Mounting Facilities. COMING SOON Complete Studio Facilties. Come bychat about photography. Open 1 1 a.m. 10 p.m. Ivjon. -- Fri. 9 a.m. 5 p.m. Sat; 217 Elliott Road (Next to Riverview) 967-8153 - . ' 1 ft A . i WHAT WOVLV HAPPEN If 1 TRIEP TO MAKE MHV5 IU1TH THAT SWlQ CAT NEXT POOR I COULP 5HOU.' HIM AW 6000 UJILL Bf EJCTENPINS AW PAW IN FRIENP5H1P... o Q rn CD 5 FR1BNPS, CtfAW THE FRSTSTBP TOPBACSFVL RESOLUTION IN THB MiP l BAST IS A UNIVBf&AL 6 ACCEPTANCE OF ISRAEL S AZA8S AND . PALESTINIANS SHOULP HAVE ADJUSTED LON& , AGO TO THE POLITICAL PEAUTIES OF THE WORLD I FPIENOS. THERE CAN BS NO DOUBT THAT THE JEMSH PEOPLB CSLONS IN... 1 Lm: new JERSEY. l! SOU, MAN! HEE.HEE... I'M HOT TON&HTl it i hi II DOT aoD iinsicrum electronic calculator '(X T ten. raujrrMiijj mmiv &rm - h Z ' II ff)r $1 I ' ifljjjjj,!"! )fl2R!lt JAMififti;" vMK;Hi"1tfj3 Student stores "on campus" mm b$fe truite cMteito TOT'r.wf'H' NOW w a 0. r s m 1 1 C9 Teitos flmsSiryiTi! electronic slide rule calculator vrifclV'' '- .tCf "' --- i "the 27-f unction SR s f .-r fi by Algebraic keybord. Accuracy to 13 significant digits, display rounded to 10 digits. nswers in less than a second. Single function keys for finding powers, roots, factorials, logarithmic, trigonometric, and hyperbolic functions, for sum and store, for converting answers to scientific notation. Features never, before available at I f)$ 6 -h 1
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 9, 1975, edition 1
5
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