$8.00  Double Indemnity - Book |
$8.80  The Maltese Falcon - Book |
$9.75  The Ginger Man - Book |
$10.36  The Magnificent Ambersons (The Modern Library Classics) - Book |
$9.60  The Big Sleep - Book |
 [Larger view] | The Postman Always Rings Twice (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
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Average user rating:  | |
 Despair and degradation as art | |
| This is a book you read once and can't stop thinking about. It's what I call a 'blue book', one that is soulful and strangely mellow. It actually makes me feel like I'm underneath a very shady tree on a sunny day. Reason being that the light is very blue green, so a 'blue' book. Before I try to make sense of this, let's continue. Frank Chambers is a young drifter who rolls into town, goes to work in a diner for Nick, a tough Greek, falls for Nick's young wife Cora, then decides, with Cora's help, to murder Nick and take over the restaurant. What should be simple becomes more complex. The first murder attempt fails, the second one is successful but easy to see through. With the help of a very smart and very crooked lawyer, both Frank and Cora are soon free. That, really, is where the problems start. Frank and Cora love and hate each other fiercely, speaking with remarkably accurate, real dialogue. Cain doesn't even attribute his dialogue, so pay close attention to who's speaking. The book is mostly just people talking, in very real language, full of slang and fragmented sentences. It's like listening to a REALLY interesting conversation. Frank and Cora are two very small, unremarkable, inconsequential people caught up in something too big for them to understand. They mistake happiness and hope for lust, hate, anger and even apathy. And just when things look alright, one little, honest accident washes it all away. This book shows us how fragile everything is, or at least how fragile it can be. That's what elevates this to the level of tragedy. This is something to live with and dwell upon, something you can never quite shake off, no matter how hard you try. (...) | |
| Solid example of noir suspense | |
| Though I rate this book at four stars, make no mistake about it, this is a fine book. Tightly written and carrying no tedious padding, this is a perfect weekend book. Cain describes the settings and physical descriptions of the people with exquisite flair, and his dialogue is wondrous to read. While I praise the brevity of the novel, it's low word-count is the only reason I did not award "The Postman" five stars. I feel a five-star book should not be something that can be read so quickly. From the opening paragraph, I was hooked. Cain wastes no time introducing his characters and setting the table for a raucous reading experience. When the story came to an end, I knew I had discovered a master craftsman, for his book left me with that most elusive of reading experiences: I wanted more, a lot more, but I knew the story ended where it had to. Great stuff! I can't believe this was his first published novel. I'm definitely going to hunt down more of his work. | |
| Full of Despair | |
| This slim novel was first publishedin 1934, it felt timeless to me and was finished in one sitting without pause. The lead characters Frank and Cora are bleak and cold, totally lacking in redeeming qualities. What makes the book so gripping to me is that the style of the writing, the sparse use of words and it's coldness exactly matches them. The content is not suitable for young children and at one time Cain faced prosecution for this publication. Today as the world has changed Postman would not have had the same impact in those terms, but as a literary work I think it is still stunning. The plot is the murder of a small time diner owner by his wife and her drifter lover who comes to work for them and the destruction of what affection they had for each other through their own amoral natures. Excellent! |
