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'She took a final drag at the cigarette, flipped it away, and said, I don't get this line of talk. It's way over my head... Maybe you're waiting for some dream girl to come along in a coach drawn by six white horses, and she'll pick you up and haul you away to the clouds, where it's all milk and honey and springtime all year around. Maybe that's what you're waiting for. That dream girl."' But the dream girl doesn't come. In the meantime Ralph must deal with the yearnings of everyday life and take what's offered. Written in 1954, The Blonde on the Street Corner is full of the passions and desires that are the hallmarks of a David Goodis novel.
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'She took a final drag at the cigarette, flipped it away, and said, "I don't get this line of talk. It's way over my head. I think you have been reading fairy-tales, or something. Maybe you're waiting for some dream girl to come along in a coach drawn by six white horses, and she'll pick you up and haul you away to the clouds, where it's all milk and honey and springtime all year around. Maybe that's what you're waiting for. That dream girl." "Maybe," he murmured. And then he looked at the blonde. His smile was soft and friendly and he said, "I guess thats why I can't stay with you. I'm waiting for the dream girl."'
But the dream does not come. In the meantime Ralph must deal with the yearnings of everyday life and take what he is offered.
Written in 1954, The Blonde on the Corner is full of the passions and desires that are the hallmarks of a David Goodis novel.
'His books are a lethally potent cocktail of surreal description, brilliant language, cracker barrel philosophy and gripping obsession.' Adrian Wooton
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Ralph stood on the corner, leaning against the brick wall of Silver's candy store, telling himself to go home and get some sleep. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Ralph stood on the corner, leaning against the brick wall of Silver's candy store, telling himself to go home and get some sleep. Read the first page
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
David Goodis was one of the major writers of crime noir in the 1940s and '50s. Many of his best works were filmed to good effect, including DARK PASSAGE, with Bogart playing the lead, Tourneur's NIGHTFALL, Truffaut's SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER, Sam Fuller's STREET OF NO RETURN, and THE BURGLAR. Goodis's novels painted bleak, black views of the inner-city life he himself lived, populated by losers and drunks. As Ed Gorman once said, Goodis didn't write novels, he wrote suicide notes. But his power lay in his ability to get down on paper the stark reality of the low-life he witnessed around him, before he too fell victim to the type of decline experienced by the characters he wrote about.
It's a tragedy that, apart from this reissue, few of the eighteen novels Goodis wrote are currently in print. This is the first publication of THE BLONDE ON THE STREET CORNER since it originally appeared in a paperback edition in 1954. The story is set during the depression years of the 1930s, in Goodis's own home town of Philadelphia, and seems to be at least partly autobiographical. Ralph and his buddies are out of work, and jobs are not easy to find. He'd like to be a song-writer, but there's little hope of getting that kind of break. Christmas is coming and he needs some money, and the only other options involve crime and sex. With his usual talent for brilliant prose description and language, Goodis takes you effortlessly into the murky realms of depression America to meet the deadbeat characters who populate the streets and bars.
Serpent's Tail Press are to be congratulated for reissuing this long-lost classic by one of the legendary writers of the hardboiled. It's to be hoped that more by Goodis follows from them soon.
It's a tragedy that, apart from this reissue, few of the eighteen novels Goodis wrote are currently in print. This is the first publication of THE BLONDE ON THE STREET CORNER since it originally appeared in a paperback edition in 1954. The story is set during the depression years of the 1930s, in Goodis's own home town of Philadelphia, and seems to be at least partly autobiographical. Ralph and his buddies are out of work, and jobs are not easy to find. He'd like to be a song-writer, but there's little hope of getting that kind of break. Christmas is coming and he needs some money, and the only other options involve crime and sex. With his usual talent for brilliant prose description and language, Goodis takes you effortlessly into the murky realms of depression America to meet the deadbeat characters who populate the streets and bars.
Serpent's Tail Press are to be congratulated for reissuing this long-lost classic by one of the legendary writers of the hardboiled. It's to be hoped that more by Goodis follows from them soon.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
like the previous reviewer i spent a great deal of this book wondering what goodis was trying to say. all the classic elements are there. the fat slutty woman who tries to seduce him. the virginal waif he keeps running away from. the grotesque violence. the overwhelming feeling of despondency. it's not a crime novel, it's a subtle book, beautifully written with some humour. and it stayed on my mind after i had finished it.
Format:Paperback
David Goodis formed a niche for himself in writing somewhat bizzare, forever tragic noir stories. This is not his best.
It is difficult to see what he was trying to achieve here. The story concerns a young man sleeping his way through an uneventful life.
When he encounters a beautiful young woman he must decide whether to take action for the first time in his life and go to her or remain on his present course and risk eternal disappointment and discontentment.
It's an interesting tale. A real curiosity. However, the story is hardly tackled at all in what is a very very short book filled with pages and pages of information that are of no importance to the plot.
And there is very little plot to speak of.
Really, this is a peculiar short story padded out to novellete length and readers would be advised to look to Shoot The Piano Player or Dark Passage for a far better read.
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