I can't believe I continued on with Goodis after that. But
I'm glad I
did. The books that are more character-driven, just
chronicling a man's
fall can be quite great. My favorite is Street of No Return
(which was
made into an absolutely terrible Samuel Fuller film). This is
closely
followed by Down There (Shoot the Piano Player), Cassidy's
Girl and
Blonde on the Street Corner. Each is the story of a down and
out guy
who, for one brief moment, thinks he can regain his former,
more
respectable life, usually with a slight, frail girl by his
side, only to
later submt to his fate, usually with a very buxom drunk
woman.
What about Night Squad? I think it's his best after Down
There (Shoot the
Piano Player) and almost identical in its character arc with
Paul Theroux's
Saint Jack. Another great book.
Brad
#
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to
majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.