It has been a long time since I read such a thrilling thriller. It is a very underground and visceral novel, where morality and ethics hold little value. The best part is that it takes its pauses and then resumes with full force.

Basically, it is the story of the wrong man in the wrong place.

Surely Norman Mailer will become one of my favorite authors. This novel has truly captivated me with its intense plot and vivid characters. The way the story unfolds keeps me on the edge of my seat, constantly eager to know what will happen next. I was completely immersed in the world created by Mailer, and I can't wait to explore more of his works. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good thriller that challenges their perception of right and wrong.

Overall, it has been a great reading experience, and I look forward to many more like it in the future.

Mailer does noir.

Norman Mailer, a renowned American writer, has delved into the world of noir. His foray into this genre brings a unique perspective and style.

Mailer's noir works are characterized by their dark and gritty themes. He explores the seedy underbelly of society,揭示人性的复杂性和黑暗面.

In his noir stories, the characters are often flawed and desperate, navigating a world filled with corruption and violence.

Mailer's writing style adds to the atmosphere of noir. His prose is vivid and descriptive, painting a vivid picture of the dark and dangerous world his characters inhabit.

Through his noir works, Mailer offers a powerful and thought-provoking commentary on society and the human condition. His exploration of noir themes continues to captivate readers and critics alike.

A journey into the dark recesses of the American psyche

reveals a story that is both captivating and disturbing. In this tale, a hapless writer, who has a penchant for drink and a weakness for rich women, finds himself in a terrifying situation. He discovers that he has a severe case of alcoholic amnesia, which means he has lost all memory of a particular evening. As he tries to piece together the events of that fateful night, he realizes that something terrible has happened. His car is drenched in blood, and he has no idea how it got there or what he has done. This novel is much more Mailerish than the Castle in the Forest that I recently reviewed. It delves deep into the human mind, exploring themes of guilt, regret, and the consequences of one's actions. The author's writing style is engaging and descriptive, painting a vivid picture of the protagonist's descent into darkness. Overall, it is a must-read for fans of psychological thrillers.

Tough Guys Don't Dance is set in Provincetown during the off-season.

At this time, the few natives seem to turn upside down and spend most of their time in dark bars.

The story begins as a rather straightforward, yet dark mystery.

But it quickly becomes surreal and nightmarish as we spend a week of hell with our victim/suspect/murderer(?).

He attempts to figure out what exactly happened on the night he blacked out drunk and woke up with a tattoo on his arm that says "Laurel", vague memories of arguing with his missing wife, blood in his car, and a severed head neatly hidden in his marijuana patch.

It gets even weirder from there as we meet strange characters.

There's a man who dances on the top of roofs during lightning storms, a sheriff with an unhealthy love for guns and weed, and a gambling addict so obsessed with the New England Patriots that he bets on them every time, even though the story is set in the early 1980's.

There are well-timed twists and a surprisingly deep exploration of the human psyche.

At times, it offers a brutal view of life.

Since this is a Normal Mailer book, there is plenty of depravity and detailed examinations of the darker side of man.

All in all, it's a great read that stands out from the typical mystery. Huzzah!

A reread of one of my favorite novels has brought to light a complex and controversial work. It is sexist, homophobic, and unbelievably dirty, yet also entertaining, hilarious, and memorable (hohoho!).

Think about an acclaimed writer and public intellectual like Norman Mailer taking on the crime fiction genre. Mailer had listed The Postman Always Rings Twice as one of the five best American novels of the 20th century and also liked The Friends of Eddie Coyle. With Tough Guys Don't Dance, Mailer bestows the genre with his grandness, his ideas, his perversions, and his intellectual pollution (Mailer's own words). We get an awesome and dirty crime fiction novel set in the seaside town of Provincetown, with a preposterous plot filled with murderous characters locked in orgiastic relationships.

A chain-smoking alcoholic writer suspects he might have murdered a few people after waking up from a drinking binge. When he finds the decapitated heads (!) of his wife and another woman in the burrow on his marijuana patch, he decides to figure out what's going on.

There are not one, but three femme fatales, two hilariously over-the-top badass characters that most crime fiction and movie writers would envy, and a couple of fake gays (Mailer did not think highly of homosexuals), one of whom is a villain. Of course, they are all just mouthpieces for Mailer to express his ideas. Every single one, including the half-Irish half-Jewish hero Tim Madden, the book's narrator who often goes off on tangents with his thoughts and ideas. Fans of crime fiction seeking a tight little novel should avoid this. But Mailer created something truly unique and stretched the boundaries of the crime fiction genre.

I thought I'd gather some of the memorable quotes from this novel in one place:

“Certain dames ought to wear a T-shirt that says: ‘Hang around. I’ll make a cocksucker out of you.”

“I took my three years in the slammer without a fall. They called me Iron Jaw. I wouldn’t take cock.”

And so on, with many more provocative and thought-provoking quotes that add to the overall impact of this controversial yet captivating novel.

This isn't Mailer's best work, but it is still well worth the read.

The premise of the story is truly great. It has the power to draw the reader in and make them easily immersed in the narrative. However, as the story progresses, the resolution becomes a little bit convoluted. It gets to a point where it is hard to follow the thread of the story.

Some of the characters in the story are interesting and engaging. They have depth and complexity that makes them stand out. But there are also a couple of characters who are kind of shallow caricatures. They lack the substance and development that would make them more believable.

Despite these flaws, Mailer's prose is always perfect. His writing style is so engaging and beautiful that it makes for a very readable and at times enthralling story. The way he uses words and constructs sentences is a joy to read.

In conclusion, although this may not be Mailer's finest work, it still has a lot to offer. The great premise, interesting characters, and beautiful prose make it a book that is definitely worth picking up and reading.

Here is a completely unexpected mystery novel. The main character is a hopeless loser, a drug addict, and an alcoholic (well, that's not so original after all). But what's more, the essence of the investigation itself is not at all obvious at first glance. Even though we quickly suspect that there's something fishy going on, so to speak. So we follow the character on his wanderings, waiting for everything to unfold a little so that we can understand something. But we don't get bored for that matter, because the main character, who is also the narrator, keeps us entertained by telling stories that are in line with his character! All of this takes place in a vaguely decadent, yet funny, crazy, and also a little creepy atmosphere, with characters who cross paths, cross paths again, and love each other (a little too).

It's a unique and engaging read that keeps you on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. The author has done a great job of creating a complex and interesting world, filled with strange and wonderful characters. The story is full of twists and turns, and just when you think you've figured it out, something new and unexpected happens.

Overall, this is a great mystery novel that I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a good read. It's not your typical mystery, but that's what makes it so special. So if you're looking for something different and exciting, give this book a try!

This will be the 3rd mailer for me. The two others, The Executioner's Song & The Armies of the Night, are both excellent stories, either non-fiction or new journalism. This one appears to be an eye-narrator account. There are blurbs like "a convoluted mystery", "hardboiled in tone", "tight and suspenseful mystery novel", and "an entertainment".

At dawn, if it was low tide on the flats, I would awaken to the chatter of gulls. On a bad morning, I used to feel as if I had died and the birds were feeding on my heart. Later, after dozing for a while, the tide would come up over the sand as swiftly as a shadow descends on the hills when the sun lowers behind the ridge. Before long, the first swells would pound on the bulkhead of the deck below my bedroom window. The shock would rise in one fine fragment of time from the sea wall to the innermost passages of my flesh. Boom! the waves would go against the wall, and I could have been alone on a freighter on a dark sea.

Moving right along, at the page 36-mark, the eye-narrator is Tim Madden, 24 days separated from his beloved wife, Patty Lareine. Tim is a writer living on the end of Cape Cod, Provincetown. He spends time in The Lounge at The Widow's Walk, scribbling notes, trying to regain his sense of being a writer. He has given up and gone back to cigarettes. Smoking or not seems to have an influence on whether or not he writes.

Also in The Lounge is a couple who reveal themselves as Leonard Pangborn, an attorney, and Jessica Pond, a liberated woman. Tim tells them a fabricated story about a house they ask him about, inserting characters from his past. He's trying to impress Jessica.

He has a blank spot and is gradually coming to terms with it, discovering the mystery along with the reader. Jessica has a nice line: "We're by the fire. Tell your tale." Tim has an interesting interior monologue: "I sometimes think we are all of us equal to broadcasting stations and some stories should not be put on the air."

As the story progresses, more facts about Tim Madden's life are presented. At the page 31-mark, the reader learns he was in prison. Later, we find out he was in prison for 3 years, in a medium-security prison in Florida, for a cocaine bust. His prison habits help him cope with his wife's departure, blood on his clothing, and a severed head in his marijuana stash.

Overall, it's an okay story with good character interaction. I'm not sure what Mailer was aiming for. The bodies keep piling up, with little motive. The way Mailer built the story, with Tim Madden's amnesia and gradual regain of senses and memory, seems to work. There are also some ideas at play, like seances and supernatural voices. The title itself is an expression given voice by a mafia-guy and Tim's father. It makes me think of something Twain wrote about writing stories and eventually throwing them down the well. I'm curious if Mailer inserted the lines about Tim being in prison during a rewrite. Instead of a well, we have the ocean here.

The original article seems to be rather brief. To expand it, we could start by adding more details and descriptions in the first half to make it even more engaging. For example, we could describe the setting in more vivid terms or add some dialogue to bring the characters to life.

In the second half, we could focus on developing the plot further or adding some unexpected twists to keep the reader interested. We could also use more descriptive language to paint a clearer picture of the events that are taking place.

Overall, the key is to maintain a wonderful style throughout the article and make sure that both halves are equally engaging. By adding more details and using more vivid language, we can create an article that will capture the reader's attention from beginning to end.

Norman Mailer lived in Provincetown, a place that has its own unique charm and character.

This book, in a rather remarkable way, manages to accurately depict the various types of people who inhabit Cape Cod throughout the year. There are the deadbeats, those who seem to have given up on life and just drift along. Then there are the drunks, who can often be found in the local bars, drowning their sorrows or simply looking for a good time.

The crooks are also a prominent part of this community, always up to no good and causing trouble. And let's not forget the cops, who are tasked with keeping the peace and enforcing the law. But even among the cops, there are those who are drunken and crooked, adding another layer of complexity to the already diverse population.

Together, these different groups make up a large portion of Cape Cod's year-round residents, and the book does an excellent job of bringing them to life and showing us the reality of life in this coastal town.

Mailer's beloved theme (in his best works), the New Yorkers and their psyches.

Money, fame, sex, lawlessness, vanity.
Noir satire, grotesque protagonists, enjoyable prose, is his field and we fall for it in the second-hand stores to find the rest of his works.

Mailer was a master at delving into the complex and often chaotic world of New Yorkers. His exploration of their psyches was both fascinating and revealing.

He didn't shy away from highlighting the darker aspects of human nature, such as the pursuit of money, fame, and sex. These elements, combined with his use of noir satire and grotesque protagonists, made his works truly unique.

The enjoyable prose added an extra layer of charm, making it easy for readers to get lost in his stories. It's no wonder that we are willing to search through second-hand stores to find the rest of his works.

Mailer's works continue to captivate audiences and inspire new generations of writers.

I had the worst hangover ever last weekend.

It all started when I went out with my friends to celebrate a special occasion. We had a great time drinking and dancing until the early hours of the morning.

However, when I woke up the next day, I felt like my head was going to explode. I had a pounding headache, my mouth was dry, and I felt extremely nauseous.

I tried to get out of bed, but I was so weak that I could barely move. I spent the entire day lying in bed, feeling miserable and regretting my decision to drink so much.

This hangover was definitely a wake-up call for me. I realized that I need to be more responsible when it comes to drinking and take better care of my body.

From now on, I will limit my alcohol consumption and make sure to drink plenty of water before and after drinking. I don't ever want to experience a hangover like this again.