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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
dark
tense
fast-paced
this is how's it's done. contemporary crime/thriller/suspense/mystery novelists would do well and study their craft at the feet of the masters. and Thompson is a master. great story, amazing characters, and a sparse storytelling style that lends itself to the genre. also the prose is smart as a whip.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm still not sure where I fall with this "noir" genre, but oddly enough, I keep thinking about this book. The twists are no longer new, but I imagine they were when the book was written. Only Roy is well-developed as a character, but the genre makes it easy to figure out the other characters.
I've never seen the movie, but the actors in it are not how I pictured at all. So I'm glad I didn't watch it first.
I've never seen the movie, but the actors in it are not how I pictured at all. So I'm glad I didn't watch it first.
dark
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really, what is all the positive fuss for this book about? It's an engaging read, but left no lasting impression. After finishing the book, I checked out the movie from the local library, and was even less impressed that the most interesting character--Carol, the concentration camp survivor--was reworked as a bit part. I've heard Thompson's good, but this introduction to his work left no real desire on me to read more, though I'll give Pop. 1280 a chance anyway.
The Grifters is an exercise in animal behavior, specifically the reptilian overtures of homo sapiens. It is a feral book. What saves it, what elevates the narrative from the primordial is its kinetic codes of communication. The novel triumphs through its five or six principal conversations. The characters expand outside of type and blur our ready verdicts. There are human truths being issued from the mouths of vipers: assassins, certainly, but ones with souls.
The film adaptation reveals the central set pieces, with one notable exception. It rained here this a.m. before the Manchester Derby, the solace of Roy Dillon was illuminating by contrast.
The film adaptation reveals the central set pieces, with one notable exception. It rained here this a.m. before the Manchester Derby, the solace of Roy Dillon was illuminating by contrast.
I whole-heartedly recommend Jim Thompson to anyone who enjoys stylish crime fiction*. This was perhaps my second favourite JT novel, behind Pop. 1280, and features several trademarks including a smart, manipulative, and doomed protagonist; sharp dialogue; and several ridiculous/brilliant twists.
*Crime fiction is a weirdly broad term, isn't it: this is 1960s LA noir, featuring a cast of amoral low-level crooks, rather than the murder-investigation-in-drizzly-British-town brand of crime fiction.
*Crime fiction is a weirdly broad term, isn't it: this is 1960s LA noir, featuring a cast of amoral low-level crooks, rather than the murder-investigation-in-drizzly-British-town brand of crime fiction.
great book, bit short but, it fair whipped along to the shocking ending.
