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The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and Selected Stories (Everyman's Library Classics & Contemporary Classics) Hardcover – 1 Jul 2003

by James M Cain (Author), Robert Polito (Introduction)

53 customer reviews

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(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)These three classics from the master of the noir novel, along with five otherwise unavailable short stories, are electric with the taut narrative voice, the suspense, and the explosive violence and eroticism that were James M. Cain's indelible hallmarks.The Postman Always Rings Twice, Cain's first novel-the subject of an obscenity trial in Boston, the inspiration for Camus's The Stranger-is the fever-pitched tale of a drifter who stumbles into a job, into an erotic obsession, and into a murder. Double Indemnity-which followed Postman so quickly, Cain's readers hardly had a chance to catch their breath-is a tersely narrated story of blind passion, duplicity, and, of course, murder. Mildred Pierce, a work of acute psychological observation and devastating emotional violence, is the tale of a woman with a taste for shiftless men and an unreasoned devotion to her monstrous daughter. All three novels were immortalized in classic Hollywood films. Also included here are five masterful stories-"Pastorale," "The Baby in the Icebox," "Dead Man," "Brush Fire," "The Girl in the Storm"-that have been out of print for decades.

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Product details

Hardcover: 632 pages
Publisher: Everyman's Library (1 July 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 037541438X
ISBN-13: 978-0375414381
Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 3.4 x 21 cm
Average Customer Review: 53 customer reviews
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 536,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2364 in Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Hard-Boiled
- #43520 in Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Mystery
- #309958 in Books > Fiction

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Review

"[James M. Cain is] a poet of the tabloid murder." -Edmund Wilson

"Nobody has quite pulled it off the way Cain does, not Hemingway, and not even Raymond Chandler." -Tom Wolfe

"Mr. Cain is a real writer who can construct and tell an exciting story with dazzling swiftness . . . [his] work has a fast rhythm that is art." -Saturday Review of Literature

"Cain can get down to the primary impulses of greed and sex in fewer words than any writer we know of." -New York Times

From the Inside Flap

These three classics from the master of the noir novel, along with five otherwise unavailable short stories, are electric with the taut narrative voice, the suspense, and the explosive violence and eroticism that were James M. Cain's indelible hallmarks.
The Postman Always Rings Twice," Cain's first novel--tried for obscenity in Boston, the inspiration for Camus's The Stranger--is the fever-pitched tale of a drifter who stumbles into a job, into an obsessional passion, and into a murder. Double Indemnity--which followed "Postman so quickly, Cain's readers hardly had a chance to catch their breath--is a tersely narrated story of a blind, excessive love, duplicity, and, of course, murder. Mildred Pierce, a work of acute psychological observation and devastating emotional violence, is the tale of a woman with a taste for shiftless men and an unreasoned devotion to her monstrous daughter. All three novels were immortalized in classic Hollywood films. Also included here are five masterful stories--"Pastorale," "The Baby in the Icebox," "Dead Man," "Brush Fire," "The Girl in the Storm"--that have been out of print for decades.

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Martin Jones

Detective fiction where the detective sees nothing

3 June 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

James M. Cain wrote The Postman Always Rings Twice in 1934, during the golden age of crime fiction, when the detective heroes of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers were busy solving crimes. The Postman Always Rings Twice is also crime fiction but with a significant innovation. There is wrongdoing, there are clues, and there is interpretation, but the central character is not an all-seeing detective. Instead, we see things from the point of view of Frank Chambers, a young, rootless American who arrives at a down-at-heel Californian diner one day, and becomes ensnared in a situation which leads to murder. Through Frank’s eyes, we see clever legal people interpreting events to suit themselves, to meet the needs of their petty professional rivalries and personal greed. There is no sense that these are clear-sighted seekers of truth. Through Frank, we see a world where everyone is trying to create their own story, and where life itself enjoys writing its own ambivalent twists, sending along cats or other interruptions to disrupt best-laid plans.

The fact that Frank is not a typically articulate legal expert adds another dimension to the story. Beautiful writing is always an achievement. To write beautifully through the words of an ordinary man who feels his words “ought to be fixed up a little, for punctuation and all that,” is even more impressive. It’s another aspect of this accessible yet intricate masterpiece, in which James M. Cain artfully explores falsehood and fate through the words of an ordinary man trying to tell his unvarnished truth.

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Yes

Fast-paced crime classic

29 November 2012

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is a really great book. Its very short, without a single wasted word and if you've seen the two film versions, then you're in for some shocks. Can't reveal too much, as it might spoil it for the 'uninitiated'.

What's truly fascinating for me now, while reading it, is working out how and why David Mamet made the critical choices he did for his 1980s screenplay featuring Jack Nicholson & Jessica Lange.

I've seen sections of the Lana Turner version (lipstick scene most notably), but its just too dated for my taste: I want tables, unbaked bread and flour everywhere!

In case you're interested, the book was favourably reviewed on the book show for The World Service, by that woman with the deep voice - whatshername? - which prompted me to download the printed version.

(The Jack Nicholson screen version is in my top 5 all-time best movies.)

Adios People !

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Page Turner

Still disarmingly fresh after 70 years

12 August 2007

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I have come late to the world of James M Cain, having found him amongst the interviewees in "The Paris Review Interviews, volume 1" itself one of the must-reads of 2007. I'm sure I was not alone in knowing him only by virtue of those novels which have been successfully transposed onto the big screen.

Even allowing for the fact that his style has been much imitated since, his texts still leave the reader reeling from the casual and callous brutality which inhabits the social sub-stratum in which his characters move. Like his contemporary Runyon, with whom he shares a similar style, Cain began life as a journalist and that discipline must be credited for honing his prose as well as serving up the seeds of some of his best stories.

There's even less about postmen in this novel than there is about cuckoos in Ken Kesey's masterwork, Cain instead taking the staple of the love triangle and overlaying a morally empty tragedy of his own making. His crisp, unsparing dialogue moves the story - at 116 pages really a novella - at a fast pace and brings the reader uncomfortably close to the anxieties which spring from his protagonists' criminal escapades.

The age of the story is only betrayed in Cain's attitude towards women and racial minority groups and that aspect of this work only serves to illustrate the speed of progress on that front in the twentieth century.

Comment 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

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Cherry Blossom

Don't no why I waited so long to read this ...

7 June 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Don't no why I waited so long to read this book, what can I say only its a real classic only fault is that it isn't long enough a must have book. If this helped in any way please give it a helpful vote.

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Yes

MC-KSA

Hard Boiled - One of the best examples

14 July 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

TPT is a perfect book for those who do not have a lot of time or perhaps prefer to complete a book in one or two sittings. I bought it before a 6 hour flight and it was a perfect travelling companion. Within the first few pages the book grips you and it never lets up.

This book would not be suitable for those who enjoy long evocative descriptions of landscape or deep psychological profiles. The sentences are short, the wiritng is simple and the story itself is at times brutal, cruel and ultimately sad. Characters with very little to lose act on impulse without thinking through fully the consequences (moral and otherwise) of their actions. Although there is a twist of sorts at the end, you know very early on that this is not going to be a story with a happy ending for anyone.

I gave it 4 stars out of 5 because I wouldn't class this book as great literature but it is certainly one of the best examples of the hard-boiled genre.

I also read 'Double Indemnity' which is also exellent but I much preferred TPT.

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John Garlington

Good but not consistent

11 October 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

The first third was intriguing and entertaining. The second lacked interest for me. The third seemed from a slightly different narrative. Cora became a more sympathetic character, much more than the others ever were. The test of a novel's greatness is whether it is worth a second reading. I won't be reading this book again

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Dotty Coetzee

Did he do it

3 January 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I love this mastermind storytelling. It gripped me by my little toes and spun me around the room all night until I put the book down just now. Sometimes there should not be an end to a story! Riveting stuff!

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John Scott Hardie

The Postman Always Rings Twice

3 December 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Short American book with affairs and murder but no postman.
Set in 1920s California.
An easy enough read but worth reading.

Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

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Most recent customer reviews

Reading Badger

THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE – A BESTSELLER THAT DIDN’T GET TO ME

So the book presents the main character, by the name of Frank Chambers, from the first paragraph. He is a drifter with no perspective who arrives to a restaurant owned by the...Read more

Published 1 month ago

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Thank you.

Published 4 months ago

Keith

Gritty and fast paced

I did actually think it was about postmen. So glad it wasn't though. Great characters from the outset and a very easy to read short book.Read more

Published 8 months ago

JMaxfield

Exciting fast paced novella

James M. Cain's novella is fast paced witty and extremely readable. I have seen some comments that this novel is pretty rubbish or that there are similar stories out there - but...Read more

Published 1 year ago

Dan Smith

You Should.

It's an amazing book; brisk deep and forgiving all at the same time. To get all multi-media on you; I heard about the Bob Rafelson film but didn't know the book - saw the Bob...Read more

Published 1 year ago

mmarka

A classic classic

Punchy, stripped down narrative that set the style for subsequent American crime fiction. Protagonists have few redeeming qualities in this Biblical tale of good and evil

Published on 4 April 2016

Hamish Adam

A huge literary achievement

I came to James M. Cain via Raymond Chandler. I was curious to study the origins of Chandler's writing style and initially read some Dashiell Hammett who wrote 'The Maltese...Read more

Published on 3 April 2016

John Fagan

Four Stars

Good read but much prefer the John Garfield film.

Published on 4 February 2016

Kes

A good read

The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James M Cain.

A 1934 crime fiction short novel... where a well meaning, likeable Greek diner owner gets bumped off by a drifter and...Read more

Published on 28 December 2015

Eric A Schuss

Two Stars

Pretty rubbishy, although couldn't put it down.

Published on 22 November 2015

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The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and Selected Stories (Everyman's Library Classics & Contemporary Classics) Hardcover – 1 Jul 2003

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