Cain, James M.

Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s: The Postman Always Rings Twice / They Shoot Horses, Don't They? / Thieves Like Us / The Big Clock / Nightmare ... / I Married a Dead Man (Library of America)

Average customer rating:

Splendid Read
Crime Novels -- 30s/40s
Thank God for the 1930's and 1940's/
The Dark Underbelly of the American Dream
A Real Discovery: 4 or 5 of these make amazing reading

Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s: The Postman Always Rings Twice / They Shoot Horses, Don't They? / Thieves Like Us / The Big Clock / Nightmare ... / I Married a Dead Man (Library of America)
Horace McCoy , Kenneth Fearing , William Lindsay Gresham , Cornell Woolrich , James M. Cain , and Edward Anderson
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s: The Killer Inside Me / The Talented Mr. Ripley / Pick-up / Down There / The Real Cool Killers (Library of America)
Stories and Early Novels: Pulp Stories / The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window (Library of America)
Complete Novels: Red Harvest / The Dain Curse / The Maltese Falcon / The Glass Key / The Thin Man (Library of America)
Later Novels and Other Writings: The Lady in the Lake / The Little Sister / The Long Goodbye / Playback /Double Indemnity / Selected Essays and Letters (Library of America)
Crime Stories and Other Writings (Library of America)

ASIN: 1883011469

Amazon.com

Literature and film buffs will be delighted by this collection of pulp novels, most of which were made into important films. James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice is a literary masterpiece with its spare prose invoking a savage, sexy, desperate world. It inspired no less than three great movies: Luchino Visconti's classic Ossessione, in 1942; the 1946 remake, starring John Garfield and Lana Turner and directed by the extraordinary Tay Garnett; and Bob Rafelson's underrated 1981 version with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. When you read the magnificent source for these movies, you'll be astonished at how three different incarnations could all, in their own ways, be faithful to the novel.

Cornell Woolrich's I Married a Dead Man also became three movies: No Man of Her Own, with Barbara Stanwyk; the French I Married a Shadow; and the American comedy, Mrs. Winterborne, which starred Shirley MacLaine and Ricki Lake. Edward Anderson's vivid Thieves Like Us was transformed into They Live by Night, Nicholas Ray's first important movie and one of the seminal noir films of the 1940s. It was brilliantly remade in 1974 by the great revisionist director Robert Altman. Kenneth Fearing's The Big Clock was transformed into a marvelous film starring Charles Laughton; 40 years later, the same source, retitled No Way Out, brought Kevin Costner to stardom. William Lindsay Gresham's Nightmare Alley was the source for Tyrone Power's best movie; Horace McCoy's experimental They Shoot Horses, Don't They? became one of the seminal films of the 1960s.

These dark, evocative novels, when taken together, are a fascinating study of how words can inspire a magnificent variety of cinematic images and styles.

Customer Reviews:

Splendid Read.......2007-06-04

This collection of novels from the 30s and 40s was terrific fun and an outstanding introduction to the genre. You can debate whether they're all noir (at least what I expected noir to be); but nonetheless they each convey a distinct impression and view of the time. Without getting into lengthy reviews, I enjoyed Woolrich's "I Married a Dead Man" the most--from his eloquent style to the actual story-line. You know you're reading a master story-teller. Second was Gresham's "Nightmare Alley;" although sometimes I thought he could have expanded on some aspects of the story and shortened other passages (i.e., a little bit of editing would help). But each novel was distinct and enjoyable. Highly recommended.

Crime Novels -- 30s/40s.......2006-11-07

Ha! Just skimmed some other reviews and I wanna add my two cents. Yes, this volume is definitely something. Some impressions follow.

The Postman Always Rings Twice: Indeed, Cain knew how to make the reader keep turning pages. Short, sweet, and fascinating. After I discovered the significance of the title (which is a bit of a "trick"), I liked the whole effort all the more.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?: A bit monotonous to read; a bit dark. That was the point. All told, a fascinating novel. Among all literature named in the world, *this* is one of few titles inspired by God: so memorable and unique, so perfect. It turns out to impart chilling meaning, as well, on several levels.

Thieves Like Us: My least favorite. This was a subjective reaction, however. I wanted the story to take turns it didn't take. Moreover, Anderson as an author took note of things I found not-so-interesting; apparently, the book's status to this day speaks otherwise on behalf of many other readers, however.

The Big Clock: Short, sweet and sterile. Almost machine-like in its plotting and execution -- if so written intentionally, a fascinating stylistic choice given its title -- but, notably, full of interesting and colorful characterizations. Possibly my favorite.

Nightmare Alley: Relentlessly grim and ugly. I'm not so sure there is a single character to root for in this story. That was probably very much intended. Fascinating but, again, very grim. Literary nihilists of today would do well to take a lesson from Gresham's characterization, plot and style.

I Married A Dead Man: Although the novels were presented chronologically, this was a nice way to end the volume. A very simple, linear, domestic story, without hard-boiled criminality or complication, which unfolds with some plot which stretches credibility, but lies ultimately within the realm of the possible. Notable among noir novels for Woolrich's ability to evoke two unexpected emotions at the end: a sense of deep and abiding love between two of the main characters -- before the real and final ending -- and a sense of genuine sadness.

Worth owning. Might take the reader a while to get through. This is, in effect, six books in one, running to nearly a thousand pages. But it was definitely fun; and as another reviewer implied, it's surprising how little has changed.

Thank God for the 1930's and 1940's/ .......2006-07-11

First of all, the Library Of America collection provides the reader with some of the most beautiful hardcover editions available today. That said, the selections chosesn for this edition are all first class; for someone just getting into hard-boiled fiction, this is the ideal place to start. If you're like me and have been reading this genre for many years, this is a perfect volume to add to one's collection.

The Dark Underbelly of the American Dream.......2005-09-29

Noir emerged in the early 20th-Century from Pulp paperbacks published for mass consumption. Highlighting in gritty and sensationalistic detail the sordid undercurrents of Western society, Noir became an artistic force that became the medium for the representation of the down and out segment of the populace. Whether set in the impersonal grime of urban reality or at the deceptive simplicity of rural picturesqueness, Noir in Film and Literature revealed the odyssey and travails of lost souls whose misguided characters bore too much of the weight of their selves and their pasts to break from the shackles of their present.

"Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930's and 40's" is the American equivalent in prose of the influential and enduring genre. The grim and unforgiving tales of the dejected cast of mid 20th-Century American life are openly depicted ("The Postman Always Rings Twice"; "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"; "Thieves Like Us"; "Nightmare Alley"); vicissitudes of fate ("The Big Clock"; "I Married a Dead Man"). Whether set in scenic California, the vast and open Midwest, or a high-rise office in Manhattan, these novels uniformly render a panorama of blighted dreams, twisted turns of fate, and the sad recurrence of misfortune in desperate individuals doomed to tragedy.

None too substantial in content but highly readable, this edition is the first of a handsome 2-Volume anthology on American Noir fiction published by the venerable Library of America. Edited by Robert Polito (Poet, writer, anthologist on Noir Lit. and author of a biography on Jim Thompson), these stories enduring relevance are seen in various forms of contemporary society: from the writings of James Ellroy, Brett Easton Ellis, Lawrence Block, and Robert Bloch; in films like "Scarface", "Pulp Fiction", "Fight Club"; and in everyday life.

A Real Discovery: 4 or 5 of these make amazing reading.......2005-01-23

This is an impressive collection of early and now scarce Noir novels. "The Big Clock" and "Nightmare Alley" are particularly hard to find outside of this volume.

Cain's "The Postman Always Rings Twice" was probably the first crime novel I ever really got into, and it's a stunning departure from Agatha Christie-style mysteries. So much happens in this short book (as turns of plot, but also development of character) that it compares favorably to the first half Camus' "The Stranger." The drifter plumbs the depths of his desperation in a brutal attachment to another man's wife: it's not greed or lust that drives him, but a base need for someone to whom he can anchor himself. A raw and amazing experience, unmatched by anything else of Cain's.

McCoy's "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" is impressively vivid. I had no idea these dance-hall marathons took place before reading this story. This circus of exploitation of young and apparently desperate people certainly makes for excellent Noir. One of these benefits of reading these novels is the unearthing of buried episodes in America's past.

"Thieves Like Us" has been reviewed here as the weaker end of the collection, and I have to agree. It's still a very capable story of outlaws; and the stoicism of the young people caught up in the criminal's lives is admirably depicted here. I recommend reading Andersen's novel before the others (it's still definitive Noir), so one can more easily avoid expectations built up by the Cain and McCoy.

"The Big Clock" is interesting in the depiction of power relationships between employer and employee, and the shifting first-person style of telling the story works here. I never heard of Fearing before reading this novel, but he evidently had a deep understanding of the motivations of very different kinds of people. This novel has the most suspense of the collection, and is a great and sophisticated read.

The most surprising and bizzare novel is "Nightmare Alley," a strange and memorable journey of an aspiring carnival charlatan. It defines Sleaze. The longest and most complex novel, it feels like a long-lost classic that's been hidden away because of its disturbing content. Some may think of it as too long, but the twisting journey through sweaty farming towns, railroad stations and addled big-city martiarchs required time to establish some crediblity: by the end, I was convinced that such a grotesque collection of stunts actually belonged in the story of this country. "Nightmare Alley" alone is worth the price of the book. Fans of Tarot might be a little offended, but this is especially recommended for understanding fans of Ray Bradbury.

Finally, "I Married a Dead Man" by Woolrich is a suspense novel set up by a tragic accident. The protagonist, literally and figuratively hungry, siezes the opportunity to substitute herself into a more fortunate woman's life. Excellently done, and more grounded in comparison to "Nightmare Alley."

Overall, there's no legitimately weak entry in this collection. The variety of content in these novels is enormous, and acquiring this book will allow the reader to experience the different flavors of American Noir. Most modern crime/suspense movies will seem ridiculous by comparison.

Average customer rating:

Tangling With a Cobra
Although I'm not very fond with James M. Cain's works........
Classic Film Noir in Well Written Prose
Double the Fun
The darkest side of a railroad track

Double Indemnity
James M. Cain
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Mildred Pierce

ASIN: 0679723226
Release Date: 1989-05-14

Amazon.com

When smalltime insurance salesman Walter Huff meets seductive Phyllis Nirdlinger, the wife of one of his wealthy clients, it takes him only minutes to determine that she wants to get rid of her husband--and not much longer to decide to help her do it. Walter knows that accident insurance pays double indemnity on railroad mishaps, so he and Phyllis plot frantically to get Nirdlinger on--and off--a train without arousing the suspicions of the police, the insurance company, Nirdlinger's dishy daughter, her mysterious boyfriend, or Nirdlinger himself. This brief but complex novel is a perfect example of the ordinary-guy-gone-disastrously-wrong story that Cain always pulls off brilliantly.

Book Description

Tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful, Double Indemnity gives us an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. First published in 1935, this novel reaffirmed James M. Cain as a virtuoso of the roman noir.

Customer Reviews:

Tangling With a Cobra.......2007-05-30

Walter Huff is an insurance agent who visited a client about renewing an automobile insurance policy. Mr. Nirdlinger is out but his wife is in. They'll call him. When Huff gets a call he finds the wife is interested in an accident policy for her husband (without his knowledge)! Huff immediately senses the danger in this; but there is a fatal attraction. Walter agrees to murder for Phyllis and the money, even though Phyllis has no cause to resent her husband. Walter explains the three things needed for a successful murder: help, planning, and audacity (as in a gangland slaying). Walter compares insurance to making a bet that something wouldn't happen (Chapter 2). Then daughter Lola Nirdlinger wants a loan against her boyfriend's car. Months pass, then an accident changes Mr. Nirdlinger's travel plans (Chapter 4). They kill Mr. Nirdlinger according to plan (Chapter 5). Chapter 6 tells about overnight train travel in those days. When Walter returns home he realizes he is now in Phyllis' power (Chapter 7).

After the accident the insurance investigators interviewed the people on the train. The insurance company believed it was a suicide so they wouldn't have to pay. Keyes uses the actuarial tables to dispute that theory, but he has no proof. It was important for a minister to be present at the Coroner's Inquest. Keyes surmises how it could have been done, and decides to have Phyllis watched. Lola has suspicions about Phyllis (Chapter 9). Lola tells Walter more about her boyfriend Sachetti, and they begin to spend time together. Lola has learned more about Phyllis! In Chapter 11 Walter decides to act for his safety in Griffith Park at midnight. He carefully plots this. But Phyllis has plans as well. Chapter 12 tells what happened that night. [The 1944 film changed the story, the book will be more intriguing.] Keyes in the Claim Department views the human race as "a little bit crooked" (Chapter 13). We learn why Sachetti was interested in Phyllis! [The 1944 film omitted this part.] Then there is still another surprise! Chapter 14 ties up the loose strings to this story.

The book is more complex than the 1944 film, and a better story. Read it before you see the film. [The basic story is similar to Shakespeare's "Hamlet".]

Although I'm not very fond with James M. Cain's works...............2007-03-07

...I thought "Double Indemnity" was one of the finest crime/thriller novels that I've ever read. Walter Huff is an insurance agent who is seduced by a woman named Nirdlinger. They decide to kill Nirdlinger's husband in order to collect his wealth. But then this leads to serious consequences.

With memorable characters, terrific tension, and good pacing, "Double Indemnity" is highy recommended if you're in the mood for murder and money. And try not to judge this book by its publication date. Crime and punishment from the 1930's can be a very interesting thing.

Classic Film Noir in Well Written Prose.......2007-01-18

I saw Billy Wilder's 1948 movie before I read the original 1936 novel by Cain; the movie was exceptional - well paced, taught storytelling. The book is even better.

This is a simple story of love, murder, and insurance fraud. But the complexity of the written landscape by Cain is absolutely engulfing. Walter Huff, a scheming, self-serving insurance agent falls for Phyllis and they scheme to kill her husband for love and the insurance check. But, of course it is never that easy!

With snappy, well constructed dialog, Cain spins film noir better than any camera can.

Double the Fun.......2006-05-05

James Cain followed up his controversial THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE with another thin crime novel DOUBLE INDEMNITY. Like POSTMAN, it brings the reader into a world of moral indifference. In other words, it's great!

The action follows insurance agent Walter Huff, who has at some point come up with an insurance scheme to off a guy and collect the insurance. He discovers his partner in crime, Phyllis Nirdlinger, when she inquires about accident insurance for her husband. But this is James Cain writing. It is not going to be that easy, is it? You bet not.

Phyllis turns out to be way, waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy more dangerous than Walter ever imagined her to be. He learns too late that he is just one more patsy in Phyllis's own plans, much bigger and nastier than the ones Walter himself formulated. Complicating the matter is Phyllis's step-daughter, Lola, whose wholesomeness actually touches some soft spot in Walter's heart.

Perhaps Cain mellowed a little bit between POSTMAN and DOUBLE INDEMNITY. The main character actually feels some degree of guilt for the crime and actually shows concern for someone besides himself. Jeez, what a softie. Do not worry, though. There is enough human darkness here to satisfy even the hardest of readers' hearts.

The darkest side of a railroad track.......2006-04-14

At some point, the narrator of James M. Cain's "Double Indemnity" starts a chapter stating "there is nothing so dark as a railroad track in the middle of the night". The scene that is set in the railroad track is one of the most important in this novella noir about love, deceit and betrayal. It is not impossible to make some connections between this mentioned dark and the dark side of the human soul.

This is a short book and very fast, and, at the same time, very interesting. Cain makes his characters and plot very engaging and dry as well. There isn't much time for many descriptions and digressions. The writer is very matter-of-fact throughout the whole narrative, keeping focus on his story. And as a consequence, keeping his readers' eyes glued to the pages.

The main characters are beautifully developed little by little as the story progress. As such they are able to surprise the readers -- since we don't know everything about them. And they really surprise us! By the end of the book they have gone through the most shocking transformations -- so have the readers' sensibility. This is a classic novel that will last forever.

Average customer rating:

Fatal Attraction
A Bit Lost in the Mail
Perhaps I'm the odd one out, but...
It'll take less time to read this than to watch the eponymous movie...
Truly entertaining

The Postman Always Rings Twice
James M. Cain
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Double Indemnity
The Maltese Falcon
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The Magnificent Ambersons

ASIN: 0679723250
Release Date: 1989-05-14

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<B>Penzler Pick, April 2000:</B> It is sometimes easy to trace a literary genre to its source, and James M. Cain's first novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice, is the noir novel that paved the way for all the noir fiction that followed. The famous film starring Lana Turner and John Garfield is notoriously dark, but the novel is even more full of despair and devoid of hope. It is a short book--little more than a novella--but its searing characterization and depiction of tawdry greed and lust is branded into every reader's memory.

Frank Chambers, a drifter, is dropped from the back of a truck at a rundown rural diner. When he spots Cora, the owner's wife, he instantly decides to stay. The sexy young woman, married to Nick, a violent and thuggish boor, is equally attracted to the younger man and sees him as her way out of her hopeless, boring life. They begin a clandestine affair and plot to kill Nick, beginning their own journey toward destruction.

Horace McCoy, David Goodis, Jim Thompson, and the other notable noir writers never achieved Cain's spare brilliance. Virtually all of his major works have been filmed, though several Hollywood studios refused to make the films, directors refused to be involved, and actors turned down roles because of their repugnance at the lack of morality inherent in all Cain's characters. Reading him may not be fit for a Sunday school class, but once you begin you will be unable to resist continuing, like picking at a painful scab or watching a tarantula inside a glass dome. --Otto Penzler

Book Description

An amoral young tramp. A beautiful, sullen woman with an inconvenient husband. A problem that has only one grisly solution--a solution that only creates other problems that no one can ever solve.

First published in 1934 and banned in Boston for its explosive mixture of violence and eroticism, The Postman Always Rings Twice is a classic of the roman noir. It established James M. Cain as a major novelist with an unsparing vision of America's bleak underside, and was acknowledged by Albert Camus as the model for The Stranger.

Customer Reviews:

Fatal Attraction.......2007-05-30

This story is about the triangle between an unhappy wife, her older husband, and a hired drifter. It tells how diner owner Nick Papadakis hires Frank Chambers because his hired help won't stay with him. Frank sees Cora, Nick's wife (Chapter 1). There is a fatal attraction (Chapter 2). [Did the other hire help leave quickly to avoid this setup?] Cora won a beauty contest in Des Moines and got a trip to Hollywood; but her pride kept her from going back home. [The beauty contest racket brought hopefuls to Hollywood who lacked money, connections, and acting experience.] Cora married the first honest man she found. But now she is unhappy and in love with Frank (the first who stayed?). They are now planning to murder Nick (Chapter 4).They consider running off together, but its not practical; Cora would return to the life she left. A new crisis for Cora leads to a new plot (Chapter 6).

They have a fatal accident on the mountain road to Malibu Beach. Their car goes off the road and down the cliff. Nick dies in the ambulance, Frank is badly injured with a broken arm. Cora escaped the falling car. The police and an ambulance take them away. After the Inquest District Attorney Sackett questions Frank, and gets him to sign a statement. Sackett suspects murder (Chapter 9). The best lawyer in town will defend Cora against murder; Katz will handle everything. Nick's insurance policy is the alleged motive. There is a shocking surprise plea (Chapter 10). Katz says this is the greatest case in his life, then explains how he will argue in court from the insurance policies (Chapter 11). [This technical detail is simplified in the film.] The rest of the story plays out. The differences in personalities between Cora and Frank result in growing conflicts. After one critical argument they resolve their differences. But an accident brings up the past, and their fate is sealed. [This story is told from Frank's point of view and seems self-serving to me.]

A Bit Lost in the Mail.......2007-04-27

I've got to say I don't understand what all the fuss is about. This is one of those rare times when, for me at least, the movie was better than the book. Perhaps I was the victim of unrealistic expectations, but I was expecting Faulkner or Hammet and got something else.

The plot is simple, and nothing wrong with that. A drifter pops in at a dusty roadside California cafe, and is drawn to the owner's wife, and vice versa. An affair soon follows and the couple decides for reasons meant to be simultaneously tawdry and noble, but also irresistible, decide the husband must be killed. Sometimes when I'm reading a novella (like this one) or short story that is primarily about something illicit I ask myself how much interest I'd have if it were about something else. I realize a murder mystery has to have a murder, but you know what I mean- how much do the characters stand on their own, how riveting or at least engaging is the dialogue, etc. This isn't a perfect test, but for some stories where the murder/rape/maiming is just a plot device it lets you picture a little more clearly what kind of skill the author has. I'd rate Cain no better than average. While the protagonist has a gritty fatalism about him, he was almost a caricature. I realize much of this has to do with the iconic status of this work itself, but it is still difficult to get past it. It's certainly a good book, and certainly not boring, but I don't find it in the classic category myself.

Perhaps I'm the odd one out, but..........2007-04-11

This is exactly the reason I don't read "classics." I think I summed it up as 116 pages of WTF? It's a dated story, and while some books stand the test of time, and in this case it really shows. I didn't "buy" any of the storyline, the characters were undeveloped and shallow, the plot thin and full of holes, and the entire idea trite, tired, and badly executed. Well, except at the end, when he was... I would be very angry at the book club for making me read it except it did only take an hour. It's funny, I am a plot-driven person, and this book was nothing but plot (a marked lack of description kept it short, at least), however, I'm picky and would like a good plot. Bottom line: uck.

It'll take less time to read this than to watch the eponymous movie..........2007-02-06

A quick, easy, pot-boilin' read, that somehow--maybe because it was a novel novel--was elevated by the MLA 100. The plot is straightforward, the pages turn quickly, and you'll finish it in one day.

Truly entertaining.......2006-09-25

When the young vagabond Frank Cambers lays his eye on a shapely ex-whore Cora Papadakis, reader knows that Nick Papadakis - Cora's old gullible Greek husband - is the odd one out. The only question is how? Little discrepancies arise along the way: Frank just wants Cora, running away together is his plan. But, Cora, the tricky Cora, wants Frank and the money of Nick Papadakis. The perfectly staged accident is carried through (on the second attempt), Papadakis is dead and the notorious couple gets away with murder. Only the postman rings twice, and when the pay time comes, Cora dies in a random car accident, and Frank ends up charged and sentenced with murder that he didn't commit, which is the murder of his darling Cora.

The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and Selected Stories (Everyman's Library Classics)

Average customer rating:

"Noir at it's very best".
Welcome to the Inferno

The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and Selected Stories (Everyman's Library Classics)
James M. Cain
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Big Sleep; Farewell, My Lovely; The High Window (Everyman's Library)
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Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s: The Killer Inside Me / The Talented Mr. Ripley / Pick-up / Down There / The Real Cool Killers (Library of America)

ASIN: 037541438X
Release Date: 2003-07-22

Book Description

These three classics from the master of the noir novel, along with five otherwise unavailable short stories, are electric with the taut narrative voice, the suspense, and the explosive violence and eroticism that were James M. Cain’s indelible hallmarks.

The Postman Always Rings Twice, Cain’s first novel–the subject of an obscenity trial in Boston, the inspiration for Camus’s The Stranger–is the fever-pitched tale of a drifter who stumbles into a job, into an erotic obsession, and into a murder. Double Indemnity–which followed Postman so quickly, Cain’s readers hardly had a chance to catch their breath–is a tersely narrated story of blind passion, duplicity, and, of course, murder. Mildred Pierce, a work of acute psychological observation and devastating emotional violence, is the tale of a woman with a taste for shiftless men and an unreasoned devotion to her monstrous daughter. All three novels were immortalized in classic Hollywood films. Also included here are five masterful stories–“Pastorale,” “The Baby in the Icebox,” “Dead Man,” “Brush Fire,” “The Girl in the Storm”–that have been out of print for decades.

Customer Reviews:

"Noir at it's very best"........2007-02-21

I haven't been able to put this down since it arrived two days ago. I had
read some of James Cain's stories a long time ago, but in my opinion he is
the best detective writer of all. The movies don't follow his stories in
all cases, but they are still wonderful to read. A great collection!

Welcome to the Inferno.......2004-07-02

Although Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler are better known today, James M. Cain (1892-1977) is at least their equal--and many consider that he bested both in his finest novels, which combined sin-blacked characters, sordid plots, terse prose, and all the power of a blast furnace. This anthology collects all three of his landmark novels as well as several short stories, all of them showing Cain at the height of his powers.

Published in 1934, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE is the truly deadly story of a drifter who squirms his way into a job at a California truck stop--and then squirms his way into the bed of a sexy waitress. Trouble is, the waitress is married to the boss... and she doesn't like it, not one little bit. Dripping with lust, deception, and irony, POSTMAN is at once sickening and fascinating, a true powerhouse of a novel that festers long after the story has ended.

DOUBLE INDEMNITY, published in 1936, is equally hot--the tale of an insurance sales man who stays on the right side of the law until he is tempted by a psychopathic femme fatale who doesn't see anything wrong with picking up a few bucks on the unexpected death of her unwanted husband. MILDRED PIERCE, published in 1941, is equally memorable in its portrait of a driven housewife with a wayward husband who discovers that she will do absolutely anything for her vicious, serpentine daughter.

All three novels have been famously filmed, but while the film versions (most created during the 1940s) stand well on their own, the novels out distance them in nothing flat. Cora, begging Frank to bite her lips until they bleed; Phyllis with lipstick splashed across her mouth like a bleeding gash; sleek Monte and his viper-like stepdaughter Veda--all portraits of reckless abandon so powerful that they blister the page.

The volume also includes five hard-to-find Cain stories that are often as memorable as the best of his novels, most notably I think "The Baby in the Ice Box" and "Brush Fire." But whether it is novels or his shorter works, you simply can't go wrong when it comes to the best of James M. Cain. Welcome to the inferno. Brace yourself for the straight-down ride.

Book Description

All three books are written with an enduring view of the dark corners of the American psyche. Cain hammered high art out of the crude matter of betrayal, bloodshed, and perversity.

Customer Reviews:

Serenade.......2005-02-23

I have only read Serenade out of the three novels in this book, so that is what this review concerns.

James M. Cain wrote in the first person, from the criminals perspective. His storytellers are not usually hardened criminals, yet through circumstances commit the most atrocious of crimes. He writes about down trodden, out of luck schmucks, who fall for the wrong kind of girl. Interestingly, it is usually his women who are tough, manipulative, and full of lust for crime. The men tend to be suckered in by their seductive charms.

Serenade centers around a down and out opera singer, John Howard Sharp. He is so down on his luck that he's been singing in a small club in Mexico, before, even they, kick him out. His luck seems to change when he meets a cheap whore, whom he falls with. His love for her causes his once faultering voice, to come back. What follows is a transcontinental series of adventures cataloging John's skyrocket rise in both movies and the New York opera, and his subsequent fall.

There is plenty to like about Serenade. Cain's terse, cynical prose moves across the page like a song. He accurately portrays John's love and hatred for his Mexican whore. There are plenty of nice character moments. Moments that give just the right details that give meaning to ordinary events. Much of the "action" of the story revolves around the little moments of life: sitting in a room talking to friends, stroking the hair of a girl, listening to music. Cain understands that much of life is filled with these types of moment and that great changes and meaning can be found in them.

Before Cain became a writer, he was trained as a singer. In part, this novel seems to be an attempt for him to allow his musical knowledge and training come to some use. Throughout the book John converses about, or describes internally, music he likes and hates, musicians, and his own singing. Some of this is vitally important to the story, for he is a professional singer, and the plot concerns his successes as such. Yet it is so infused with information that it, at times, feels more like a trade magazine than a proper story. At only 136 pages, it is superfluous to fill so many with discussions on Puccini and Mozart.

There is a revealing moment about John's character in the last third of the book. Even while reading this in 2005 it seemed shocking. Yet it is treated with aplomb, handled with an experts hand. The feelings that arise out of the character seem true, if no entirely kind. It is also interesting to see how that particular issue was handled at that time.

Overall, Serenade is an interesting read. It is well written and the characters are well drawn. However, if you have never read anything by James M. Cain, I would recommend picking up The Postman Always Rings Twice and then Double Indemnity before I began reading this

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Sixty Years of Journalism
James M. Cain
Manufacturer: Bowling Green State Univ Popular Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0879723289

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Mother Courage and her ungrateful daughter
Masterpiece Combines Crime Genre with Desperate Characters
THIS BOOK WAS AHEAD OF ITS TIME
Thoroughly engaging.
A noir without crime?

Mildred Pierce
James M. Cain
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audio Inc.
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Binding: Audio CD

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Double Indemnity
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Imitation of Life
The Wisdom of Eve
A Single Man

ASIN: 0786160470

Product Description

Mildred Pierce had gorgeous legs, a way with a skillet, and a bone-deep core of toughness. She used those attributes to survive a divorce and poverty and to claw her way out of the lower middle class. But Mildred also had two weaknesses: a yen for shiftless men, and an unreasoning devotion to a monstrous daughter. Out of these elements, Cain creates a novel of acute social observation and devastating emotional violence, with a heroine whose ambitions and sufferings are never less than recognizable.

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Mother Courage and her ungrateful daughter.......2006-08-30

A man tends to his lawn, showers, gets dressed, tells his wife that he's going for a walk. She knows better --- he's going to see his mistress "and then unbutton that red dress she's always wearing without any brassieres under it." But it's not the mistress that annoys her most. It's the way, in 1931, he's without work and not exactly looking for any.

So far, so ordinary.

Then the author steps in: "They spoke quickly, as though they were saying things that scalded their mouths, and had to cooled with spit. "

That's James M. Cain, folks, the master of the quick, dark truth.

When Cain wrote "Mildred Pierce," his fame and fortune were assured. In the 1930s, he had published "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "Double Indemnity." These two short, brutal novels had scandalized the bluenoses and become bestsellers. He'd found a formula that, in a repressed culture, never fails --- serving up hot, illicit sex and then punishing the lovers.

In "Mildred Pierce," he adapted the formula and, in the process, wrote what I believe is his best novel. Here the shapely, sexy woman is a wife and mother who wants to stay married. She throws her husband out as a statement of self-respect. It's a costly gesture. As a friend says, "You've joined the biggest army on earth. You're the great American institution that never gets mentioned on Fourth of July --- a grass widow with two small children to support. The dirty bastards."

Mildred's assets are few. She can bake. And she's got a bod for sin. "Her brassiere ballooned a little, with an extremely seductive burden." Although she's got great gams, she feels she's slightly bow-legged, so she takes short steps when she walks. To great effect --- "her bottom twitched in a wholly provocative way."

It's not long before two realities collide. She has no trouble finding a lover (and discovering that she enjoys sex) --- but it's impossible to get a job. For one thing, she is without qualifications. For another, she fears that her eldest daughter, the beautiful and haughty Veda, will scorn her if she wears a waitress's uniform or becomes a clerk in a store.

But a waitress she becomes. And money flows in. Veda is, as expected, horrified. She says Mildred has "degraded" the family. Mildred's response: She spanks Veda silly. To no point. Veda crawls to a couch, laughs and whispers: "A waitress."

It is then that Mildred realizes that she fears her daughter's judgment, "her snobbery, her contempt, her unbreakable spirit." She resolves to open a restaurant, to be a waitress no more. And she thanks her daughter for prodding her to aim higher: "We'll have something. And it'll all be on account of you. Every good thing that happens is on account of you, if Mother only had the good sense to know it."

On the eve of the opening of Mildred's restaurant, she spends the weekend with a society swell and becomes his lover. Back home, her younger daughter has spiked a fever and is in the hospital. The death scene is terrible. Even worse is Mildred's reaction: Thank God it wasn't Veda.

Death and birth collide: As she buries her child, Mildred opens her restaurant. It's a great success. But we have half a book to go, and this half is a slow-mo train wreck --- the story of Veda's evil ways, her schemes to escape her mother and Mildred's shameless effort to win her love.

You think your kids have foul, disrespectful mouths? Listen to Veda: "With this money I can get away from you. From you and your chickens and your pies and your kitchens and everything that smells of grease. I can get away from this shack with its cheap furniture. And this town and its dollar days, and its women that wear uniforms and its men that wear overalls."

Through it all, Mildred is Mother Courage. Her will and her work ethic dazzle. But can Veda be redeemed?

In the movie --- directed by Michael ("Casablanca") Curtiz and starring Joan Crawford, her shoulders so padded she could be a linebacker --- the story is changed for greater dramatic effect. In the book, there's no need; this time, the female is punished and punished and punished, though she's done nothing to deserve it.

"Mildred Pierce" is twice as long as "Postman" and "Double Indemnity" --- and, say I, twice as satisfying. Face it, you're not likely to take a married lover and then kill his/her spouse. But most parents have, at one time or another, a child whose ingratitude is sharper than a serpent's tooth. Well, here's the worst case --- read it and weep for Mildred, then count your blessings.

Masterpiece Combines Crime Genre with Desperate Characters.......2006-07-16

I was inspired to read Mildred Pierce after hearing Wesltey Strick, screenwriter and novelists, discuss his new novel on Elvis Mitchell's NPR radio show "The Treatment." Strick said to get in the mood for his own writing, he reread Mildred Pierce and I was intrigued. I had read some other Cain novels and knew he was a master of terse crime fiction but I wasn't prepared for the psychological insight and complexity evident here. His descriptions of American gaucherie and philistinism are unparalleled. His complexity between the mother and daughter is unforced.

The plot, about a Billy Goat husband who leaves his pretty wife for a trashy woman in Southern California circa the Depression, begins simply enough, but spins into penetrating psychological pathology.

His ability to capture America's sense of the American Dream and bad taste reminds me of Paula Fox's novella Desperate Characters and a masterful essay by William E. Blundell's "My Florida," published in the 2005 edition of The Best American Travel Writing.

THIS BOOK WAS AHEAD OF ITS TIME.......2006-04-18

The book and the movie are both great. The content of this book was a little unusual for the 1940s. I was surprised that the book has a totally different ending than the movie. I have seen the movie several times, and decided to read the book. I am so glad I did, and my husband really enjoyed this book too. Mildred is a great character. She was a woman before her time. Stepping out to have her own business. Not too many women in those times would have had the courage to do such a thing. Her daughter, Veda, is a BRAT. Mildred is a "disney land" parent. She thinks the more she gives the more her daughter will love her. This is a good example for divorced parents today. They feel compelled to give their kids too many "material" things and they really just need to spend more time with their children and learn to say "No". If you haven't read or seen the movie, I would suggest you do both.

Thoroughly engaging........2005-08-09

There are only two words to describe this book: wow and bravo. Each of its 17 chapters is a compelling mini masterpiece of storytelling.

The title character is a young financially challenged mother who is forced to fend for herself in the decidedly unfriendly milieu of Depression era Los Angeles. After considerable struggle and plenty of hard work, Mildred eventually becomes a successful business woman.
But while Mildred is achieving economic independence, her daughter Veda, a precocious 11 year old at the novel's onset, matures into a hateful, greedy young adult who makes her mother's life a living hell.

Author James Cain has offered up a virtuoso performance in the writing of this wonderful novel. Chapter 1 is pure genius. It starts off with images of perfect domesticity; a husband doing yardwork and a wife decorating a cake. Then it suddenly spirals downward into the abyss of irretrievable family break-up. Each subsequent chapter is masterfully built on the one before to paint a vivid picture of Mildred's world as she wends her way through the obstacle course that is her life.

Mildred Pierce is a gripping, page turner of a novel. An enthusiastic 5 stars.

A noir without crime?.......2004-10-07

James M. Cain is one of the fathers of the noir novel (along with Hammet and Chandler) with novels as "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "Double Indemnity" that were soon turned into films and became cornerstones of the noir cinema, as it did the cinematographic version of Mildred Pierce.

Mildred Pierce is not, however, a noir novel strictu senso. There is no detective, and if there is any crime it is not particularly remarkable, the characters don't take a walk in the wild side or through the asphalt jungle. The plot tells the story of Mildred, a still young woman trying to make ends meet after divorcing his former middle class husband, now unemployed due to the Depression. In her quest for a future (from proud wife to diner waitress to fast-food entrepreneur) she has to deal with her pride, her pretentious and viperous daughter, her decadent playboy lover and the close social categories of the 30's.

For some it could be an elaborated melodrama, but Mildred Pierce reads like a noir. The wisecrack-saturated dialogues are those of a hardboiled crime novels, as are the social schemas. Finally, Cain discovers settings that latter became classics of the Californian and American noir imaginary: the diners, the first fast food chains, and the posh restaurants by the sea.

Mildred Pierce is a great book and a portrait of a time. Go for it. I have it in a very nice edition by Everyman's Library featuring also "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "Double Indemnity" and a few short stories and the lot is definitely worth the (quite low) price.

Three Novels By James M. Cain: Double Indemnity, Serenade, the Postman Always Rings Twice

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Three Novels By James M. Cain: Double Indemnity, Serenade, the Postman Always Rings Twice
James M. Cain
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HJN5EC

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