Now a major film starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. Set mostly in Arizona and L.A., Drive is about a man who does stunt driving for movies by day and drives for criminals at night. Sallis combines murder, treachery and payback in a sinister plot with resonances of 1940s pulp fiction and film noir. Told through a cinematic narrative that weaves back and forth through time and place, the story explores Driver's near-existential moral foundations, intercut with moments of bloody violence.
Drive
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Review
'Fast cars, guns and babes. Just my cup of tea.' Mark Timlin, The Independent
'Sallis's treatment is minimalist, stylish, and all the more evocative for it. Essential noir existentialism.' Maxim Jakubowski, The Guardian
'A small masterpiece.' Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph
'Sallis's treatment is minimalist, stylish, and all the more evocative for it. Essential noir existentialism' --Marilyn Stasio, New York Times
A small masterpiece. --Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph
Fast cars, guns and babes. Just my cup of tea. --Mark Timlin, The Independent
'Sallis's treatment is minimalist, stylish, and all the more evocative for it. Essential noir existentialism.' Maxim Jakubowski, The Guardian
'A small masterpiece.' Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph
'Sallis's treatment is minimalist, stylish, and all the more evocative for it. Essential noir existentialism' --Marilyn Stasio, New York Times
A small masterpiece. --Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph
Fast cars, guns and babes. Just my cup of tea. --Mark Timlin, The Independent
From the Publisher
The basis for the film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, recent winner of Best Director for Drive at Cannes. The film is provisionallyv targeted for release in the UK September 23rd 2011.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Hazy Daisy
Format:Paperback
I bought this in anticipation of the release of the film, starring Ryan Gosling. If it's anywhere near as good on screen, then we'll have a cinematic classic on our hands. Certainly as American noir fiction goes, this is among the most sophisticated and poetic that I've come across.
The main character, Driver, is an engagingly complex creation, with an opaque personal morality that never alienates the reader. In fact, throughout the book, Sallis maintains sympathy for Driver, without compromising on his unflinching descriptions of the character's actions. It is not only, however, the principal character, but also the supporting cast who make this such an incredible book. The fractured time-span of the novel means that characters are introduced, returned to, killed off or left behind in a seemingly random order that one comes to realise is reflecting Driver's thought process. The reader experiences Driver's reality, whether he is in it or remembering it, alongside him.
What really sets this apart is the prose style. 'Gritty' thrillers are ten-a-penny, it takes something of quite another order to to be able to write a book with this sort of content in such a lyrical style, romancing the seedy underbelly of LA, the backdrop to the movies that never makes it to the movies. Hopefully, when this does make it to the movies, it won't be sacrificed for glamour. Something tells me, from the buzz already surrounding the film, that it won't be.
The main character, Driver, is an engagingly complex creation, with an opaque personal morality that never alienates the reader. In fact, throughout the book, Sallis maintains sympathy for Driver, without compromising on his unflinching descriptions of the character's actions. It is not only, however, the principal character, but also the supporting cast who make this such an incredible book. The fractured time-span of the novel means that characters are introduced, returned to, killed off or left behind in a seemingly random order that one comes to realise is reflecting Driver's thought process. The reader experiences Driver's reality, whether he is in it or remembering it, alongside him.
What really sets this apart is the prose style. 'Gritty' thrillers are ten-a-penny, it takes something of quite another order to to be able to write a book with this sort of content in such a lyrical style, romancing the seedy underbelly of LA, the backdrop to the movies that never makes it to the movies. Hopefully, when this does make it to the movies, it won't be sacrificed for glamour. Something tells me, from the buzz already surrounding the film, that it won't be.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
"He existed a step or two to one side of the common world, largely out of sight, all but invisible."
10 Sep 2006
Format:Hardcover
Driver, the damaged main character of this minimalist noir novel, works as a stunt man by day and as the driver of getaway cars at night. Purely pragmatic, he has no real dreams and no long-term goals, the result of his violent childhood, which was not a childhood at all. No one gets close to him, though he occasionally shows signs that he has some feelings for other damaged creatures. When it comes to his work, however, he is all business--"I don't know anyone, I don't carry weapons. I drive."
Opening dramatically with Driver leaning against a wall in a Motel 6 room, his arm wounded so badly it is useless, with three dead bodies around him, the novel repeats these images like a bizarre refrain, as the background for this scene and the action which follows it are revealed. In terse prose, as efficient in conveying information as Driver is in killing those who threaten him, Sallis follows Driver as he moves between Los Angeles and Phoenix, doing jobs. Episodes from his life hit the reader with the force of gunfire and in random order, connected not by transitions but through the character and violent background of Driver as his life unfolds. Scenes from Driver's film assignments overlap with scenes from his real life, sometimes inspiring Driver to reminisce or to try to look forward to see how and why he ended up where he is.
Actions speak louder than words here, but the dialogue, when it occurs, is memorable and dramatic. Scenes in which Driver tries to visit his estranged mother and later his foster family are intensely moving because they emphasize an emotional connection which is otherwise lacking in his life. He is intelligent, and he keeps trying to communicate with people through words, though the circumstances of his life are almost entirely violent. He has no dreams, forced to believe instead in a brutal reality--he is Borges, the writer/realist, not Don Quixote, the tilter at windmills, he notes. "I don't think [however], our lives are thrust upon us," he explains in one conversation. "What it feels like to me is, they're forever seeping up under our feet."
A dramatic, thoughtful, and powerfully moving examination of the life of someone who has few choices, this novel transcends its darkness and violence to show the continuing desire for connection even among life's most violent people. Mary Whipple
Opening dramatically with Driver leaning against a wall in a Motel 6 room, his arm wounded so badly it is useless, with three dead bodies around him, the novel repeats these images like a bizarre refrain, as the background for this scene and the action which follows it are revealed. In terse prose, as efficient in conveying information as Driver is in killing those who threaten him, Sallis follows Driver as he moves between Los Angeles and Phoenix, doing jobs. Episodes from his life hit the reader with the force of gunfire and in random order, connected not by transitions but through the character and violent background of Driver as his life unfolds. Scenes from Driver's film assignments overlap with scenes from his real life, sometimes inspiring Driver to reminisce or to try to look forward to see how and why he ended up where he is.
Actions speak louder than words here, but the dialogue, when it occurs, is memorable and dramatic. Scenes in which Driver tries to visit his estranged mother and later his foster family are intensely moving because they emphasize an emotional connection which is otherwise lacking in his life. He is intelligent, and he keeps trying to communicate with people through words, though the circumstances of his life are almost entirely violent. He has no dreams, forced to believe instead in a brutal reality--he is Borges, the writer/realist, not Don Quixote, the tilter at windmills, he notes. "I don't think [however], our lives are thrust upon us," he explains in one conversation. "What it feels like to me is, they're forever seeping up under our feet."
A dramatic, thoughtful, and powerfully moving examination of the life of someone who has few choices, this novel transcends its darkness and violence to show the continuing desire for connection even among life's most violent people. Mary Whipple
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Fantastic book, well written, good quality.
i bought this because of the film, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it is, it is just as cool, tense and bloody as the film, highly recommend it.
I really love the fact that the chapters are quite short too.
i bought this because of the film, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it is, it is just as cool, tense and bloody as the film, highly recommend it.
I really love the fact that the chapters are quite short too.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Read it a while ago
I'm afraid I read this a while ago, wasn't asked to review it at that time. However, as I remember, it was a pretty good story, and I will definitely read the second one at some... Read more
Published 6 days ago by carolintheforest
4.0 out of 5 stars
Drive
Great read, only bought the book because the film was so good! Nice to read into the mysterious Driver's background and see how the screenplay was adapted from this beautiful... Read more
Published 29 days ago by Aaron
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not good.
This is a confusing short book that refuses to make sense. It is worse than the film and more importanly feels like an amateur piece of literature. Avoid.
Published 1 month ago by Adam
5.0 out of 5 stars
Noir.
love the film so thought I'd give the book a go, not disappointed in the slightest, would have liked to have read the book first, but thats my fault.
Published 2 months ago by Owen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great film and great book!
I watched the film and thoroughly enjoyed it so I wanted to check out the source material. I thought the book was great. Check it out1
Published 2 months ago by Baroonio
4.0 out of 5 stars
not read yet
another holiday purchase but holiday is,nt until may 2013. again write up for book made it look interesting looking forward to reading it
Published 3 months ago by barney
4.0 out of 5 stars
A compelling read
Almost completely different to the film but good none the less. That is all. Confusing flashbacks though, that took me a while to figure out.
Published 4 months ago by Andrew Stone
4.0 out of 5 stars
Different to the film
Having loved the movie adaptation of this book I decided to give the novel a go. The plot is very different but no less compelling, I would highly recommend reading it if you... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ryan O'Grady
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's got the lot
Almost faultless film of an interesting little book. Ryan Gosling is simply perfect in this - a demanding role which required the actor to brave direction and a charismatic... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Kwev
1.0 out of 5 stars
"Drive" Review
I found the style of writing somewhat confusing. The author did not develop clear definitions of the characters and some were not really believable.
Published 9 months ago by Peter the not so Great
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