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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
fast-paced
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Stephen King ha detto: "Thompson non è stato sempre grande, ma al meglio di sé è stato il migliore, perché non si è mai fermato davanti a nulla. Il lettore è catturato dalle sue storie febbrili e costretto a leggerle perché capisce fin da subito che l'autore andrà avanti fino alla fine, per quanto gradevole, meschina o orribile quella fine potrà risultare."
Ecco, praticamente io questo romanzo l'ho letto tutto oggi, d'un fiato, senza riuscire ad interrompermi. Tra un moto di nervosismo verso questo protagonista che appare in scena nel ruolo di quello un po' scemo e debosciato, parecchi momenti di sorpresa e molte amare risate. Satira e sadismo, una narrazione in prima persona che precipita il lettore nella testa dello sceriffo Nick Corey e uno stuolo di personaggi deprecabili in situazioni paradossali.
Che piacevole sorpresa!
Ecco, praticamente io questo romanzo l'ho letto tutto oggi, d'un fiato, senza riuscire ad interrompermi. Tra un moto di nervosismo verso questo protagonista che appare in scena nel ruolo di quello un po' scemo e debosciato, parecchi momenti di sorpresa e molte amare risate. Satira e sadismo, una narrazione in prima persona che precipita il lettore nella testa dello sceriffo Nick Corey e uno stuolo di personaggi deprecabili in situazioni paradossali.
Che piacevole sorpresa!
As with all of Thompson's novels, a real nasty piece of work, even as it's much funnier than his other work between the fits of grimy despair. Something of a Southern companion piece to The Killer Inside Me, also featuring a murderous sheriff. But Nick is more delusional and lazy than depraved, and the personality differences make these very different crime novels in plot and approach: Nick is as despairing as Lou Ford and as calculating, but he's actively smarter and with a stronger existential ennui. Thompson mostly confirms Nick's dim view of others, and while that means this isn't as strong as Killer Inside Me, it's still Jim Thompson, a writer whose despair and fundamental horror at the human condition, the ability to act, is pretty astonishing.
This is a brutal, low-down story of a sociopathic sheriff who lives among people just as twisted as he is. It is simultaneously one of the bleakest and one of the most entertaining tales of human behavior you'll ever find. I can't recall the last time I was shown humanity's dark reflection while being so thoroughly entertained. Other reviews will give you a summary of this book, but I kept thinking that I was reading Truth. It's hard to believe in good when you see evil so completely examined.
I'm a little weirded out by it all, honestly.
The other thing that I took away was more mundane: it was hard to believe this was written in 1964. I had the same feeling about [b:The Catcher in the Rye|5107|The Catcher in the Rye|J.D. Salinger|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1349928703s/5107.jpg|3036731], constantly flipping back to the copyright page to make sure it really was as old as I knew it to be. Like Salinger, Thompson has tapped into some universal truths about human behavior here, but where Catcher is the watershed PG version of disaffected youth, Pop. 1280 is the full-on R-rated distillation of adults gone just about as wrong as they possibly can.
Amazing.
I'm a little weirded out by it all, honestly.
The other thing that I took away was more mundane: it was hard to believe this was written in 1964. I had the same feeling about [b:The Catcher in the Rye|5107|The Catcher in the Rye|J.D. Salinger|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1349928703s/5107.jpg|3036731], constantly flipping back to the copyright page to make sure it really was as old as I knew it to be. Like Salinger, Thompson has tapped into some universal truths about human behavior here, but where Catcher is the watershed PG version of disaffected youth, Pop. 1280 is the full-on R-rated distillation of adults gone just about as wrong as they possibly can.
Amazing.
challenging
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes