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Jack Ryan #1
The Big Bounce
Together with a tough young drifter named Jack Ryan, hedonistic Nancy Hayes plans her private revenge on on a former lover by stealing a fifty-thousand-dollar payroll. Reissue. (A Warner Bros. film, releasing Winter 2004, directed by George Armitage, starring Owen Wilson, Morgan Freeman, Gary Sinise, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Bebe Neuwirth, Charlie Sheen, & Harry Dean Stanton) (Suspense)
336 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
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About the author
Elmore Leonard
201Ìýbooks3,513ÌýfollowersElmore John Leonard lived in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Memphis before settling in Detroit in 1935. After serving in the navy, he studied English literature at the University of Detroit where he entered a short story competition. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.
Father of Peter Leonard.
Father of Peter Leonard.
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October 10, 2024
COLD DUCK
Leigh Taylor-Young e Ryan O’Neal protagonisti del primo adattamento cinematografico uscito nel 1969 diretto da Alex March.
È tutta colpa di Terry Quinn.
Terry lavora part time in un negozio di libri usati che vende anche vecchi vinili. Siamo diventati amici grazie a George Pelecanos.
Nell’altre parte del tempo Terry fa l’investigatore privato. Insieme a Derek Strange. Sono entrambi ex poliziotti. Vivono a Washington. Derek è nero. Terry bianco.
Bè, comunque, Terry di libri dovrebbe intendersene un po� visto che li vende, ha la passione per la letteratura western e a un certo punto se ne esce (in Angeli neri � Hell To Pay) dicendo che i migliori western li ha scritti Elmore Leonard. Che colpo! Non me lo sarei mai aspettato.
E a me scatta immediata curiosità .
Ho letto solo un Leonard parecchi anni fa, in lingua originale: intelligente, arguto, frizzante, si capisce che ha una buona marcia. Però pensavo scrivesse solo crime.
Leigh Taylor-Young e Ryan O’Neal all’epoca erano marito e moglie: cinematograficamente ‘vergini�, arrivavano entrambi dal successo televisivo della serie “Peyton Place�.
E da qui a rendersi conto che una serie di gioiellini cinematografici che io ho goduto molto nascono dalla sua penna, letteraria o cinematografica, (“Get Shorty� e il seguito “Be Cool�, “Jackie Brown�, la gustosa serie “Justified�, “Quel treno per Yuma � 3:10 To Yuma�, make e remake, “Out of Sight�, gli amatissimi western “Joe Kidd�, “Valdez is Coming � Io sono Valdez�, “Hombre�, “I tre banditi � The Tall T�).
E poi, “Touch� di Paul Schrader che devo ancora vedere, e lo farò perché Schrader è uno dei miei registi prediletti, “Oltre ogni rischio � Cat Chaser� di Abel Ferrara, anche questo ancora da vedere, ma non sono sicuro di farlo perché Ferrara invece mi ha progressivamente deluso.
E altre cose che sullo schermo sono meno riuscite come “Killshot�, “I delitti del rosario�, �52 gioca o muori�, “Scherzare col fuoco � Stick� regia del macho Burt Reynolds, “I guerrieri del vento � The Ambassador�, “A muso duro � Mr Majestyk�. E ancora parecchie altre.
E che sia scrittore molto apprezzato dai colleghi, non solo dai lettori, ormai numerosi: Martin Amis, che gli fu amico e lo intervistò diverse volte, lo definì il Dickens di Detroit
Ho sentito l’impellente necessità di rendermi conto, di capire meglio.
Il film sposta l’azione dalla zona dei Grandi Laghi del Michigan alla costa californiana. Piscine e spiagge restano ambientazioni pivotali.
Ed eccomi qua, con il primo romanzo crime di Leonard, The Big Bounce correttamente tradotto “Il grande salto� (invece il film in italiano è diventato Io sono perversa).
Il romanzo era pronto nel 1966: ricevette 84 rifiuti, lo raccontava divertito lo stesso Leonard. Poi, fu realizzato il primo film, e pubblicato il romanzo (1969). Ma siccome il film fu un fiasco, il libro vendette ben poco: fino agli anni Novanta, quando, dopo il successo del film “Get Shorty� di Barry Sonnenfeld, iniziò a esplodere la Leonard mania.
La locandina del film del 1969 dove tra Leigh Taylor-Young e Ryan O’Neal sembra spiccare di più lei: la carriera a seguire, invece, fu più splendente per lui che per lei, destinata a ruoli marginali in produzioni marginali.
Lei è senza dubbio una “cattiva ragazza�. Però, perversa mi sembra esagerato: non è una persona intimamente e ostinatamente incline a fare il male, provandone un perfido compiacimento (definizione Treccani), ma certo i suoi principi morali sono labili, diversi, le piace provocare, le piacciono le scorciatoie, le piace la bella vita.
Lui ricorda quei personaggi interpretati da Paul Newman, bello con lo sguardo assassino, dolcemente ruvido, morbidamente scontroso, curioso della vita, se non proprio ribelle certo mai sottomesso. Ma anche a suo modo ingenuo. Romantico a suo modo.
Bevono molto, lui soprattutto birra (basta che sia ben fredda), lei Cold Duck, un vino frizzante tipico della zona di Detroit (una schifezza composta di almeno un paio di vitigni diversi, di origine tedesca, aromatizzata al limone e menta � forse per rinfrescare l’alito?)
I protagonisti del secondo adattamento del 2004: Owen Wilson su tutti, in onore del quale il personaggio diventa anche un po� gigolo; lei è Sara Foster; Morgan Freeman, Gary Sinise, Charlie Sheen completano il cast. Le palme rimandano alle Hawaii dove il film è ben ambientato.
Colpisce la qualità del dialogo, colpisce l’ironia, colpisce come Leonard sappia spiazzare, e ribaltare le regole del genere, colpisce il ritmo, colpisce uno spiccato talento per tutto quanto precede.
Di cinema se ne respira molto in tutte queste pagine: personaggi e situazioni un po� sembrano derivati dallo schermo, un po� sembrano pronti per entrarci. D’altra parte la cultura americana è stata la prima a inglobare il cinema come parte essenziale dell’educazione (noi siamo in netto grave ritardo).
Ma la mia impressione è che con scrittori come Leonard più che il ‘cosa� importa il ‘come�: anche se le sue storie sembrano già sentite, lette, viste, il suo stile è piuttosto inimitabile. Regola che per quanto mi riguarda vale sempre: sono sempre più interessato alla Forma rispetto al Contenuto. Un sapiente mix delle due rappresenta il massimo.
Charlie Sheen, Morgan Freeman e Owen Wilson. La regia è di George Armitage. Anche questo adattamento fu un fiasco.
Le trasposizioni sono state due, una negli anni Sessanta e una nei primi duemila.
Entrambe conservano il titolo del romanzo.
In quella del 1969, ambientata sulla costa californiana invece che sui Grandi Laghi come il romanzo, la star è Ryan O’Neal alla sua prima interpretazione cinematografica dopo molta televisione (sulla quale raggiunse il suo successo con Peyton Place). Solo il sommo Kubrick è riuscito a farlo recitare: o meglio, ha costruito un capolavoro intorno alla sua incapacità recitativa, alla sua bellezza fotogenica (mi riferisco a Barry Lyndon). Anche lei arrivava da Peyton Place, Leigh Taylor-Young, che all’epoca era la signora O’Neal, ed è andata avanti senza lasciare particolare traccia.
Scrisse il critico del NYT:
Van Heflin is casually ruminative as the cynical motel owner who employs and befriends Mr. O'Neal."Have you ever thought of doing something else?" Mr. Heflin asks our hero at one point. It's a question that could have been put to almost everyone concerned with "The Big Bounce."
Un’adorabile stilettata tirata con garbo e ironia, ma a fondo..
Owen Wilson e Sara Foster. Per ottenere un miglior visto censura, che aprisse a un potenziale di pubblico più vasto, il film fu notevolmente tagliato e addirittura doppiato, pratica pressoché scandalosa nel cinema americano. Il regista Armitage si rifiutò e abbandono durante il montaggio.
La seconda versione, il cosiddetto remake, è del 2004, da noi è arrivato come Brivido biondo e sospetto che il riferimento sia al protagonista superbiondo Owen Wilson, perennemente impegnato nel ruolo di divertente tombeur, più che alla protagonista femminile interpretata da Sara Foster (anche lei a seguire ha raggranellato ben poco di notevole).
Questa volta l’azione si sposta (con successo) alle Hawaii.
In questo il critico Roger Ebert è più lapidario, ma altrettanto liquidatorio:
The movie doesn't work. It meanders and drifts and riffs.
Owen Wilson e Morgan Freeman. Leonard era molto scontento di questa versione come della precedente.
Leigh Taylor-Young e Ryan O’Neal protagonisti del primo adattamento cinematografico uscito nel 1969 diretto da Alex March.
È tutta colpa di Terry Quinn.
Terry lavora part time in un negozio di libri usati che vende anche vecchi vinili. Siamo diventati amici grazie a George Pelecanos.
Nell’altre parte del tempo Terry fa l’investigatore privato. Insieme a Derek Strange. Sono entrambi ex poliziotti. Vivono a Washington. Derek è nero. Terry bianco.
Bè, comunque, Terry di libri dovrebbe intendersene un po� visto che li vende, ha la passione per la letteratura western e a un certo punto se ne esce (in Angeli neri � Hell To Pay) dicendo che i migliori western li ha scritti Elmore Leonard. Che colpo! Non me lo sarei mai aspettato.
E a me scatta immediata curiosità .
Ho letto solo un Leonard parecchi anni fa, in lingua originale: intelligente, arguto, frizzante, si capisce che ha una buona marcia. Però pensavo scrivesse solo crime.
Leigh Taylor-Young e Ryan O’Neal all’epoca erano marito e moglie: cinematograficamente ‘vergini�, arrivavano entrambi dal successo televisivo della serie “Peyton Place�.
E da qui a rendersi conto che una serie di gioiellini cinematografici che io ho goduto molto nascono dalla sua penna, letteraria o cinematografica, (“Get Shorty� e il seguito “Be Cool�, “Jackie Brown�, la gustosa serie “Justified�, “Quel treno per Yuma � 3:10 To Yuma�, make e remake, “Out of Sight�, gli amatissimi western “Joe Kidd�, “Valdez is Coming � Io sono Valdez�, “Hombre�, “I tre banditi � The Tall T�).
E poi, “Touch� di Paul Schrader che devo ancora vedere, e lo farò perché Schrader è uno dei miei registi prediletti, “Oltre ogni rischio � Cat Chaser� di Abel Ferrara, anche questo ancora da vedere, ma non sono sicuro di farlo perché Ferrara invece mi ha progressivamente deluso.
E altre cose che sullo schermo sono meno riuscite come “Killshot�, “I delitti del rosario�, �52 gioca o muori�, “Scherzare col fuoco � Stick� regia del macho Burt Reynolds, “I guerrieri del vento � The Ambassador�, “A muso duro � Mr Majestyk�. E ancora parecchie altre.
E che sia scrittore molto apprezzato dai colleghi, non solo dai lettori, ormai numerosi: Martin Amis, che gli fu amico e lo intervistò diverse volte, lo definì il Dickens di Detroit
Ho sentito l’impellente necessità di rendermi conto, di capire meglio.
Il film sposta l’azione dalla zona dei Grandi Laghi del Michigan alla costa californiana. Piscine e spiagge restano ambientazioni pivotali.
Ed eccomi qua, con il primo romanzo crime di Leonard, The Big Bounce correttamente tradotto “Il grande salto� (invece il film in italiano è diventato Io sono perversa).
Il romanzo era pronto nel 1966: ricevette 84 rifiuti, lo raccontava divertito lo stesso Leonard. Poi, fu realizzato il primo film, e pubblicato il romanzo (1969). Ma siccome il film fu un fiasco, il libro vendette ben poco: fino agli anni Novanta, quando, dopo il successo del film “Get Shorty� di Barry Sonnenfeld, iniziò a esplodere la Leonard mania.
La locandina del film del 1969 dove tra Leigh Taylor-Young e Ryan O’Neal sembra spiccare di più lei: la carriera a seguire, invece, fu più splendente per lui che per lei, destinata a ruoli marginali in produzioni marginali.
Lei è senza dubbio una “cattiva ragazza�. Però, perversa mi sembra esagerato: non è una persona intimamente e ostinatamente incline a fare il male, provandone un perfido compiacimento (definizione Treccani), ma certo i suoi principi morali sono labili, diversi, le piace provocare, le piacciono le scorciatoie, le piace la bella vita.
Lui ricorda quei personaggi interpretati da Paul Newman, bello con lo sguardo assassino, dolcemente ruvido, morbidamente scontroso, curioso della vita, se non proprio ribelle certo mai sottomesso. Ma anche a suo modo ingenuo. Romantico a suo modo.
Bevono molto, lui soprattutto birra (basta che sia ben fredda), lei Cold Duck, un vino frizzante tipico della zona di Detroit (una schifezza composta di almeno un paio di vitigni diversi, di origine tedesca, aromatizzata al limone e menta � forse per rinfrescare l’alito?)
I protagonisti del secondo adattamento del 2004: Owen Wilson su tutti, in onore del quale il personaggio diventa anche un po� gigolo; lei è Sara Foster; Morgan Freeman, Gary Sinise, Charlie Sheen completano il cast. Le palme rimandano alle Hawaii dove il film è ben ambientato.
Colpisce la qualità del dialogo, colpisce l’ironia, colpisce come Leonard sappia spiazzare, e ribaltare le regole del genere, colpisce il ritmo, colpisce uno spiccato talento per tutto quanto precede.
Di cinema se ne respira molto in tutte queste pagine: personaggi e situazioni un po� sembrano derivati dallo schermo, un po� sembrano pronti per entrarci. D’altra parte la cultura americana è stata la prima a inglobare il cinema come parte essenziale dell’educazione (noi siamo in netto grave ritardo).
Ma la mia impressione è che con scrittori come Leonard più che il ‘cosa� importa il ‘come�: anche se le sue storie sembrano già sentite, lette, viste, il suo stile è piuttosto inimitabile. Regola che per quanto mi riguarda vale sempre: sono sempre più interessato alla Forma rispetto al Contenuto. Un sapiente mix delle due rappresenta il massimo.
Charlie Sheen, Morgan Freeman e Owen Wilson. La regia è di George Armitage. Anche questo adattamento fu un fiasco.
Le trasposizioni sono state due, una negli anni Sessanta e una nei primi duemila.
Entrambe conservano il titolo del romanzo.
In quella del 1969, ambientata sulla costa californiana invece che sui Grandi Laghi come il romanzo, la star è Ryan O’Neal alla sua prima interpretazione cinematografica dopo molta televisione (sulla quale raggiunse il suo successo con Peyton Place). Solo il sommo Kubrick è riuscito a farlo recitare: o meglio, ha costruito un capolavoro intorno alla sua incapacità recitativa, alla sua bellezza fotogenica (mi riferisco a Barry Lyndon). Anche lei arrivava da Peyton Place, Leigh Taylor-Young, che all’epoca era la signora O’Neal, ed è andata avanti senza lasciare particolare traccia.
Scrisse il critico del NYT:
Van Heflin is casually ruminative as the cynical motel owner who employs and befriends Mr. O'Neal."Have you ever thought of doing something else?" Mr. Heflin asks our hero at one point. It's a question that could have been put to almost everyone concerned with "The Big Bounce."
Un’adorabile stilettata tirata con garbo e ironia, ma a fondo..
Owen Wilson e Sara Foster. Per ottenere un miglior visto censura, che aprisse a un potenziale di pubblico più vasto, il film fu notevolmente tagliato e addirittura doppiato, pratica pressoché scandalosa nel cinema americano. Il regista Armitage si rifiutò e abbandono durante il montaggio.
La seconda versione, il cosiddetto remake, è del 2004, da noi è arrivato come Brivido biondo e sospetto che il riferimento sia al protagonista superbiondo Owen Wilson, perennemente impegnato nel ruolo di divertente tombeur, più che alla protagonista femminile interpretata da Sara Foster (anche lei a seguire ha raggranellato ben poco di notevole).
Questa volta l’azione si sposta (con successo) alle Hawaii.
In questo il critico Roger Ebert è più lapidario, ma altrettanto liquidatorio:
The movie doesn't work. It meanders and drifts and riffs.
Owen Wilson e Morgan Freeman. Leonard era molto scontento di questa versione come della precedente.
October 3, 2020
This first hard covered slip cased edition is numbered 89 of 100 produced, and is signed by Elmore Leonard.
These books were published by Otto Penzler Books. An imprint at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2005�2010). The trade edition has blue boards.
The Armchair Detective Library. Reprinted classic crime fiction for collectors and libraries. The book was original published by Fawcett in 1869. This edition has a new introduction by Leonard.
“The Big Bounce� was Elmore Leonard's first crime novel, or, more accurately, his first contemporaneously set novel. Up to this point in his career, Leonard had published only western novels and short stories, pretty successfully in the 1950s, with two of them,
�3:10 to Yuma� and “The Tall T� ( aka “The Captives�) being made into films in 1957.
As soon as he decided to leave his ad agency job in 1960, however, the western market died on its ass; as Leonard explains in the introduction to the 1989 Armchair Detective Library edition of “The Big Bounce�, for most of the rest of the decade he "wrote ads, promotional material, industrial and educational films, not a word of fiction". Eventually, the movie rights for his 1961 novel “Hombre� sold, and Leonard used the money to fund the writing of his "first novel with a contemporary setting, This is Jack Ryan".
The book was rejected Eighty-four times. One rewrite and a title change later (although the line the original title was inspired by is still in the book), “The Big Bounce� found a home as a novel at ‘Gold Medal� with a Mcginnis cover, and was made into a movie at Warner Bros.
The film, directed by Alex March and starring Ryan O'Neil and Leigh Taylor-Young, is by all accounts a bit of a stinker � and the 2004 version isn't much better regarded � but the novel is terrific; not Leonard at his absolute best � that would come later with the likes of “Stick�, “Get Shorty� and “Pronto� but not far off. Even at this early stage in his career, Leonard had a prose style all his own: lilting, deceptively easygoing, yet focused and intense; clever, lightly handed but thorough character work; and that gloriously naturalistic and yet still idiosyncratically Elmore dialogue.
A young drifter, Jack Ryan (no relation to Tom Clancy's later CIA analyst-turned-president), takes a job working as a handyman at a Michigan lakeside cabana complex owned by local justice of the peace Walter Majestyk (no relation to Vincent Majestyk from Leonard's own “Mr. Majestyk�). Majestyk has seen film footage of Ryan using a baseball bat in a fight and so knows he has a self-destructive streak; but he also sees something worthwhile in the younger man, and does what he can to help him out, with a certain amount of resistance on Ryan's part.
But then Ryan, who has a string of minor robberies in his past and has already turned over one local property, gets mixed up with Nancy, the manipulative mistress of Ray Ritchie, the rich farm owner for whom Ryan briefly worked as a picker � and Nancy has a plan for stealing fifty grand from Ritchie.
These books were published by Otto Penzler Books. An imprint at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2005�2010). The trade edition has blue boards.
The Armchair Detective Library. Reprinted classic crime fiction for collectors and libraries. The book was original published by Fawcett in 1869. This edition has a new introduction by Leonard.
“The Big Bounce� was Elmore Leonard's first crime novel, or, more accurately, his first contemporaneously set novel. Up to this point in his career, Leonard had published only western novels and short stories, pretty successfully in the 1950s, with two of them,
�3:10 to Yuma� and “The Tall T� ( aka “The Captives�) being made into films in 1957.
As soon as he decided to leave his ad agency job in 1960, however, the western market died on its ass; as Leonard explains in the introduction to the 1989 Armchair Detective Library edition of “The Big Bounce�, for most of the rest of the decade he "wrote ads, promotional material, industrial and educational films, not a word of fiction". Eventually, the movie rights for his 1961 novel “Hombre� sold, and Leonard used the money to fund the writing of his "first novel with a contemporary setting, This is Jack Ryan".
The book was rejected Eighty-four times. One rewrite and a title change later (although the line the original title was inspired by is still in the book), “The Big Bounce� found a home as a novel at ‘Gold Medal� with a Mcginnis cover, and was made into a movie at Warner Bros.
The film, directed by Alex March and starring Ryan O'Neil and Leigh Taylor-Young, is by all accounts a bit of a stinker � and the 2004 version isn't much better regarded � but the novel is terrific; not Leonard at his absolute best � that would come later with the likes of “Stick�, “Get Shorty� and “Pronto� but not far off. Even at this early stage in his career, Leonard had a prose style all his own: lilting, deceptively easygoing, yet focused and intense; clever, lightly handed but thorough character work; and that gloriously naturalistic and yet still idiosyncratically Elmore dialogue.
A young drifter, Jack Ryan (no relation to Tom Clancy's later CIA analyst-turned-president), takes a job working as a handyman at a Michigan lakeside cabana complex owned by local justice of the peace Walter Majestyk (no relation to Vincent Majestyk from Leonard's own “Mr. Majestyk�). Majestyk has seen film footage of Ryan using a baseball bat in a fight and so knows he has a self-destructive streak; but he also sees something worthwhile in the younger man, and does what he can to help him out, with a certain amount of resistance on Ryan's part.
But then Ryan, who has a string of minor robberies in his past and has already turned over one local property, gets mixed up with Nancy, the manipulative mistress of Ray Ritchie, the rich farm owner for whom Ryan briefly worked as a picker � and Nancy has a plan for stealing fifty grand from Ritchie.
July 1, 2021
This novel, published in 1969, is significant principally because it is the first contemporary crime novel written by Elmore Leonard who, up to this point, had been known for his westerns. The book hints at the brilliance that would mark Leonard's later career, but it's certainly not among his best novels. Still, even a mediocre Elmore Leonard novel is bound to be heads and shoulders above a lot of others.
The protagonist is Jack Ryan, a former minor league ball player. After he fails to make a Class C team in Texas, Ryan hitches a ride to Michigan with some migrant vegetable pickers. Ryan, who also has a history as a burglar, can't seem to stay out of trouble and once in Michigan, gets into a fight with the crew chief who orders him out of town. Ryan doesn't take orders from anyone and so stays around, committing a minor burglary in the process with two totally undependable guys that he has met along the way. Naturally, this will come back to haunt him.
Jack takes a job as a handyman at a small local resort, and shortly thereafter he meets Nancy, the stereotypical "bad girl" that populated a lot of books like this back in the day. Nancy is a thrill-seeker with little regard for anyone other than herself. She's being kept by a local businessman but is intrigued by Ryan and is determined to drag him deep into trouble. The reader can see this coming from two counties away; sadly Jack either doesn't see it or doesn't care, and before all is said and done, the relationship will prove to be more than a little toxic.
Like most of Leonard's crime novels, The Big Bounce is a character-drive story, and the plot is of considerably less consequence. Ryan will become something of a prototype for a lot of the characters that populate Leonard's later novels, and Leonard's trademark gift for great dialog is coming into form here, although it will be more fully realized later on.
This is a book that will probably appeal most significantly to completists who want to read all of the master's work. More casual fans might want to start a bit later down the line; certainly there are a lot of great Elmore Leonard novels to pick from.
The protagonist is Jack Ryan, a former minor league ball player. After he fails to make a Class C team in Texas, Ryan hitches a ride to Michigan with some migrant vegetable pickers. Ryan, who also has a history as a burglar, can't seem to stay out of trouble and once in Michigan, gets into a fight with the crew chief who orders him out of town. Ryan doesn't take orders from anyone and so stays around, committing a minor burglary in the process with two totally undependable guys that he has met along the way. Naturally, this will come back to haunt him.
Jack takes a job as a handyman at a small local resort, and shortly thereafter he meets Nancy, the stereotypical "bad girl" that populated a lot of books like this back in the day. Nancy is a thrill-seeker with little regard for anyone other than herself. She's being kept by a local businessman but is intrigued by Ryan and is determined to drag him deep into trouble. The reader can see this coming from two counties away; sadly Jack either doesn't see it or doesn't care, and before all is said and done, the relationship will prove to be more than a little toxic.
Like most of Leonard's crime novels, The Big Bounce is a character-drive story, and the plot is of considerably less consequence. Ryan will become something of a prototype for a lot of the characters that populate Leonard's later novels, and Leonard's trademark gift for great dialog is coming into form here, although it will be more fully realized later on.
This is a book that will probably appeal most significantly to completists who want to read all of the master's work. More casual fans might want to start a bit later down the line; certainly there are a lot of great Elmore Leonard novels to pick from.
August 28, 2013
Washed up wannabe ball player Jack Ryan has a brush with the law and soon gets entangled with Nancy, a rich man's young girlfriend. Turns out Nancy is a thrillseeker and soon has Jack headed for another brush with the law...
If I'm not mistaken, this is Elmore Leonard's first crime book. While it's by no means as polished as his later works, it's the prototype from which the rest evolved.
Jack Ryan, the protagonist, is a conflicted guy pulled into a femme fatale's orbit and finds himself powerless to resist her pull, no matter how outlandish her ideas are. Nancy, the femme in question, gets her kicks by breaking windows at rocks, firing her .22 pistol at boats and windows while driving her mustang 70 mph. Complicating things are a pair of mugs Ryan did some B & E with at the beginning of the story and the boss of the cucumber-picking outfit Ryan was working for until he beat up his crew leader.
Like every Leonard book after this, there is a fair amount of double dealing. Also like it's descendents, the dialogue is slicker than a wet raft and the lines between good and bad are as blurred as the drive home after a weekend-long drunk.
Brief side note: This has been made into a movie twice but I have no inclination to see either since I don't buy Ryan O'Neal or Owen Wilson as Jack Ryan. Or as capable actors, for that matter.
For historical reasons, you'll want to give this a read as an Elmore fan. Otherwise, you could safely miss it. It's not bad but old Dutch hadn't hit his rhythm quite yet. It's like the demo version of one of your favorite songs. 3 out of five stars.
If I'm not mistaken, this is Elmore Leonard's first crime book. While it's by no means as polished as his later works, it's the prototype from which the rest evolved.
Jack Ryan, the protagonist, is a conflicted guy pulled into a femme fatale's orbit and finds himself powerless to resist her pull, no matter how outlandish her ideas are. Nancy, the femme in question, gets her kicks by breaking windows at rocks, firing her .22 pistol at boats and windows while driving her mustang 70 mph. Complicating things are a pair of mugs Ryan did some B & E with at the beginning of the story and the boss of the cucumber-picking outfit Ryan was working for until he beat up his crew leader.
Like every Leonard book after this, there is a fair amount of double dealing. Also like it's descendents, the dialogue is slicker than a wet raft and the lines between good and bad are as blurred as the drive home after a weekend-long drunk.
Brief side note: This has been made into a movie twice but I have no inclination to see either since I don't buy Ryan O'Neal or Owen Wilson as Jack Ryan. Or as capable actors, for that matter.
For historical reasons, you'll want to give this a read as an Elmore fan. Otherwise, you could safely miss it. It's not bad but old Dutch hadn't hit his rhythm quite yet. It's like the demo version of one of your favorite songs. 3 out of five stars.
June 19, 2021
Get Your Kicks on Route 66
Leonard’s “The Big Bounce,� first published in 1969 after nearly a decade since his last novel, announced the entry of Leonard into the grand arena of crime fiction and his departure from the world of westerns, an era that had seemed to have passed. In The Big Bounce, Leonard offers a crime caper novel that is more about the two lead characters than about anything else. The setting is a beach resort in Michigan surrounded by cucumber fields, picked for pickling plants. Bonnie and Clyde they were not.
For Jack Ryan, it’s always been difficult to stay on the straight and narrow. He’s a washed up minor league ball player whose career was derailed by a bad back. His past is littered with petty larceny, breaking and entering, dishing out beatings to guys who get out of line with a bat. Trouble just follows him around and before you know it he’s no longer crew chief of the migrants working the cucumber fields and his old boss wants him the he’ll out of town. That advice doesn’t stick and he finds himself as a handyman for a resort down the road and involved in some more breaking and entering.
Nancy appears to find trouble just like Jack. From seducing older men and outing them to their wives to breaking windows to plowing cars off the road, she’s just trouble with a capital T. For Nance, it’s all about kicks and getting the Big Bounce and she’s like the addict who just needs a bigger and bigger fix to get her high. And, she knows she’s got Jack hooked and he can’t stay away.
Twice the geniuses in Hollywood made this one into a movie and twice it bombed with some well known names on the celluloid. It’s not action packed and lacks a lot of the booming action and car chases of other crime capers. It’s a quieter, more thoughtful story and that’s perhaps where it loses some readers.
Leonard’s “The Big Bounce,� first published in 1969 after nearly a decade since his last novel, announced the entry of Leonard into the grand arena of crime fiction and his departure from the world of westerns, an era that had seemed to have passed. In The Big Bounce, Leonard offers a crime caper novel that is more about the two lead characters than about anything else. The setting is a beach resort in Michigan surrounded by cucumber fields, picked for pickling plants. Bonnie and Clyde they were not.
For Jack Ryan, it’s always been difficult to stay on the straight and narrow. He’s a washed up minor league ball player whose career was derailed by a bad back. His past is littered with petty larceny, breaking and entering, dishing out beatings to guys who get out of line with a bat. Trouble just follows him around and before you know it he’s no longer crew chief of the migrants working the cucumber fields and his old boss wants him the he’ll out of town. That advice doesn’t stick and he finds himself as a handyman for a resort down the road and involved in some more breaking and entering.
Nancy appears to find trouble just like Jack. From seducing older men and outing them to their wives to breaking windows to plowing cars off the road, she’s just trouble with a capital T. For Nance, it’s all about kicks and getting the Big Bounce and she’s like the addict who just needs a bigger and bigger fix to get her high. And, she knows she’s got Jack hooked and he can’t stay away.
Twice the geniuses in Hollywood made this one into a movie and twice it bombed with some well known names on the celluloid. It’s not action packed and lacks a lot of the booming action and car chases of other crime capers. It’s a quieter, more thoughtful story and that’s perhaps where it loses some readers.
May 27, 2023
12/2022
1969
Leonard's first crime novel, after 18 years writing Westerns, maybe more. Though this isn't as good as he'd be in a few years, there is a lot of classic Leonard here, most of it even. I had problems with the female character, Nancy. I didn't mind her being psycho, breaking windows. It's when she tells her history. Let's just say it seemed unrealistic, and definitely written by a man. Luckily he got over that.
1969
Leonard's first crime novel, after 18 years writing Westerns, maybe more. Though this isn't as good as he'd be in a few years, there is a lot of classic Leonard here, most of it even. I had problems with the female character, Nancy. I didn't mind her being psycho, breaking windows. It's when she tells her history. Let's just say it seemed unrealistic, and definitely written by a man. Luckily he got over that.
September 12, 2019
Just kicked this down a star.
Never one of my favorites, this novel almost put me to sleep more than twice.
The lead character ("Jack Ryan") is a minor league baseball player who was playing for a Class C team in Texas, hurt his back and to get back to Michigan signs on with a crew of Mexican migrants working their way up to Michigan traveling by a bus owned by the crew chief and picking fruit and assorted vegetables along the way to earn a living.
Jack Ryan also has a past as a B & E artist. He worked with a partner back in Detroit - a black guy named Leon Woody, small-time criminal and full-time philosopher. Mostly the partners committed a series of burglaries and were never caught. That is, up until the night Leon was nabbed with stolen merchandise from a couple of their heists. The police didn't have enough on Ryan to hold him so he was released.
The story of the criminal career of Jack Ryan and Leon Woody would have made a much better book.
Ryan eventually gets involved with a bad girl named "Nancy" who is the "kept" lady friend of a local hot shot business man "Ray Ritchie" who is referred to a lot but barely makes an appearance after page 35 or 40.
Nancy is a nut job as the reader learns way before poor old "Jackie".
Jack Ryan only hears the stories about her assorted misdeeds third-hand.
Dutch Leonard provides her with a 3-5 page resume that includes her teenage years as a baby-sitter blackmailing fathers who would timidly come on to her. From that we learn how she becomes involved with "Ray Ritchie". Essentially she's what professionals these days refer to as "troubled".
My god ...my eyes are starting to roll back in my head.
This novel is so over-populated with small threads that start and falter and fade away.
Sort of like quite a few of my reviews.
There is a wonderful section where Jack and Nancy are out prowling the neighborhood in the middle of the night and come upon the home of an older guy ("Mr. Majestyk") who's befriended Jack and hired him on as a caretaker for his motel. Nancy wants to window peep. Ryan feels guilty about spying on the old guy when, listening to dialogue from the movie the older guy's watching on TV, a Western Ryan recognizes as being a Randolph Scott movie with some older actress whose name he's unable to recall and Richard Boone as the leader of a gang of bad guys.
The movie referenced above is THE TALL T with Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Sullivan, Henry Silva, and the guy who plays "Billy Jack" in the movie is Skip Homier. I believe this was the first film based on an Elmore Leonard story. "The Captives" in this case.
I loved that section of the novel. And another section later where Jack Ryan is watching a baseball game with Mr. Majestyk featuring Denny McLain in his prime.
Almost want to give this novel back the star I subtracted.
It's just that it has too few moments like sections cited above.
One more thing:
This is listed as the 1st in a supposed "Jack Ryan" series.
There's no such thing as a "Jack Ryan" series.
I believe someone got their spurs all tangled up and confused "Jack Ryan" with "Frank Ryan" who first appears in aka and appears again in and is referenced in passing in .
If I'm incorrect please set me straight.
Never one of my favorites, this novel almost put me to sleep more than twice.
The lead character ("Jack Ryan") is a minor league baseball player who was playing for a Class C team in Texas, hurt his back and to get back to Michigan signs on with a crew of Mexican migrants working their way up to Michigan traveling by a bus owned by the crew chief and picking fruit and assorted vegetables along the way to earn a living.
Jack Ryan also has a past as a B & E artist. He worked with a partner back in Detroit - a black guy named Leon Woody, small-time criminal and full-time philosopher. Mostly the partners committed a series of burglaries and were never caught. That is, up until the night Leon was nabbed with stolen merchandise from a couple of their heists. The police didn't have enough on Ryan to hold him so he was released.
The story of the criminal career of Jack Ryan and Leon Woody would have made a much better book.
Ryan eventually gets involved with a bad girl named "Nancy" who is the "kept" lady friend of a local hot shot business man "Ray Ritchie" who is referred to a lot but barely makes an appearance after page 35 or 40.
Nancy is a nut job as the reader learns way before poor old "Jackie".
Jack Ryan only hears the stories about her assorted misdeeds third-hand.
Dutch Leonard provides her with a 3-5 page resume that includes her teenage years as a baby-sitter blackmailing fathers who would timidly come on to her. From that we learn how she becomes involved with "Ray Ritchie". Essentially she's what professionals these days refer to as "troubled".
My god ...my eyes are starting to roll back in my head.
This novel is so over-populated with small threads that start and falter and fade away.
Sort of like quite a few of my reviews.
There is a wonderful section where Jack and Nancy are out prowling the neighborhood in the middle of the night and come upon the home of an older guy ("Mr. Majestyk") who's befriended Jack and hired him on as a caretaker for his motel. Nancy wants to window peep. Ryan feels guilty about spying on the old guy when, listening to dialogue from the movie the older guy's watching on TV, a Western Ryan recognizes as being a Randolph Scott movie with some older actress whose name he's unable to recall and Richard Boone as the leader of a gang of bad guys.
There was silence. Ryan stood in the dark with his back to the wall. He heard horses inside, the sound of their hooves fading away. There was no music or dialogue now. Something was about to happen. Maybe where Randolph goes in the cave after the guy named Billy Jack -that was a good part- the guy in there after the woman while his buddies are away. Randolph sneaks up behind Billy Jack and is about to belt him when Billy Jack turns and you think right away there's going to be a fight; but,no. Randolph jams the sawed-off shotgun under Billy Jack's chin and wham the guy's face disappears quick, the way it would happen, without one of those fakey fights.
Nancy was looking in the window again. "Beautiful," she whispered and giggled.
"Let's go," Ryan said.
"Just a minute."
"He's going to hear you."
Wham, the shotgun went off and Ryan looked in. Yeah, that was the part. Randolph Scott had the sawed-off shotgun now and the babe was holding her hands over her mouth, probably wetting her pants.
"God, where do you suppose he buys his furniture?"
"Come on, let's go."
"You have to see it to believe it. The lamp in the picture window --"
""Come on."
"--with the cellophane on the shade. Hey, did you hear the one -do you know who won the Polish beauty contest?"
The movie referenced above is THE TALL T with Randolph Scott, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Sullivan, Henry Silva, and the guy who plays "Billy Jack" in the movie is Skip Homier. I believe this was the first film based on an Elmore Leonard story. "The Captives" in this case.
I loved that section of the novel. And another section later where Jack Ryan is watching a baseball game with Mr. Majestyk featuring Denny McLain in his prime.
Almost want to give this novel back the star I subtracted.
It's just that it has too few moments like sections cited above.
One more thing:
This is listed as the 1st in a supposed "Jack Ryan" series.
There's no such thing as a "Jack Ryan" series.
I believe someone got their spurs all tangled up and confused "Jack Ryan" with "Frank Ryan" who first appears in aka and appears again in and is referenced in passing in .
If I'm incorrect please set me straight.
December 13, 2013
(This is a blog post I did that covers the two Leonard books featuring Jack Ryan.)
One of my favorite aspects about Elmore Leonard’s writing was that by shifting perspectives constantly he had the ability to make you sympathize with a character so that the hero of the story might not be who you thought it was at the beginning of a book. Fans of television’s Justified who pick up Pronto for the first time will probably be confused as to why the first half of the book makes Raylan Givens look like a doofus being easily outwitted by Harry Arno. It’s only late in the story that Raylan emerges as the real main character while Harry fades into a whining supporting role.
Leonard would even take a character that appeared sympathetic in one book and make them far less so in another. Probably the most famous example of this was how the main characters in The Switch became the bickering lowlifes of Rum Punch. (Better known by its movie title of Jackie Brown.)
In the Leonard universe, being cool was the thing that counted most. Whether the lead was a cop or a crook, all sins were forgiven so long as they were cool about it. When they became uncool, they became unlikable and almost by default the villains of that story. Jack Ryan from The Big Bounce and Unknown Man #89 is unique because it seems like Leonard couldn’t decide if he was cool or not.
Ryan certainly doesn’t seem like a good guy at the beginning of The Big Bounce where he’s in hot water after beating up a guy with a baseball bat. Ryan loses his job picking cucumbers and is lucky not to land in jail. He follows that up by brazenly stealing a bunch of wallets after walking into a house while the owners are partying on a nearby lakeside beach. However, a local resort owner sees something worthwhile in Ryan and hires him as a handyman. Jack isn’t entirely sure how he feels about this job or having someone trust him. New temptation arrives in the form of a woman named Nancy, the mistress of a wealthy businessman who is tired of hanging out at his lake house and has been entertaining herself by shooting out random windows and running other people off the road in her car.
Nancy entices and teases Jack into engaging in some vandalism and house breaking with her, but she has a bigger goal in mind. Her lover is going to have a large amount of cash in his house, and she wants Jack to help her steal it.
The Big Bounce was Leonard’s first contemporary crime novel, but he already had his hallmarks of sharp dialogue and a variety of offbeat characters engaging with each other while working their own angles. What makes it interesting is how it hinges on which way Jack will turn. Nancy seems like a kindred soul and that the two should instantly become a Bonnie & Clyde style duo. However, seeing Nancy’s random cruelty and disregard for other people seems to awaken Ryan’s seemingly dormant empathy.
It’s a very different Jack Ryan that we meet in Unknown Man # 89. Set years later in Detroit, Jack has gone straight and is a process server with a reputation of being able to find almost anyone. Mr. Perez comes to town from Louisiana and hires Jack to find a man as part of a complicated stock scheme. A criminal named Virgil Royal is also looking for the same guy to recover some money he thinks he’s owed.
When Jack meets the missing man’s drunken wife Denise, he finds himself falling for her and starts to screw up Perez’s business. To keep things on track, Perez brings in a redneck thug while pushing Jack to help him finalize the deal. Jack begins his own schemes to help Denise keep the money for herself even if she doesn’t want it.
Another element has been added to Jack at this point with his being an admitted alcoholic who has been on the wagon. While he certainly liked his beer in The Big Bounce, there was never a sense that Jack was a drunk so that element seems to come out of nowhere and a bit clumsily used to establish an instant connection between him and Denise as he tries to help her get sober.
There’s an odd arc to Jack through these two books with him starting as a cocky small-time petty crook whose ego has him on a permanent path of self-destruction who eventually comes to appreciate the value of someone giving him a break after meeting a truly bad woman. Then the subdued Jack Ryan who works an offbeat but honest job finds himself embroiled with criminals and doing some pretty shady stuff in order to help out an innocent woman. Or at least that’s what he says. It often feels like Jack is rebelling against Perez for his arrogant assumption that Jack has been bought and paid for. So there’s the return of a Jack Ryan acting in destructive ways out of pride, just in service of a nobler cause.
Re-reading the two books back to back illustrates how Leonard's characters were very often not what they appeared to be, or even who they thought they were themselves.
Originally posted at .
One of my favorite aspects about Elmore Leonard’s writing was that by shifting perspectives constantly he had the ability to make you sympathize with a character so that the hero of the story might not be who you thought it was at the beginning of a book. Fans of television’s Justified who pick up Pronto for the first time will probably be confused as to why the first half of the book makes Raylan Givens look like a doofus being easily outwitted by Harry Arno. It’s only late in the story that Raylan emerges as the real main character while Harry fades into a whining supporting role.
Leonard would even take a character that appeared sympathetic in one book and make them far less so in another. Probably the most famous example of this was how the main characters in The Switch became the bickering lowlifes of Rum Punch. (Better known by its movie title of Jackie Brown.)
In the Leonard universe, being cool was the thing that counted most. Whether the lead was a cop or a crook, all sins were forgiven so long as they were cool about it. When they became uncool, they became unlikable and almost by default the villains of that story. Jack Ryan from The Big Bounce and Unknown Man #89 is unique because it seems like Leonard couldn’t decide if he was cool or not.
Ryan certainly doesn’t seem like a good guy at the beginning of The Big Bounce where he’s in hot water after beating up a guy with a baseball bat. Ryan loses his job picking cucumbers and is lucky not to land in jail. He follows that up by brazenly stealing a bunch of wallets after walking into a house while the owners are partying on a nearby lakeside beach. However, a local resort owner sees something worthwhile in Ryan and hires him as a handyman. Jack isn’t entirely sure how he feels about this job or having someone trust him. New temptation arrives in the form of a woman named Nancy, the mistress of a wealthy businessman who is tired of hanging out at his lake house and has been entertaining herself by shooting out random windows and running other people off the road in her car.
Nancy entices and teases Jack into engaging in some vandalism and house breaking with her, but she has a bigger goal in mind. Her lover is going to have a large amount of cash in his house, and she wants Jack to help her steal it.
The Big Bounce was Leonard’s first contemporary crime novel, but he already had his hallmarks of sharp dialogue and a variety of offbeat characters engaging with each other while working their own angles. What makes it interesting is how it hinges on which way Jack will turn. Nancy seems like a kindred soul and that the two should instantly become a Bonnie & Clyde style duo. However, seeing Nancy’s random cruelty and disregard for other people seems to awaken Ryan’s seemingly dormant empathy.
It’s a very different Jack Ryan that we meet in Unknown Man # 89. Set years later in Detroit, Jack has gone straight and is a process server with a reputation of being able to find almost anyone. Mr. Perez comes to town from Louisiana and hires Jack to find a man as part of a complicated stock scheme. A criminal named Virgil Royal is also looking for the same guy to recover some money he thinks he’s owed.
When Jack meets the missing man’s drunken wife Denise, he finds himself falling for her and starts to screw up Perez’s business. To keep things on track, Perez brings in a redneck thug while pushing Jack to help him finalize the deal. Jack begins his own schemes to help Denise keep the money for herself even if she doesn’t want it.
Another element has been added to Jack at this point with his being an admitted alcoholic who has been on the wagon. While he certainly liked his beer in The Big Bounce, there was never a sense that Jack was a drunk so that element seems to come out of nowhere and a bit clumsily used to establish an instant connection between him and Denise as he tries to help her get sober.
There’s an odd arc to Jack through these two books with him starting as a cocky small-time petty crook whose ego has him on a permanent path of self-destruction who eventually comes to appreciate the value of someone giving him a break after meeting a truly bad woman. Then the subdued Jack Ryan who works an offbeat but honest job finds himself embroiled with criminals and doing some pretty shady stuff in order to help out an innocent woman. Or at least that’s what he says. It often feels like Jack is rebelling against Perez for his arrogant assumption that Jack has been bought and paid for. So there’s the return of a Jack Ryan acting in destructive ways out of pride, just in service of a nobler cause.
Re-reading the two books back to back illustrates how Leonard's characters were very often not what they appeared to be, or even who they thought they were themselves.
Originally posted at .
August 14, 2019
It’s gratifying to know that every Elmore Leonard novel will deliver on the anticipated experience. Every Leonard novel promises to create unique minds in its characters. As readers, we get to jump inside those minds and be taken on a ride through that bit of life populated by those people. As a consequence, you never know where you’ll be at the end of the story and seeing that final destination is often a result of duplicity, self-deceit, overconfidence, and any number of other psychoses that happen to invade the thought process of any human anywhere. That is why every book is different.
The Big Bounce was no exception. We had Nancy Hayes, who perhaps demonstrates the limits of cruelty that can be inflicted by a woman in the same way that being a rapist exemplifies it for a man. We had Jack Ryan, who is so self-confident that he never sees that he is always one step away from greatness. And Mr. Majestyk (the original and not the later Leonard incarnation of the same name), who has found that the secret to life is to simply enjoy what comes his way. There are others, but these are the primary movers and shakers.
The story itself had a nice feel to it. It reminded my of Dirty Dancing with its 1960s middle-class cabin motor court feel to it. However, this resort had Chutzpah. And that’s probably the best part of any Leonard novel. On the whole, he is not afraid to take the story to wherever his crazy characters are willing to go.
The Big Bounce was no exception. We had Nancy Hayes, who perhaps demonstrates the limits of cruelty that can be inflicted by a woman in the same way that being a rapist exemplifies it for a man. We had Jack Ryan, who is so self-confident that he never sees that he is always one step away from greatness. And Mr. Majestyk (the original and not the later Leonard incarnation of the same name), who has found that the secret to life is to simply enjoy what comes his way. There are others, but these are the primary movers and shakers.
The story itself had a nice feel to it. It reminded my of Dirty Dancing with its 1960s middle-class cabin motor court feel to it. However, this resort had Chutzpah. And that’s probably the best part of any Leonard novel. On the whole, he is not afraid to take the story to wherever his crazy characters are willing to go.
March 23, 2018
I have to have some liking for the characters in a novel of this sort. I got about 1/3 of the way through hoping to find one & that's all I found; one minor character. He's not bad, but not enough to prop up the rest.
May 22, 2024
A lesser Elmore Leonard but still enjoyable.
October 19, 2022
Thumbs up on this ending. It goes where you least expect it and cuts short of the “big bounce,� but still satisfying. Great example of Elmore letting his people take the plot where it wants to go instead of the other way around.
January 9, 2011
I honestly wanted to give this book two and a half stars.
this is a deeply unsatisfying book. Leonard is a fantastic writer and his skill shows in certain aspects of this work, but for the most part, this book just doesn't function well. I kept wondering why the characters were acting the way they were, there seemed to be no underlying motivations to any of them. THe plot didnt feel like a heist novel, it seemed to be filled with hot air and unsure as to where to go, never finding solid ground. I often felt bored and would put the book down, which made it all the more frustrating.
To be honest I will read more of Leonard's work, something with a higher rating next time for certain. I wouldn't exactly call this novel a stinker, but it isn't a satisfying good read either, unless maybe you are a huge fan of Elmore and want to have read his complete body of works.
this is a deeply unsatisfying book. Leonard is a fantastic writer and his skill shows in certain aspects of this work, but for the most part, this book just doesn't function well. I kept wondering why the characters were acting the way they were, there seemed to be no underlying motivations to any of them. THe plot didnt feel like a heist novel, it seemed to be filled with hot air and unsure as to where to go, never finding solid ground. I often felt bored and would put the book down, which made it all the more frustrating.
To be honest I will read more of Leonard's work, something with a higher rating next time for certain. I wouldn't exactly call this novel a stinker, but it isn't a satisfying good read either, unless maybe you are a huge fan of Elmore and want to have read his complete body of works.
January 27, 2023
Like I’ve been saying for years: you can never watch too much baseball.
December 20, 2013
in The Big Bounce we meet for the first time (as far as I know), on Frank Ryan. He's a petty criminal and drifter whose first caper in the novel is to sneak into a resort house and steal the wallets of vacationers who have left their pants and purses behind while they surf and sunbath. Pretty daring stuff.
He wanders around the resort a bit more, looking for opportunities of one kind or another and ends up getting himself hired as a handyman by the resort's owner, Mister Majestyk (who later has a book of his own, who seems unrelated to this guy except by Elmore's name. 'Sup with that, Elmore?) Anyhow, his job gives him the opportunity to wander from cabin to cabin and cruise the beach looking for still more opportunities. Several present themselves, but the choicest is a luscious young piece who's currently headlining as the paramour of the swankiest beach house in the neighborhood. Her sugar daddy's away a lot, and she enjoys adventures even more than the next girl, so she sets her sights on Frank. She soon has him involved in a scheme to steal a huge bunch of cash. A job of a size and strategy he's never pulled off before.
He's not sure he wants the job or wants her, but the lure is strong enough to keep him hanging around and see things out. I guess this qualifies as a noir novel since the protagonist is pretty much a bad guy, though a likable one who doesn't really hurt anyone. As if all that weren't enough, Frank's being pursued by some wetbacks on the other end of the income scale who think they were stiffed on the beach house caper. It's a slippery slope he's sliding down, and the ending's as unpredictable as any I've read from our classic crime writer.
He wanders around the resort a bit more, looking for opportunities of one kind or another and ends up getting himself hired as a handyman by the resort's owner, Mister Majestyk (who later has a book of his own, who seems unrelated to this guy except by Elmore's name. 'Sup with that, Elmore?) Anyhow, his job gives him the opportunity to wander from cabin to cabin and cruise the beach looking for still more opportunities. Several present themselves, but the choicest is a luscious young piece who's currently headlining as the paramour of the swankiest beach house in the neighborhood. Her sugar daddy's away a lot, and she enjoys adventures even more than the next girl, so she sets her sights on Frank. She soon has him involved in a scheme to steal a huge bunch of cash. A job of a size and strategy he's never pulled off before.
He's not sure he wants the job or wants her, but the lure is strong enough to keep him hanging around and see things out. I guess this qualifies as a noir novel since the protagonist is pretty much a bad guy, though a likable one who doesn't really hurt anyone. As if all that weren't enough, Frank's being pursued by some wetbacks on the other end of the income scale who think they were stiffed on the beach house caper. It's a slippery slope he's sliding down, and the ending's as unpredictable as any I've read from our classic crime writer.
August 24, 2008
This was Elmore Leonard's first novel, published in 1969. All the components of his future novels are there: the terse dialog, the settings in Florida and Michigan, the sociopaths and psychopaths.
Leonard has a method that is worth studying. He introduces places, then he introduces the people in those places, then he makes those people interact. It's a well-oiled machine, a Leonard novel.
In The Big Bounce we meet a drifter who has done a little prison time and who recently nearly beat someone to death with a baseball bat. He's actually not a bad guy, not really, just a bit wild and unwilling to take crap from anyone, and not at all dedicated to the idea of hard work. And we meet a 20 year old woman, the mistress of the drifter's ex-boss, a sociopath, always looking for a kick, which usually involves doing damage to someone or something.
You get a feeling from this book - the same feeling you get from the best of the novels. There's a kind of languor and coolness to the main characters that makes you think of Bogart and Bacall in The Big Sleep. But underlying that is a tension, the sense of something being wound impossibly tight, liable to break at any moment. It's a great combination.
Leonard has a method that is worth studying. He introduces places, then he introduces the people in those places, then he makes those people interact. It's a well-oiled machine, a Leonard novel.
In The Big Bounce we meet a drifter who has done a little prison time and who recently nearly beat someone to death with a baseball bat. He's actually not a bad guy, not really, just a bit wild and unwilling to take crap from anyone, and not at all dedicated to the idea of hard work. And we meet a 20 year old woman, the mistress of the drifter's ex-boss, a sociopath, always looking for a kick, which usually involves doing damage to someone or something.
You get a feeling from this book - the same feeling you get from the best of the novels. There's a kind of languor and coolness to the main characters that makes you think of Bogart and Bacall in The Big Sleep. But underlying that is a tension, the sense of something being wound impossibly tight, liable to break at any moment. It's a great combination.
March 22, 2019
The bad news is that this isn’t one of his best, the good news is that it’s Elmore Leonard so it’s worth reading, and I guarantee that it’s better entertainment than whatever they’re showing at the local cineplex. Leonard is the king of two-bit criminals and Jack Ryan is as two-bit as any he had created. His femme fatale and sociopath, Nancy, is good enough to keep up with the rest of the crew of dirtbags in this novel.
For me, the novels of Elmore Leonard work as palate cleansers when I need to erase the last few books I’ve read before it. I had just finished a 700-page crime epic and started a history of the Spanish Civil War of equal length when I decided that I needed a break and at a slim 71,000 words, this was the perfect fit. Now I feel that I can get back to the history.
P.S. They made two shitty movies based on this book. I don't plan on watching either. Taking the critics's word for it seems like the prudent choice.
For me, the novels of Elmore Leonard work as palate cleansers when I need to erase the last few books I’ve read before it. I had just finished a 700-page crime epic and started a history of the Spanish Civil War of equal length when I decided that I needed a break and at a slim 71,000 words, this was the perfect fit. Now I feel that I can get back to the history.
P.S. They made two shitty movies based on this book. I don't plan on watching either. Taking the critics's word for it seems like the prudent choice.
July 29, 2012
An old Leonard tale from 1969. Very pulpy with cardboard characters. Some fun and oddball moments but forgettable. Great thing that Leonard got better and better with time.
March 27, 2017
Every Elmore Leonard novel provides a clinic on how to write a crime thriller. Even these early ones show a master at work.
Read
January 24, 2023OK, so I didn't finish this one as much as left it at work and returned to find it gone. I think we can all agree that it wasn't going to get any better than the word 'bazooms.'
As I was reading it I kept thinking that while this made a lousy book it would make a pretty decent film and so I think I will watch the film soon.
As I was reading it I kept thinking that while this made a lousy book it would make a pretty decent film and so I think I will watch the film soon.
April 26, 2019
Even with Leonard’s honed writing, this one stretches out too long, but it’s good. Some young people who act on impulse get in trouble, and how they do that is what the story is about. There’s no smart detective, just five or six people who don’t think things out.
December 10, 2012
His first contemporary crime novel (I think): 1969. Even references the Blues Magoos, the Loving [sic.] Spoonful, and the Mamas and the Papas. Wishing Hard Case Crime would reissue it with a suitable cover, maybe the original one. This one sounded more like a self-conscious imitation of Hemingway or James M. Cain in places.
When I later read Mr. Majestyk, I was disappointed that it wasn't the Mr. M. in this book.
Elmore Leonard's Jack Ryan, not Tom Clancy's, or the jerk who was married to Jeri Ryan, will be return in Unknown Man No. 89.
~…the real bounce was breaking something expensive.~
~…giving him something to think about when he was home with his wife from Holden and the boy eight and the boy six.~
~“Boiled potatoes, just plain or with some parsley,� Ryan said. “It’s like a real potato. I mean it’s got the most potato taste.�
“Right!� Mr. Majestyk said, with a tone that said it was the correct answer.~
~There was no reason to hunch your shoulders. You walked in and walked out. Hunching your shoulders didn’t make it work better. You don’t hide hunching your shoulders.~
~It was still talking and not doing and there were a few miles of nerve between the two.
“Which house?� Ryan said.
“I was thinking that dark one.�
“Let’s go.�
He would remember, after, that he’d said it.~
~And even turning on the fake girl stuff, she looked better than any girl he had ever seen before.~
~The guy probably got the money to buy the stuff in the first place by screwing somebody in business. It was all right in business, but it wasn’t all right going through a basement window. Why not?~
When I later read Mr. Majestyk, I was disappointed that it wasn't the Mr. M. in this book.
Elmore Leonard's Jack Ryan, not Tom Clancy's, or the jerk who was married to Jeri Ryan, will be return in Unknown Man No. 89.
~…the real bounce was breaking something expensive.~
~…giving him something to think about when he was home with his wife from Holden and the boy eight and the boy six.~
~“Boiled potatoes, just plain or with some parsley,� Ryan said. “It’s like a real potato. I mean it’s got the most potato taste.�
“Right!� Mr. Majestyk said, with a tone that said it was the correct answer.~
~There was no reason to hunch your shoulders. You walked in and walked out. Hunching your shoulders didn’t make it work better. You don’t hide hunching your shoulders.~
~It was still talking and not doing and there were a few miles of nerve between the two.
“Which house?� Ryan said.
“I was thinking that dark one.�
“Let’s go.�
He would remember, after, that he’d said it.~
~And even turning on the fake girl stuff, she looked better than any girl he had ever seen before.~
~The guy probably got the money to buy the stuff in the first place by screwing somebody in business. It was all right in business, but it wasn’t all right going through a basement window. Why not?~
May 30, 2018
Tough guy Jack Ryan, adept at petty larceny, encounters a seductive young woman who is pushing the boundaries of deception and violence in a quest for a bigger ‘bounce� each time. Slowly (because they have to take their turn in the TBR pile) I’m reading all Leonard’s novels in order of publication. This was his move (in 1969) from westerns to crime, and it’s a goody. Two complex central characters, an engaging supporting cast, a gripping story, plenty of humour, and a great climax. I’m a little frustrated by the slightly open ending � but some readers do like them, and I know what I want to happen next, so I’ll assume that’s what will. Leonard’s spare style is brilliant, sometimes a bit tough to follow with all the American English, but well worth the effort.
February 24, 2013
I'm slowly becoming a big Elmore Leonard fan. He writes solid, modern crime fiction about interesting people who rarely do the expected. It doesn't hurt that the dialog is usually a joy to listen to. This was one of his first after an early start writing westerns, about an ex-con/ex-baseball player and a thrill-seeking kept woman. How they fit and how they don't kept me engossed throughout.
August 18, 2023
Secondo Leonard che leggo e mi è piaciuto meno del primo, non tanto per lo stile e la qualità dei dialoghi ma per la trama, che all’inizio mi ha acchiappato molto, sembrava promettere una bella storia, del resto le basi c’erano (personaggi forti che collidendo avrebbero fatto un bel botto), invece poi no, un tira e molla abbastanza snervante e senza senso che si sblocca in qualcosa di più succoso solo nelle ultimissimissime pagine.
Inoltre ho detestato la coprotagonista femminile, una wannabe bad girl che in realtà è una ragazzina viziatella annoiata e con dei disturbi mentali che diventano sempre più gravi. Ma non è possibile empatizzare con una così e anzi il finale poco chiaro non mi ha neanche dato la soddisfazione di vederla andare in galera.
Inoltre ho detestato la coprotagonista femminile, una wannabe bad girl che in realtà è una ragazzina viziatella annoiata e con dei disturbi mentali che diventano sempre più gravi. Ma non è possibile empatizzare con una così e anzi il finale poco chiaro non mi ha neanche dato la soddisfazione di vederla andare in galera.
March 20, 2025
His first non-western and he goes all psychological like, spending a lot of time in his character’s fantasies of what might have happened, what could happen, ticking off the things they want most. Ryan’s a good character, and a template of sorts for many to come. He doesn’t know himself very well, but starts to by the end. In fact, no one seems comfortable in their own clothes. In a way this is a book about teenagers struggling to become adults.
And the end! Another drive to the edge of a cliff and CUT TO BLACK, The End. I sometimes wonder if Mr. Leonard thought these stop dead in your tracks endings were his signature move or if he just wanted to create the perfect one.
And the end! Another drive to the edge of a cliff and CUT TO BLACK, The End. I sometimes wonder if Mr. Leonard thought these stop dead in your tracks endings were his signature move or if he just wanted to create the perfect one.
May 10, 2019
Quando saltiamo?
Jack si arrangia come può lavoricchiando qua e là . Arrotonda con furti e altre piccole attività criminali.
Nancy è una diciottenne capricciosa tutta malizie e furbizie a cui piace il rischio; miele per gli uomini.
Nel Michigan i due si incontrano, la scintilla scatta. Ad accenderla non è l'amore, ma il desiderio di Nancy di fare cose nuove, di provare brividi per scacciare la noia. Ryan rappresenta solo un interesse: l'uomo che può rubare i cinquantamila dollari che lei sa dove trovare, e farle così fare il grande salto.
Il romanzo ha il pregio di iniettare indolenza nelle esistenze dei personaggi creando un quadro di tranquilla agitazione, non usa l'adrenalina neanche per risolvere un finale che non c'è, lasciando una voragine nell'idea del lettore, che resta lì a domandarsi E quindi!?
Probabilmente era nell'intenzione di Leonard, e altrettanto probabilmente la risposta va cercata altrove; io ci sto ancora provando.
Jack si arrangia come può lavoricchiando qua e là . Arrotonda con furti e altre piccole attività criminali.
Nancy è una diciottenne capricciosa tutta malizie e furbizie a cui piace il rischio; miele per gli uomini.
Nel Michigan i due si incontrano, la scintilla scatta. Ad accenderla non è l'amore, ma il desiderio di Nancy di fare cose nuove, di provare brividi per scacciare la noia. Ryan rappresenta solo un interesse: l'uomo che può rubare i cinquantamila dollari che lei sa dove trovare, e farle così fare il grande salto.
Il romanzo ha il pregio di iniettare indolenza nelle esistenze dei personaggi creando un quadro di tranquilla agitazione, non usa l'adrenalina neanche per risolvere un finale che non c'è, lasciando una voragine nell'idea del lettore, che resta lì a domandarsi E quindi!?
Probabilmente era nell'intenzione di Leonard, e altrettanto probabilmente la risposta va cercata altrove; io ci sto ancora provando.
October 27, 2020
Curious
A bit of a light offering from Leonard, in what I believe was his first crime novel. The two main protagonists are both petty criminals, with petty being the operative word until the abrupt end. But is a Leonard, and that makes for an entertaining read.
Two surprises. One was wondering if Tom Clancy was a Leonard fan, as the male lead is named Jack Ryan. The second surprise was a character named Majestyk, who in this case was not a melon farmer.
A bit of a light offering from Leonard, in what I believe was his first crime novel. The two main protagonists are both petty criminals, with petty being the operative word until the abrupt end. But is a Leonard, and that makes for an entertaining read.
Two surprises. One was wondering if Tom Clancy was a Leonard fan, as the male lead is named Jack Ryan. The second surprise was a character named Majestyk, who in this case was not a melon farmer.
April 9, 2023
Elmore Leonard's first crime novel. A total blast. Would work really well as a mini series. I'm so excited to go through all of Leonard's crime stuff in chronological order. He's probably my favorite author overall.
June 15, 2017
2-dimensional, tone-deaf - none of the words on the page feel necessary - pulp without the charm
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