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Review
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
Fast cars, guns and babes. Just my cup of tea. --Mark Timlin, The Independent
A small masterpiece. --Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph
Fast cars, guns and babes. Just my cup of tea. --Mark Timlin, The Independent
Maxim Jakubowski, The Guardian, June 17th 2006
Sallis's treatment is minimalist, stylish, and all the more evocative for it. Essential noir existentialism.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Astounding,
By Hazy Daisy "Hazy Daisy" (Oxford, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Drive (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.
8 of 8 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.",
By
This review is from: Drive (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
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Short but definitely not sweet,
By Michelle3791 (Essex) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Drive (Paperback)
The literary equivalent of being mauled by a rabid chihauha, this brief but fanged story is compelling. The choppy prose and non-linear style take a little getting used to, but once you adapt, this is a breathless, viseral ride that still manages to be a terrific character piece. It's easy to see exactly how and why they made an action movie out of it -- Driver is a classic outlaw updated for modern Hollywood. Simple but not necessarily straight forward, this stays with you far longer than the surface indicates it has any right to.
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