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Product Description
Product Description
Slick, upbeat and funny, these stories inspired the popular musical and film Guys and Dolls.
'Of all the high players this country ever sees, there is no doubt but that the guy they call the Sky is the highest.. He will bet all he has, and nobody can bet any more than this'.
About the Author
Alfred Dmon Runyon was born in 1884 in Manhattan, Kansas. During WWI he became a war correspondent, and he continued to write after the war. Runyion's stories are highly original and lively evocations of Broadway low-life and the New York sporting scene. Initially collected in Guys and Dolls (1932), other collections include Blue Plate Special (1934) amd Take it Easy (1938). He died in 1946.
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First Sentence
OF all the high players this country ever sees, there is no doubt but that the guy they call The Sky is the highest. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
OF all the high players this country ever sees, there is no doubt but that the guy they call The Sky is the highest. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
These short stories are just unlike anything else you'll ever read. Set in prohibition era American, they are told with such a vivid 'voice' that you live each one and feel bereft when it ends. Runyon's skills are magnificent: his plots are often as twisted as Roald Dahl's but that's not the point. The true strength is in the characters who are endlessly surprising, with the most violent gangster laying down his life to save a child. I shocked myself by wanting to cry when reading this on the tube and spent the rest of the journey biting my tongue to hold back the tears - always the sign of an amazing book!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A joyous collection of short stories set in the ever popular world of the New York underworld of early years of the Twentieth Century.
"Style" is a very hard thing to define, but it is always easy to recognise. Runyon's evocative, slangy, prose is perfect for the scenes he describes, lively and disreputable. The names of the characters,Nicely Nicely Jones, Dave the Dude, Rusty Charley, Harry the Horse etc etc show the humour that runs through all the tales.
The character of the narrator himself, cautious and cynical yet not without sympathy, is consistent and well sketched in each story.
Although concentrating on the the lowest strata of society, these stories have a very soft centre, and even the worst villains are at the very least true sportsmen, who will never default on a bet.
The real enduring strength of these short works is their plotting. Each is a masterpiece of pacing and economy: consider "A Piece of Pie" or "The Snatching of Bookie Bob", not a word is wasted by Runyon in what are almost poetic pieces, songs of praise for the bars and betting shops of old New York.
"Style" is a very hard thing to define, but it is always easy to recognise. Runyon's evocative, slangy, prose is perfect for the scenes he describes, lively and disreputable. The names of the characters,Nicely Nicely Jones, Dave the Dude, Rusty Charley, Harry the Horse etc etc show the humour that runs through all the tales.
The character of the narrator himself, cautious and cynical yet not without sympathy, is consistent and well sketched in each story.
Although concentrating on the the lowest strata of society, these stories have a very soft centre, and even the worst villains are at the very least true sportsmen, who will never default on a bet.
The real enduring strength of these short works is their plotting. Each is a masterpiece of pacing and economy: consider "A Piece of Pie" or "The Snatching of Bookie Bob", not a word is wasted by Runyon in what are almost poetic pieces, songs of praise for the bars and betting shops of old New York.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read years ago a claim that Runyon was one of the greatest short story writers of all time. When I began to read this, I wasn't prepared for just how good he was. The twenty tales, apparently narrated by the same character, draw largely on the same group of lowlifes, hoodlums, dolls and eccentrics that hang around Broadway. Almost all of them are known by nicknames: Harry The Horse, Dave the Dude, Good Time Charlie, to name but a few, although Death House Donegan takes some beating.
The stories come over as a cross between 'Goodfellas', 'Only Fools And Horses' and 'Tales Of The Unexpected'. Most of them are hilarious. Halfway through 'Madame La Gimp' I had to pause, I was crying so much with laughter at the thought of these characters impersonating high-ranking officials in order to impress a visiting European. Runyon's methods of description ('a doll who was four feet high and five feet wide') are merciless and vivid. His narrator also has a habit of making a simple point comically long-winded. The stories are often a little absurd, yet realistic. There's the retired safecracker, for instance, who is cajoled into doing one more job while worrying what his wife will say if he leaves the baby unattended, and resolves his dilemma in an unthinkable way.
What is also striking about these stories is their finality. Most short stories are character snapshots at a moment of change without a conclusive ending, but all of Runyon's have emphatic endings which make them more satisfying. The slang is occasionally awkward, but a little thought usually suffices; a gun is usually termed an 'equalizer'; a nose is a 'beezer'; and my favourite, used only once, is the electric chair, described as 'the old warm squativoo'.
I have read volumes of short stories by several acclaimed users of the form, including Raymond Carver and William Trevor, but I've never enjoyed any as much as this one.
The stories come over as a cross between 'Goodfellas', 'Only Fools And Horses' and 'Tales Of The Unexpected'. Most of them are hilarious. Halfway through 'Madame La Gimp' I had to pause, I was crying so much with laughter at the thought of these characters impersonating high-ranking officials in order to impress a visiting European. Runyon's methods of description ('a doll who was four feet high and five feet wide') are merciless and vivid. His narrator also has a habit of making a simple point comically long-winded. The stories are often a little absurd, yet realistic. There's the retired safecracker, for instance, who is cajoled into doing one more job while worrying what his wife will say if he leaves the baby unattended, and resolves his dilemma in an unthinkable way.
What is also striking about these stories is their finality. Most short stories are character snapshots at a moment of change without a conclusive ending, but all of Runyon's have emphatic endings which make them more satisfying. The slang is occasionally awkward, but a little thought usually suffices; a gun is usually termed an 'equalizer'; a nose is a 'beezer'; and my favourite, used only once, is the electric chair, described as 'the old warm squativoo'.
I have read volumes of short stories by several acclaimed users of the form, including Raymond Carver and William Trevor, but I've never enjoyed any as much as this one.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Almost better than the musical
It was inevitable that watching a slew of musicals would lead to me searching out the books that inspired them. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Emma McDonald
the book to read
this is one of the best books I have read in a long time - the short stories are beautifully crafted with surprising endings and sometimes a moral basis - the style is evocative... Read more
Published 23 months ago by JGD
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