Jeff Lindsay, the author of the Dexter series of books that spawned the television show Dexter, will be signing at Seattle Mystery Bookshop at noon today. I read a Dexter book a while ago and I enjoyed it—I thought that Lindsay made Dexter a more convincing sociopath than the TV writers did in the first season. (I haven’t seen any other seasons of the TV show, so I can’t tell you if they’ve gotten any better at it, though I’ve heard the third season is really good.)
I know you’ll be going to the Genius Awards tonight, so the rest of this Reading Tonight is for the kids who can’t get into the Moore because they’re not yet 21.
Paul Park reads at University Book Store tonight. Park is a “humanist” science fiction author who has written ten books, and sci-fi fans adore his Roumania series.
And Rick Bass reads at Elliott Bay Book Company tonight. The much-beloved Montana-based nature writer and novelist reads from his newest novel, Nashville Chrome.
The full readings calendar, including the next week or so, is here. And if you’re planning on staying in and you’re looking for personalized book recommendations, feel free to tell me the books you like and ask me what to read next over at Questionland.
I can’t speak to the books, which have I’ve heard a more overtly supernatural angle to the nature of Dexter (not a spoiler).
The TV series is not supernatural at all, but purely rooted in the psychological.
If you’ve never seen Dexter, it’s worth it to rent at least. The first season is great but is the worst season overall. Its that rare show that actually improves each year significantly. Season 4 was genuinely horrifying at times, and Michael C Hall was robbed of an Emmy. He should have won it for the “belt around the neck” kitchen scene and/or for the “I got you on tape” scene alone.
We’re actually really considering getting Showtime JUST for Dexter Season 5 which starts in a week and a half.
Having both read the first three books and seen all four season of the show, I’d say they both have their merits. I thought that the characters in the books were more convincing, but the supernatural elements that #1 talks about start to appear in the 3rd book, and they were a big turnoff for me.
On the other hand, the show has been struggling to make Dexter into a classic protagonist, which really feels wrong. The books never made him out to be a hero – he’s a serial killing that’s very slighly more redeemable than other serial killers, but he’s still a brutal, creepy character. I thought they captured that well in seasons 1 and 2 of the show, but slowly the TV show seems to be pushing him to be more… relatable, I guess, which is disappointing.
@1: Really? I actually thought Season 3 was terrible, and I have very fond memories of the first. Maybe I need to re-watch it.
In Season 4, any scene in which John Lithgow and Michael C Hall actually interacted was awesome. Everything else was shit.
@4
I once spent three days two nights at the house of John Lithgow’s college girlfriend. I usually think his acting is good because of that. Go figure.
Y’all should go see Mark Haskell Smith, former Seattle resident and musician (Three Swimmers) read at Elliott Bay at 6 tonight. His books are really funny, and the new one’s all about super-strength pot, so Stranger readers should have a special affinity for it.
@2 Really, I think the show isn’t about transforming Dexter, but rather him trying to transform himself, but he can’t, because of two questions that can be asked two different ways:
Is he wired differently, in spite of everything he’s been through?
Or is he wired differently because of everything he’s been through?
and
Is he striving for normalcy now to keep up his cover from being a serial killer?
Or is he striving for normalcy to take the place of being a serial killer?
There are hints in the yes side to all four angles scattered throughout the series, and Hall’s playing with it is what makes it so fantastic. Dexter could end up in the electric chair, a happily dull family man, or practically… Batman. That’s the joy of the show.
Both versions of Dexter miss the classic definition of sociopath (Antisocial Personality Disorder) in that both takes on the character are practically obsessed with Playing by the Rules (rules instilled by a slightly bent cop rather than by society as a whole, rules that evolve with time and circumstance, but still…) Sociopaths, aka psychopaths, never meet a rule they don’t want to break. They’re creatures of very pure Id.
The vast majority never actually kill anybody. They just fuck up their lives and the lives of those around them no matter how hard they try to do better. On the whole, they’re really very much like most other mentally ill people: kind of sad.
Dexter’s a different demon. The proper diagnosis: darkly dreaming dearly deliciously depraved Dexter is Personality Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified. And so far as I know, they’ve never actually studied a case anywhere near like him. There are a lot of killers out there stalking people they think are bad people, however, nobody I know of has ever demonstrated anything like that kind of self control, accuracy, and discretion. So I guess that makes Dexter Morgan (whose name means The Right Hand of Morning) unconvincing in both incarnations.
But then again, by that criterion, so’s Mr. Spock. And like Spock, both Dexter the literary character and Dexter the TV character among the gentlest anti-heroes out there. I don’t condone anybody doing what he does to people in the real world, but I have no trouble rooting for him.
I’ve heard so much unreserved praise for this show, so I started with Season 1 on Netflix. 4 or 5 episodes in, I just cannot get into it. Just seems like a Showtime version of CSI – better acting, marginally better writing, more extreme scenarios, but nothing about it really makes me want to keep watching. Glad to hear it gets better, but I don’t know if I can care enough to hang in there for the better seasons.
The main question most people need to ask themselves is this: Is Dexter a Sociopath or is that merely a protective cover he wraps around himself for personal survival?
@8: Maybe the reason you’ve never heard of a case like Dexter is because if such people exist, then they’re too good to get caught? Mwhahahahha.
I think the next episode of Dexter should be the one where he takes out the Chihulhy Museum people … one by one.
After hearing a lot of praise for the show, I was surprised how campy Dexter is. Still, I enjoy it, and the Mrs. and I are pretty bummed there’s no more DVD’s on Netflix for at least another year.