Scan barcode
gregbutera's review against another edition
3.0
Ok, finished it. So, yes it was an enjoyable read. As I said in an early update, it's like watching three episodes of the show but in written form. They really do his dialogue justice on the show so much that I can hear the actors talking in my head when I read this. So, it was fun. If you like Justified the TV show, definitely worth a look.
jakethedad's review against another edition
4.0
Elmore Leonard amazes me. The guy writes these incredibly kinesthetic, action filled books where something is always happening, and they're still primarily dialogue.
I've not read any other Raylan books but this one made sure I'll find them. Also, I'll probably start watching Justified.
The book itself; fast paced but not hard to follow. The characters are all unique, all flawed in a fun way. I found myself loving the moonshiner turned weed dealing old man as much as I did any "hero" in the book, and always love any author unafraid to find crime in high places as well as low. Ultimately, this is more like a series of short stories that all end up intersecting at the end, all involving Raylan Givens.
Highly recommended whether you've read any Raylan or any Leonard.
I've not read any other Raylan books but this one made sure I'll find them. Also, I'll probably start watching Justified.
The book itself; fast paced but not hard to follow. The characters are all unique, all flawed in a fun way. I found myself loving the moonshiner turned weed dealing old man as much as I did any "hero" in the book, and always love any author unafraid to find crime in high places as well as low. Ultimately, this is more like a series of short stories that all end up intersecting at the end, all involving Raylan Givens.
Highly recommended whether you've read any Raylan or any Leonard.
jamiereadthis's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve been in such a malaise with reading these days. I’m grumpy with just about everything I’ve picked up. Every little grievance is obnoxious; I’m counting eyerolls and holding grudges. For each book I’ve read this month, I’ve chucked at least three more across the room.
So it’s to some extent hilarious that this is the book making me the exact opposite of grumpy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not odd in that... well, shall we say my love for Justified is not undocumented or insubstantial. But this isn’t much of a book. More or less, it’s a funhouse mirror of one, loosely edited, the sketches Elmore dashed off after the first season of the show for the purpose of giving the writers new material to strip for parts. (Here’s the backstory I wrote out in a comment.)
And oh shit, it’s great. It’s ridiculous and badass and funny and ridiculous. Full of the usual screwballs and racists and nutjobs and criminals. There’s loose threads and left turns. There’s contrivances and shorthand. There’s so much of the meta-narrative here, the book begs for a forward. Not an asterisk, or excuse— it should be able to stand on its own, which is maybe the area it fails— but some sense of the context. That it’s a piece of a conversation. It’s just Elmore giving the characters room to play so the writers can run and play with it further.
Because what it isn’t, but what it looks like it should be, is the novelization of the show. Elmore’s not going to do the anger of Raylan Givens or the soul searching of Boyd Crowder. He’s gonna tip the Rube Goldberg contraption on some crazy crime. Write dialogue with all the licks and riffs of some backwoods jazz. Raylan’s the Raylan that’s still gonna say, “You can’t shoot a man, Bob, and tear up his patch. The man has to make a living.” Boyd’s not the Boyd of any recognizable incarnation, either of the show or really, of the original “Fire in the Hole.” In several places— mostly the Crowders— there’s a bookmark, Elmore saying “this? You guys can do this better than I can, now go do your thing.”
What I would normally nitpick, here doesn’t bother me a bit. Maybe that’s not fair. Maybe it should be judged as a marketable book, not a multi-layered meta-narrative. I don’t care. It had me grinning the whole way through. Turning pages. Reading it eagerly— and again— instead of chucking it across the room. Elmore’s DNA runs deep in the show and here’s a peek at the collaboration.
Or maybe that’s the big part of what zapped through my cantankerousness. It’s that rare and ridiculous thing: the love letter to the love letter of the original thing. Elmore, so typically and notoriously grumpy with the adaptations that get him wrong, is here so thrilled with what they’ve done with his Raylan, he not only goes back to the drawing board, he adds to his world some of what Graham & co. invented for theirs. Each the riff on the other, each their own separate thing.
For Graham and Tim, says the inscription. There’s the forward you need.
(If you count, though: there’s one storyline left untapped. Ms. Jackie Nevada. Guess who’s showing up this year? Bring it on, season 4.)
First read, October 2012
- - -
February 2013:
Now we can add Jackie Nevada (and Kennet!) to the roster. There’s no more storylines left to tap. But my favorite part still: Dewey Crowe in the Black Pike Mining deal. (Sorry: M-T Mining, in the book.) If you’re going to have fanfic, have Elmore Leonard write your fanfic, yes sir.
So it’s to some extent hilarious that this is the book making me the exact opposite of grumpy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not odd in that... well, shall we say my love for Justified is not undocumented or insubstantial. But this isn’t much of a book. More or less, it’s a funhouse mirror of one, loosely edited, the sketches Elmore dashed off after the first season of the show for the purpose of giving the writers new material to strip for parts. (Here’s the backstory I wrote out in a comment.)
And oh shit, it’s great. It’s ridiculous and badass and funny and ridiculous. Full of the usual screwballs and racists and nutjobs and criminals. There’s loose threads and left turns. There’s contrivances and shorthand. There’s so much of the meta-narrative here, the book begs for a forward. Not an asterisk, or excuse— it should be able to stand on its own, which is maybe the area it fails— but some sense of the context. That it’s a piece of a conversation. It’s just Elmore giving the characters room to play so the writers can run and play with it further.
Because what it isn’t, but what it looks like it should be, is the novelization of the show. Elmore’s not going to do the anger of Raylan Givens or the soul searching of Boyd Crowder. He’s gonna tip the Rube Goldberg contraption on some crazy crime. Write dialogue with all the licks and riffs of some backwoods jazz. Raylan’s the Raylan that’s still gonna say, “You can’t shoot a man, Bob, and tear up his patch. The man has to make a living.” Boyd’s not the Boyd of any recognizable incarnation, either of the show or really, of the original “Fire in the Hole.” In several places— mostly the Crowders— there’s a bookmark, Elmore saying “this? You guys can do this better than I can, now go do your thing.”
What I would normally nitpick, here doesn’t bother me a bit. Maybe that’s not fair. Maybe it should be judged as a marketable book, not a multi-layered meta-narrative. I don’t care. It had me grinning the whole way through. Turning pages. Reading it eagerly— and again— instead of chucking it across the room. Elmore’s DNA runs deep in the show and here’s a peek at the collaboration.
Or maybe that’s the big part of what zapped through my cantankerousness. It’s that rare and ridiculous thing: the love letter to the love letter of the original thing. Elmore, so typically and notoriously grumpy with the adaptations that get him wrong, is here so thrilled with what they’ve done with his Raylan, he not only goes back to the drawing board, he adds to his world some of what Graham & co. invented for theirs. Each the riff on the other, each their own separate thing.
For Graham and Tim, says the inscription. There’s the forward you need.
(If you count, though: there’s one storyline left untapped. Ms. Jackie Nevada. Guess who’s showing up this year? Bring it on, season 4.)
First read, October 2012
- - -
February 2013:
Now we can add Jackie Nevada (and Kennet!) to the roster. There’s no more storylines left to tap. But my favorite part still: Dewey Crowe in the Black Pike Mining deal. (Sorry: M-T Mining, in the book.) If you’re going to have fanfic, have Elmore Leonard write your fanfic, yes sir.
johnmarlowe's review against another edition
3.0
I 19d say there was no reason to read this book, except if you like the TV series 1CJustified 1D. It was a pleasure reading Raylan 19s conversational style. I suppose they 19ve copied this style for the TV series, as opposed to Elmore Leonard copying it for the book, which came out after the hit series. If you like Justified, you should like this book.
kmatthews's review against another edition
3.0
Well written, good characters, fun dialogue, maybe a little too much going on with the various stories within the book.
eb2114's review against another edition
3.0
Not Elmore Leonard's best work. This is more a series of loosely connected short stories -- or even novelizations of episodes of Justified -- than an actual novel.
muninnherself's review against another edition
5.0
Apparently there's a TV series based on this.
Three interwoven stories with a Kentucky setting. I only know two things about Kentucky - horse racing and coal mining - and both are covered, so I don't know I've learned much new about the state. :)
Leonard is such an incredibly competent writer, the 'writing' dissolves away so you can barely see it. Raylan Givens is a great character and it's interesting to have a story from the law-enforcement perspective, I guess most of the Leonard I've read is from the other side of the fence.
Three interwoven stories with a Kentucky setting. I only know two things about Kentucky - horse racing and coal mining - and both are covered, so I don't know I've learned much new about the state. :)
Leonard is such an incredibly competent writer, the 'writing' dissolves away so you can barely see it. Raylan Givens is a great character and it's interesting to have a story from the law-enforcement perspective, I guess most of the Leonard I've read is from the other side of the fence.
thelastofmike's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
More...