Van Den Berg's previous collection of stories, The Isle of Youth, won praise for the way in which characters' emotional lives overshadowed its ostentatious conceits (honeymooners crash-landed in Patagonia; twin sisters turned gum-shoe detectives).
I don't like anthropomorphism – the lisping dogs, chatty insects, flirtatious cats, Minnie Mouse and her inflatable bubble-gum shoes.
None were based on original, gum-shoe reporting.
Various plot elements reference the major themes of gum-shoe detective and mobster stories such as Key Largo, Chinatown, The Untouchables, The Black Dahlia, and L.A. Confidential.
But gone are the days of wide-collar Huk-A-Poo soletshoesm sole shoes and coke spoons hanging from gold neck chains.
Take your gum-ridden shoe and put it in a plastic bag, such as a large food storage bag or a grocery bag.
He was so influenced by his freshman science teacher, Herman Schneider, he said, and the tweedy intellectual image he projected, that he even copied the way Mr. Schneider dressed: blue button-down shirt, brown single-breasted herringbone suit, a solid brown twill tie and gum-sole shoes.
Like gum on a shoe, it stuck around.
For policy making, this is the legislative equivalent of gum on a shoe.
Mr. Carter agreed, saying Mr. Young "lingered like gum on your shoe".
