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Sto caricando le informazioni... Thieves Like Us (Film Ink S.) (originale 1937; edizione 1999)di Edward Anderson (Autore)
Informazioni sull'operaThieves Like Us di Edward Anderson (1937)
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. I'm not sure why more people don't rate this book higher. It's a great gritty noir novel masquerading as a crime novel. You feel the humanity and nobility of the characters, how they are not that far from us, even while you realize these are kidnappers, murderers, and thieves. It perfectly captures the '30s Great Depression era feel and the Robin Hood aura that surrounded many of the serial bank robbers of the time. Hardscrabble in West Texas, 1937 Among the most glamorized and followed criminals of the Great Depression were bank robbers. How people might have found anything admirable in these people—among them Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, a sprinkling of the better known bandits—should be no surprise to those who experienced the Great Recession. As Anderson’s Bowie Bowers observes, “Them capitalist fellows are thieves like us….They rob widows and orphans.” If you find yourself nodding in agreement with Bowie then you’ll want to join him, his young girlfriend Keechie and his brothers in crime T-Dub and Chicamaw as they pull off a series of successful bank robberies, battle the “Laws,” and traverse west Texas of the 1930s. Like many, if not most, of noir crime fiction of the period, the nihilism of the characters and plot are nearly palpable from the first pages of Thieves Like Us. These outlaws regard themselves as a unique band of brothers, an A-team of thieves like none other. At the same time, they continually express the idea their robbery proceeds are a stake on a settled life of little care. Of course, the next job lures them, like the Sirens leading ancient sailors onto the shoals. And here the old saying, “No honor among thieves,” bears no weight as these fellows, particularly Bowie, prove themselves to be a loyal bunch to each other. Irony abounds in this notion, as loyalty leads to some pretty bad outcomes for these guys. Within Anderson’s tale of life on adrenaline and thievery, readers will discover a love story, that between Bowie and Keechie. With Keechie beside him, Bowie manages to breakaway from the gang for a while. He and Keechie set up housekeeping in the hills of west Texas and New Orleans, fleeing when locals seem too suspicious of them, neither realizing that they are the subject of regular newspaper features, much like Bonnie and Clyde, but also because Bowie can’t help acting out his aggression in even trivial confrontations; Anderson strikes a fine balance of innocence and viciousness in his Bowie. Naturally, in period fiction as this, and especially in one heavily intertwined with fatalism, things can’t be expected to workout for the best, at least not best for characters like Bowie and Keechie. How the wheels come off the getaway car is left for readers to discover for themselves. Notable for the way Anderson’s story rings with veracity (he based his novel on an interview with his cousin, Roy Johnson, who was serving a life sentence for armed robbery) and the effective use of argot, now pretty much extinct, which proves transportive. There have been a couple of film adaptations, in 1948 as They Live By Night and Robert Altman’s Thieves Like Us 1974 adaptation. Hardscrabble in West Texas, 1937 Among the most glamorized and followed criminals of the Great Depression were bank robbers. How people might have found anything admirable in these people—among them Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, a sprinkling of the better known bandits—should be no surprise to those who experienced the Great Recession. As Anderson’s Bowie Bowers observes, “Them capitalist fellows are thieves like us….They rob widows and orphans.” If you find yourself nodding in agreement with Bowie then you’ll want to join him, his young girlfriend Keechie and his brothers in crime T-Dub and Chicamaw as they pull off a series of successful bank robberies, battle the “Laws,” and traverse west Texas of the 1930s. Like many, if not most, of noir crime fiction of the period, the nihilism of the characters and plot are nearly palpable from the first pages of Thieves Like Us. These outlaws regard themselves as a unique band of brothers, an A-team of thieves like none other. At the same time, they continually express the idea their robbery proceeds are a stake on a settled life of little care. Of course, the next job lures them, like the Sirens leading ancient sailors onto the shoals. And here the old saying, “No honor among thieves,” bears no weight as these fellows, particularly Bowie, prove themselves to be a loyal bunch to each other. Irony abounds in this notion, as loyalty leads to some pretty bad outcomes for these guys. Within Anderson’s tale of life on adrenaline and thievery, readers will discover a love story, that between Bowie and Keechie. With Keechie beside him, Bowie manages to breakaway from the gang for a while. He and Keechie set up housekeeping in the hills of west Texas and New Orleans, fleeing when locals seem too suspicious of them, neither realizing that they are the subject of regular newspaper features, much like Bonnie and Clyde, but also because Bowie can’t help acting out his aggression in even trivial confrontations; Anderson strikes a fine balance of innocence and viciousness in his Bowie. Naturally, in period fiction as this, and especially in one heavily intertwined with fatalism, things can’t be expected to workout for the best, at least not best for characters like Bowie and Keechie. How the wheels come off the getaway car is left for readers to discover for themselves. Notable for the way Anderson’s story rings with veracity (he based his novel on an interview with his cousin, Roy Johnson, who was serving a life sentence for armed robbery) and the effective use of argot, now pretty much extinct, which proves transportive. There have been a couple of film adaptations, in 1948 as They Live By Night and Robert Altman’s Thieves Like Us 1974 adaptation. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Appartiene alle Collane Editoriali
Fiction.
Mystery.
HTML:Bowie teams up with fellow thieves Chicamaw and T-Dub to rob a bank??he needs the money to hire a lawyer to prove he's innocent of murder. On the run, Bowie finds momentary peace when he elopes with a young woman. But Chicamaw and T-Dub want to reel him back in for one more job. One of the earliest American noir novels, Thieves Like Us was filmed twice, as They Live By Night in 1949, and by Robert Altman under the book's original title. "One of the great forgotten novels of the 1930s"??Raymond Cha Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944Classificazione LCVotoMedia:
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The novel paints a realistic picture of life in the dust-bowl of the 1930s. One gets a feeling that the author based his story on the real lives of Bonnie and Clyde. As they drive back and forth on the dusty roads the reader can sense that time for these two is running out, that sooner or later they are heading for a confrontation with the police.
Thieves Like Us is a gripping, well written story that brings this lost era to life. There is an overwhelming sense of doom that clings to these tough, violent men, and even as they dream of a better life in Mexico, it is clear that fate has other plans for them. I note that this novel is considered an excellent example of the noir style of American crime stories. ( )