[SHB]≡ PDF The Grifters Jim Thompson Andre Dubus III 9780316404051 Books

The Grifters Jim Thompson Andre Dubus III 9780316404051 Books

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The Grifters Jim Thompson Andre Dubus III 9780316404051 Books

There are numerous varieties of noir out there – your hard-boiled detectives by Hammett and Chandler, your neo-noirs by Lehane, and so many more, creating a massive spectrum of darkness. But even in the depths of dangerous, flawed protagonists, there’s something especially nasty about the “heroes” of Jim Thompson, who gives us twisted killers, con artists, helpless saps, and throws us into worlds where everyone is corrupt, sleazy, and in it for themselves. It’s noir in its purest, most unflinching sense, and done without even a hint of judgment or morality to filter it all out.

And even with all of that, The Grifters manages to stand out from the pack, giving us a queasily incestuous tension between a con man and his grafting mother, two figures who only care about the world inasmuch as it can give them what they want. No, Roy and Lilly may not have the depraved sense of violence to them that Thompson gave us in Pop. 1280 and The Killer Inside Me, but they’re equally broken, nearly sociopathic characters; these are people who have divided the world into grifters and chumps, and chumps are only as good as what you can get out of them. As Roy makes his way through women (always somehow comparing them to his mother), or as Lilly cold-bloodedly manipulates everyone around her, we get the sense that these people could care less about the world around them, and feel like empathy and compassion are for the weak.

As usual with Thompson, plot is almost beside the point here, maybe to a fault for a novel about con artists; yes, there’s a thread about Roy beginning to question this lifestyle after a con goes bad, and Lilly struggling with a very different bad situation, but both of those are far less integral to the book than you might expect. No, Thompson specialized in creating his worlds and immersing his readers into the minds of his characters, and The Grifters features that in spades. From walking you through dice cons to seeing how they react to human kindness, from careful manipulation to instinctive self-preservation, Thompson’s writing excels at creating characters and depicting their thoughts, no matter how fundamentally broken they may be.

And it’s there that Thompson makes his bid to be considered among the all time greats. It’s not his stories, which are thin and more about the internal decisions of the characters. No, it’s his unflinching, unapologetic look at cruel, heartless, despicable characters cut loose in a world that’s unprepared for them, but deserves whatever it gets. That’s what noir is at its best, and trust me, just about any Thompson is among that category. The Grifters maybe isn’t as good as Thompson’s best (for my money, of the ones I’ve read, Pop. 1280 runs away with that) – it could use a little more complexity, just a tad more fleshing out – but it’s still a lean, nasty, pulpy, fantastic read.


Tags : The Grifters [Jim Thompson, Andre Dubus III] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. To his friends, to his coworkers, and even to his mistress Moira, Roy Dillon is an honest hardworking salesman. He lives in a cheap hotel just within his pay bracket. He goes to work every day. He has hundreds of friends and associates who could attest to his good character. Yet,Jim Thompson, Andre Dubus III,The Grifters,Mulholland Books,0316404055,Crime,Mystery & Detective - Hard-Boiled,FICTION Crime.,FICTION Mystery & Detective Hard-Boiled.,Swindlers and swindling;Fiction.,AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE FICTION,Crime & mystery,FICTION Crime,FICTION Mystery & Detective Hard-Boiled,FICTION Thrillers General,FICTION Thrillers Suspense,Fiction,Fiction - Mystery Detective,Fiction-Mystery & Detective,FictionLiterary,FictionMystery & Detective - Hard-Boiled,FictionThrillers - Suspense,GENERAL,General Adult,REFERENCE General,Swindlers and swindling,Thrillers - Suspense,United States,bisacsh

The Grifters Jim Thompson Andre Dubus III 9780316404051 Books Reviews

I chose this book because it was written about a different time period, one in which I am somewhat familiar.
Today's genre of action-packed ,save-the-country-, stop Armageddon are all too much alike.
This story , with it's surprise ending was a joy to read. Those were desperate years(economically) and there was a certain kind of person who chose to survive in a particular fashion, albeit illegal.
Maybe it only appealed to ,me because of my age, but I believe that it is important to young readers to know about another time in our history. The kind of history not ususlly found in classrooms.
I am on a Jim Thompson reading binge. I read in the last month The Killer Inside Me, Pop 1280, A Hell of A Woman, and The Grifters..........all are masterpieces; yet, The Grifters is by far my favorite. I love the Greek tragedy aspect of the book. I love the dime store Dostoevsky in all his facets; it astounds that he wrote high levels of literature for a pulp fiction audience. I have read much of Cain and Chandler; Thompson blows them away. He is the greatest American crime fiction writer after Poe. If you have not read him, you are missing quite a literary experience.
The book arrived in excellent condition. Beyond that, this story is filled with lots of twists. I enjoyed it very much. Thompson's style always draws me in. I've read population 1280 more times than I can't count and while I don't like this one as much as that one, I'm sure I'll read it again and again.
I enjoyed this story and probably would've given it 5 stars, but I thought the writing itself was just okay and I found Roy's character frustrating at times. Call me a nitpicker, but when a man from the treasury department meets with Roy toward the end of the novel, why does Roy say he's glad to have met the man, in spite of the circumstances? Roy proved weaker than I expected him to be. I understand how strong Lilly was and that she pretty much owned Roy when she wanted to, but after all Roy had been through, I'd have thought he'd have been stronger in the end. But anyway, this book is a quick, entertaining read.
I saw the movie that was made from this book a while back and really liked it. The book is very much like the movie in most aspects, but I found the dialogue a bit dated. I didn't bother me that most of the "grifts" in this book are now nearly impossible because the book was written in the 60's, but as with many other books of that era, I found the "witty banter" between the men and women laughable. I don't know if anyone ever actually talked like that, but if they did, it definitely was left behind with that era (Robert Heinlein's dialogue is similar). The book was relatively short, but I didn't feel like it was rushed, on the contrary, the characters in it are so devious and lacking in empathy, you wouldn't want to delve too much deeper into their lives. The end was just as shocking as the movie, even though I knew what was going to happen; ever perhaps a bit more shocking because the movie portrayed the tragic ending as somewhat accidental, and in the book, it seems more deliberate.
This is a very tightly woven thriller. Much better than the film and fills in a lot of background of the central characters. Lilly Dillon is a narcissist who sees little beyond her own wants. The love-hate relationship with her son, Roy, leads him to a relationship with her symbolic doppelgänger, Moira Langtry with tragic consequences.
Like mother, like son fashion, Roy is drawn into the life of the professional con artist. Yet, Roy is smart and after a con gone wrong almost costs him his life he seriously considers living life on the square.
Will he get off the grift and possibly take the opportunity for success in the straight world?
Will he be able to break free during the chain of events that lead to the unexpected ending?
Excellent read for the noir fan.
There are numerous varieties of noir out there – your hard-boiled detectives by Hammett and Chandler, your neo-noirs by Lehane, and so many more, creating a massive spectrum of darkness. But even in the depths of dangerous, flawed protagonists, there’s something especially nasty about the “heroes” of Jim Thompson, who gives us twisted killers, con artists, helpless saps, and throws us into worlds where everyone is corrupt, sleazy, and in it for themselves. It’s noir in its purest, most unflinching sense, and done without even a hint of judgment or morality to filter it all out.

And even with all of that, The Grifters manages to stand out from the pack, giving us a queasily incestuous tension between a con man and his grafting mother, two figures who only care about the world inasmuch as it can give them what they want. No, Roy and Lilly may not have the depraved sense of violence to them that Thompson gave us in Pop. 1280 and The Killer Inside Me, but they’re equally broken, nearly sociopathic characters; these are people who have divided the world into grifters and chumps, and chumps are only as good as what you can get out of them. As Roy makes his way through women (always somehow comparing them to his mother), or as Lilly cold-bloodedly manipulates everyone around her, we get the sense that these people could care less about the world around them, and feel like empathy and compassion are for the weak.

As usual with Thompson, plot is almost beside the point here, maybe to a fault for a novel about con artists; yes, there’s a thread about Roy beginning to question this lifestyle after a con goes bad, and Lilly struggling with a very different bad situation, but both of those are far less integral to the book than you might expect. No, Thompson specialized in creating his worlds and immersing his readers into the minds of his characters, and The Grifters features that in spades. From walking you through dice cons to seeing how they react to human kindness, from careful manipulation to instinctive self-preservation, Thompson’s writing excels at creating characters and depicting their thoughts, no matter how fundamentally broken they may be.

And it’s there that Thompson makes his bid to be considered among the all time greats. It’s not his stories, which are thin and more about the internal decisions of the characters. No, it’s his unflinching, unapologetic look at cruel, heartless, despicable characters cut loose in a world that’s unprepared for them, but deserves whatever it gets. That’s what noir is at its best, and trust me, just about any Thompson is among that category. The Grifters maybe isn’t as good as Thompson’s best (for my money, of the ones I’ve read, Pop. 1280 runs away with that) – it could use a little more complexity, just a tad more fleshing out – but it’s still a lean, nasty, pulpy, fantastic read.