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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
A decent, quick read. Typical Jim Thompson - very dark, self-obsessed characters. The twist with the Sheriff comes early and surprises you, and then he just keeps twisting. His aw shucks dialogue combined with the increasingly complex schemes starts to wear after awhile, but then the book is over. A solid choice.
dark
fast-paced
Singular narrative voice that grips from the start. Hard-boiled suspense fiction, but not at all typical of the genre. Trips a line between Chandler and Faulkner, really good southern stuff.
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Es la primera novela de Jim Thompson que leo (gracias a mi hermano) y a pesar de que le llaman "escritor de novelitas", o "pulp king", esta novela está muy bien. Falla el final, que se me hace apresurado y que deja cabos sueltos. Pero el resto de la novela es fantástico. El prota es un sheriff glotón, vago, cuyo método de supervivencia es nunca detener ni incomodar a nadie a no ser que no haya más remedio y que el detenido no sea alguien importante o con dinero. Al principio vemos al típico personaje medio limitado, bonachón y sentimos pena por él. Pero a lo largo de la novela nos sorprenderá, él y los otros personajes. Nadie es exactamente lo que parece ser.
La lectura es entretenida, tiene puntos muy buenos y salvo el remate del final, como digo, está muy bien hecha. Un rato muy bien empleado.
Uno de mis puntos favoritos:
La lectura es entretenida, tiene puntos muy buenos y salvo el remate del final, como digo, está muy bien hecha. Un rato muy bien empleado.
Uno de mis puntos favoritos:
- So you're with the Talkington Agency," I said. "Why, god-dang if I ain't heard a lot about you people! Let's see now, you broke up that big railroad strike, didn't you?"
-"That's right." He showed me the tooth again. "The railroad strike was one of our jobs."
-"Now, by golly, that really took nerve," I said. "Them railroad workers throwin' chunks of coal at you an' splashin' you with water, and you fellas without nothin' to defend yourself with except shotguns and automatic rifles! Yes, sir, god-dang it, I really gotta hand it to you!"
-"Now, just a moment, Sheriff!" His mouth came together like a buttonhole. "We have never -- "
dark
funny
lighthearted
tense
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
Another from the Dimestore Dostoyevsky about a sheriff who does terrible things in order to stay at his job without having to work, but then near the end it starts to hit you how just how far he's fallen.
Favourite lines:
1. "And suddenly the emptiness was filled with sound and sight, with all the sad terrible things that the emptiness had brought the people to."
2. About a strike-breaking 'Talkington' agent, "Them railroad workers throwin' chunks of coal at you an' splashin' you with water, and you fellas without nothin' to defend yourselves with but shotguns an' automatic rifles! Yes, sir, god-dang it, I really got to hand it to you! ... And them low-down garment workers... God-dang, you really took care of them, didn't you? People that threw away them three-dollar-a-week wages on wild livin' and then fussed because they had to eat garbage to stay alive! I mean, what the heck, they were all foreigners, wasn't they, and if they didn't like good ol' American garbage, why didn't they go back where they came from?"
3. "Just because I put temptation in front of people, it don't mean they got to pick it up... Well now, I guess it does sound kind of nutty," I said, "but that ain't hardly no ways my fault. By rights, I should be rompin' on the high an' the mighty, the folks that really run this country. But I ain't allowed to touch them, so I've got to make up for it by being twice as hard on the white trash an' Negroes, and people like you that let their brains sink down on their butts because they couldn't find no place else to use them. Yes, sir, I'm laborin' in the Lord's vineyard, and if I can't reach up high, I got to work all the harder on the low-hangin' vines. For the Lord loft a willin' worker, Rose; He liketh to see a man bustin' his ass during working hours. And I got them hours cut way, way down with eatin' and sleepin', but I can't eat and sleep all the time."
4. "It's just part of my job, you know, to gloat over folks in trouble."
5. "Do you really think you can go on taking graft and robbing the county, and doing nothing to earn you money?"
"Why, I don't see how I can do much else if I want to stay in office," I said. "I got all kinds of expenses that fellas like you and the county judge and so on ain't bothered with. Me, I'm out in the open all the time, brushin' up with hundreds of people whereas you folks only see one once in a while. Anyone that's put in trouble, I'm the fella that puts 'em there; they don't see you until afterward. Anyone that needs to borrow a dollar, they come to me. All the church ladies come to me for donations, and–"
"Nick..."
"I throw a big barbecue every night the last month before election. Come one, come all. I got to buy presents when folks have a baby, and I got to-"
"Nick! Nick, listen to me!" Robert Lee held up his hand. "You don't have to do all those things. People have no right to expect them of you."
"Maybe they don't have a right," I said. "I'll go along with that. But they got a right to expect, and what they do expect ain't exactly the same thing."
"Just do your job, Nick. Do it well. Show people you're honest and courageous and hard-working, and you won't have to do anything else."
I shook my head, and said I couldn't. "I just plain can't, Robert Lee, and that's a fact."
"No?" He leaned back in his chair. "And just why can't you, pray tell?"
"For a couple reasons," I said. "For one thing, I ain't real brave and hard-workin' and honest. For another, the voters don't want me to be."
"And just how do you figure that?"
"The elected me, didn't they? They keep electing me."
Favourite lines:
1. "And suddenly the emptiness was filled with sound and sight, with all the sad terrible things that the emptiness had brought the people to."
2. About a strike-breaking 'Talkington' agent, "Them railroad workers throwin' chunks of coal at you an' splashin' you with water, and you fellas without nothin' to defend yourselves with but shotguns an' automatic rifles! Yes, sir, god-dang it, I really got to hand it to you! ... And them low-down garment workers... God-dang, you really took care of them, didn't you? People that threw away them three-dollar-a-week wages on wild livin' and then fussed because they had to eat garbage to stay alive! I mean, what the heck, they were all foreigners, wasn't they, and if they didn't like good ol' American garbage, why didn't they go back where they came from?"
3. "Just because I put temptation in front of people, it don't mean they got to pick it up... Well now, I guess it does sound kind of nutty," I said, "but that ain't hardly no ways my fault. By rights, I should be rompin' on the high an' the mighty, the folks that really run this country. But I ain't allowed to touch them, so I've got to make up for it by being twice as hard on the white trash an' Negroes, and people like you that let their brains sink down on their butts because they couldn't find no place else to use them. Yes, sir, I'm laborin' in the Lord's vineyard, and if I can't reach up high, I got to work all the harder on the low-hangin' vines. For the Lord loft a willin' worker, Rose; He liketh to see a man bustin' his ass during working hours. And I got them hours cut way, way down with eatin' and sleepin', but I can't eat and sleep all the time."
4. "It's just part of my job, you know, to gloat over folks in trouble."
5. "Do you really think you can go on taking graft and robbing the county, and doing nothing to earn you money?"
"Why, I don't see how I can do much else if I want to stay in office," I said. "I got all kinds of expenses that fellas like you and the county judge and so on ain't bothered with. Me, I'm out in the open all the time, brushin' up with hundreds of people whereas you folks only see one once in a while. Anyone that's put in trouble, I'm the fella that puts 'em there; they don't see you until afterward. Anyone that needs to borrow a dollar, they come to me. All the church ladies come to me for donations, and–"
"Nick..."
"I throw a big barbecue every night the last month before election. Come one, come all. I got to buy presents when folks have a baby, and I got to-"
"Nick! Nick, listen to me!" Robert Lee held up his hand. "You don't have to do all those things. People have no right to expect them of you."
"Maybe they don't have a right," I said. "I'll go along with that. But they got a right to expect, and what they do expect ain't exactly the same thing."
"Just do your job, Nick. Do it well. Show people you're honest and courageous and hard-working, and you won't have to do anything else."
I shook my head, and said I couldn't. "I just plain can't, Robert Lee, and that's a fact."
"No?" He leaned back in his chair. "And just why can't you, pray tell?"
"For a couple reasons," I said. "For one thing, I ain't real brave and hard-workin' and honest. For another, the voters don't want me to be."
"And just how do you figure that?"
"The elected me, didn't they? They keep electing me."
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
challenging
dark
funny
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault