Rate this book

È Già Buio, Dolcezza (1955)

by Jim Thompson(Favorite Author)

3.94 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

8834709365 (ISBN13: 9788834709368)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Fanucci

review 1: Kid Collins is one of the great Thompson characters, dripping with the existential angst that is so prevalent in his novels (the Kid just wants it to be over near the end because no good can come of it, speaking about life and death and not the caper he is apparently addressing). He is the misunderstood loner who is demonized by a society that wants to 'fix' him, a society that doesn't care if it fails in that endeavor as long as they keep drawing their paychecks. It's revelations like that from the Kid that makes us realize also that Thompson was among the first progenitors of the anti-hero and the Kid is as close to an anarchist as we see from Thomspon, doing what he needs to survive and rejecting a society that lacks compassion. The Kid is forced to contend with a stupi... mored man who believes the Kid is his dupe and a classic female character in the weak, frightened, self-pitying woman who is really good deep down (but wants to be better and not give in to these men). The Kid ultimately sees that "There's something inside of every man that keeps him going long after he has any reason to" then realizing that it is "hope in the face of hopelessness". It is only to the latter that the Kid eventually gives in, a tragedy that Thompson leads us to on a knife's edge.
review 2: Man, there's no one who can put you inside the head of characters whose method of interpreting the world around them is completely and fundamentally different from you own better than Jim Thompson.I wasn't in love with this story. The plot and some of the characters were kind of flat, but those weren't the things this book derived its value from. The value was all from navigating the world through the eyes of this really odd character - unique in being both identifiable and mentally ill. I don't know where he got his framework for understanding of how mental illness impacts a person's perspective, but it was refreshing that he didn't fall into the two typical buckets of either debilitatingly nuts or just a misunderstood genius/rebel. He was smart, good, kind, and deep, but just kind of off in how he interpreted situations and understood people. He was really close to being a normal, good guy, but that little bit where he was off made a world of difference, which made this a really fun book to read. The love interest, and their dynamic, was unique and fun as well - not in a romcom kind of fun way, but in a kind of disturbing, tragic way.Definitely worth the read. less

Download links for: È già buio, dolcezza

Advertising