- Hardcover: 1056 pages
- Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T) (Sep 1979)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0316544175
- ISBN-13: 978-0316544177
- Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16.5 x 5.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 606,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Mailer's tour de force. This monster book (+1000 pages long)tells the true story of an intelligent convict on parole in 1976, falling into his bad ways, and meets destiny calmly.
Mailer tells the story as an old Greek bard - in the end, it seems the only way things could have happened. Mailer gets into the skin of most people involved or related, describes their feelings (perfectly understable), measures the impact on America (wow! a convicted killer demands a right to die, overruling his own defence, apparently supporting the idea behind the penal code etc).
The other main storyline is oddly a love affair (also factual, not fictional) between the convicted and a girl. It is essetially a story of two social drop outs, two drifters but nevertheless really 'gelling' to use a modern term.
Doesn't bore for one bit. Good story on the madness of the US criminal system, the criminals, their families, their victims the press. In a way it shows that people in the end care (mainly about their own interests) and at the same time be totally careless, cyanical. Makes you think about society.
Of course, Mailer being Mailer, a lot of sex, drugs and violence are on the pages, but do not dominate the story.
The whole thing just takes you by the hand & after the 1000-odd pages, a big sigh & many thoughts pass.
Recommended.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The executioners song is a compelling tale of one mans desire to end his own life and change the lives of many more forever.
A convicted murderer who had spent many years behind bars tasted freedom, vices and love. Throws them away along with the lives of his family and lover. He continues to control and dominate his lover to the point of her ending her life. He expresses an enormous desire to receive his just reward for killing innocent men and escape forever his torment of prison.
The story doesn't go into why he spent many years in prison prior to being released on parole. This element of his life may have had some impact as to why he did what he did later. The ardous battle with his family and lawyers for him to escape from his prison life ahead of him is compelling. The impact that his actions had on America is unbelievable. His words of just do it explain his casual approach to murder and death but did he do it for attention? The lives of so many have been affected and those close to him are the only ones who can say.
I have read this masterpiece over the last nine years and each time understand a little more. Would his suicide have affected the rest of America as his execution? Control freak or coward? More questions will be raised, reading may supply the answer.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This jaw-dropping book recieves less than flattering reviews because for some reason people want to be spoon-fed "answers" all the time to people like Gary Gilmore. What Mailer delivers instead is a truly outstanding feat of journalism, far surpassing any fiction, by painstakingly building Gilmores story from thousands of discrete, taut, unsentimental blocks of prose - allowing us to cement them together and giving us room to think for ourselves. Readers expecting Mailer to provide plot, climax, titillation, shocking details or answers as to "why" will rightly be bored, and have missed the point. Mailers neutral measured prose provides just the right angle of entry into a life that was devoid of plot and reason, just action and reaction. It is a clear white light cutting through the interests whose story he tells so skilfully in this book. Yes the length does not help, and you should do yourself a big favour take it on holiday and read it in a long hard week. But do it with an open mind and you will be infinitely rewarded... and glad you did. Unique, and to be treasured.
Once you've read this, grab more gems of late 20th c. American journalism - start with Hunter S Thompsons "The Great Shark Hunt" and Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test".
Once you've read this, grab more gems of late 20th c. American journalism - start with Hunter S Thompsons "The Great Shark Hunt" and Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test".
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Norman Mailer
The book was a Christmas present for my son. He said it was easier to read than his first thoughts on viewing such a thick book. He enjoyed the narrative Thank you.
Published 4 months ago by Pat Newton
A classic
Absolutely one of the most amazing novels in the English language, Norman Mailer was on fire with this one. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Jack
Worthy but tedious
I like Mailer. Good writer and has a lot to say about the world we live in. But this one is awfully dull. Talk about the 'banality of evil'! Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2009 by Kevin Pork
Good but very long
This is a good book, quite interesting. I didn't know anything about Gary Gilmore other than the song about his eyes before this, I now feel I know more than enough. Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2008 by PJ Sturdee
The 1000-page song
`The Executioner's Song` was one of two non-fiction works, along with `Armies of the Night`, that won Norman Mailer the Pulitzer Prize. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2008 by Demob Happy
A brilliant read!
I read this book never wanting it to end. The account of the life and crimes of Gary Gilmore is expertly written. Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2008 by K. Maw
The Executioner`s Song is lo-o-o-o-o-o-ng
I agree with earlier reviewers that this book is far too long, especially the second half dealing with all the mundane legal and media business. Read more
Published on 6 April 2007 by Sarah
Limited appeal
So, The Executioner`s Song won the Pulitzer Prize, but I suspect that may have been in recognition of Norman Mailer`s exhaustive research and all the time and effort he put into... Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2007 by Dr Frank
Overrated; the book AND Gary Gilmore
It`s a book people will either love or hate.
[...]
A 300 to 350-page book on the subject might have worked, but, unfortunately, Mailer`s account is just so long and... Read more
[...]
A 300 to 350-page book on the subject might have worked, but, unfortunately, Mailer`s account is just so long and... Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2007 by Nick
Too much information!
The first 300 or so pages are readable enough, but once Gilmore has been arrested and incarcerated, the book gets increasingly tedious. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2007 by James
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