Norwood (Audible Audio Edition) Charles Portis Barrett Whitener Inc Blackstone Audio Books
Download As PDF : Norwood (Audible Audio Edition) Charles Portis Barrett Whitener Inc Blackstone Audio Books
Out of the American neon desert of Roller Dromes, chili parlors, country music, and girls who want “to live in a trailer and play records all night” comes ex-marine and troubadour Norwood Pratt.
Sent on a mission to New York he gets involved in a wild journey that takes him in and out of stolen cars, freight trains, and buses. By the time he returns home to Texas, Norwood has met his true love, Rita Lee, on a bus; befriended the second shortest midget in show business and “the world's smallest perfect fat man”; and helped Joann “the chicken with a college education,” realize her true potential in life. As with all Portis’ fiction, the tone is cool, sympathetic, and funny.Norwood (Audible Audio Edition) Charles Portis Barrett Whitener Inc Blackstone Audio Books
This book is a little gem. It's possible that you have to come from the South U.S. to totally get all the full chicken richness of Portis, but I'm betting not. Anyone with an ear for writerly fiction should get frequent little thrills from the unique narrating voice. It's not a big book, it's not a deep book, but... it's a great little book.BTW, there was a wonderfully bad film adaptation of Norwood. Neither Glenn Campbell nor Joe Namath will be remembered for their acting skills, but young Kim Darby shines here, as she does in another film adaptation of a Portis novel, the 1969 True Grit.
The book is sweet and it's fun. It's a great time capsule at the sixties... from a rural, non-flower-child perspective... and it's certainly memorable. The narrating voice is truly masterful.
If you grew up with a connection to the rural south, circa 1950's or 1960's, or if you are a fiction writer or fiction devotee with an interest in voice, you really need to give this book a try. And, if you don't fall into either of those categories, you might still enjoy it.
Product details
|
Tags : Amazon.com: Norwood (Audible Audio Edition): Charles Portis, Barrett Whitener, Inc. Blackstone Audio: Books, ,Charles Portis, Barrett Whitener, Inc. Blackstone Audio,Norwood,Blackstone Audio, Inc.,B000C1X8AG
People also read other books :
- The Spirit of Qualitative Research Lecture One Swimming in the Rainforest eBook Gary Shank
- The Millionaire Baby (Audible Audio Edition) Anna Katharine Green Dawn Larsen SAGA Egmont Books
- Bosquejos selectos para predicar al corazón Spanish Edition edition by Lyle A Thomson Jay E Adams Religion Spirituality eBooks
- Vilox Spanish Edition Sophie Saint Rose Sonia López Rodríguez Books
- British History in 50 Events From First Immigration to Modern Empire (Audible Audio Edition) James Weber Damien Connolly Books
Norwood (Audible Audio Edition) Charles Portis Barrett Whitener Inc Blackstone Audio Books Reviews
I first read Norwood when I was about ten years old, and I laughed out loud at just about every page, and couldn't resist reading passages aloud to anyone in earshot. I finished reading the new edition weeks shy of my fortieth birthday and it still has the stuff. Here's an example. Norwood is getting ready to leave town, and he has given his sister, Vernell, permission to drive his car, but not her husband, Bill Bird
Vernell thought this was unfair. "Bill can drive a car all right."
"Naw he can't."
"He can too. He's just used to an automatic transmission."
"Uh huh."
"Bill can drive as good as I can."
"Well, you can't drive either. The only thing is, you're my sister. I might as well turn my car over to a rabbit."
"You'd have to get special extensions for the pedals," said Bill Bird.
I really am having a hard time trying to figure out something to say about NORWOOD that will be sufficiently complimenatary. I guess I will say that, if you have ever read any book of any sort and liked it, you will probably like NORWOOD as well or better. That ought to do it.
Norwood Pratt, our ex marine hero, hails from Ralph, Texas. Now don't get the idea that he lives out in the boonies somewhere; Ralph is not too far distant from that bigger city, Texarkana. Ralph's a bit jaded with his job at the Nipper gas station, and somehwhat claustrophobic living in the same small house with his sister Vernell and her husband Bill Bird. Thus we collect a $70 debt owed by a fellow marine.
Norwood gets to the big city via car and freight train, and then finds that his buddy has moved back to his home around Memphis. Now on a bus journey, Norwood gradually assembles an entourage of a young woman, a midget, and an educated chicken. Does Norwood collect his debt? It doesn't matter. The money owed is a Hitchcockian McGuffin; it's our travels with Norwood that really matter.
It's a funny book that provides us with the company of an interesting group of simple, small town folk. Mind you they are mostly decent folk, and Mr. Portis doesn't put them down. In fact you get to learn some new aphorisms such as, "Don't let your mouth write a check that you're ass can't cash." It's a slender volume with wide margins that can be read quickly; more like an extended novella - if such a thing exists. If you have a rusting '57 Hudson in your front yard you will feel totally at home with Norwood.
Although this was Portis' first novel I did not discover it until I had read some of his later work. His first attempt did not let me down. Portis is a genuis. His books should be mandatory reading in highschool. This may be my favorite of his Novels but that may be due to it being the most recent one I have read. I know own and have read all of his Novels and Escape Volocity which is a collection of his newspaper and magazine articles, and basically anything he wrote. This work is relatively short and I read it cover to cover in one sitting while on an airplane. I found myself laughing out loud in public as I consumed it.
Classic, sharp Portis. Lots of little things you don't think will go anywhere, but might. You might go back and forth between liking and not liking Norwood throughout the book, but that's part of his charm. If you've read his other work you'll see the prototype for the types of protagonists he always centered his novels on here - but other than that, you could have told me this was his last book instead of one of his first and I would have believed you.
Norwood begins with a premise and a plotline. From there it meanders, much like its title character. Then it doesn't conclude, but slams shut. It's as though Portis got bored and simply stopped writing.
Please don't take that to mean I didn't enjoy this book. Charles Portis is a master of snappy dialog, and engages a quirky prose that will keep you reading and not want the book to end. In fact, that's why I only gave it four stars - I'd have liked to find out more about each character and their fate. What happened to Edmund? Do Norwood and Rita Lee end up married? How about Miss Phillips? Each one of the characters could easily have their own novel of exploits.
The most entertaining aspect of Norwood is that you expect something...and it doesn't happen. I enjoy books that frustrate me by not being predictable. And that is the point of this review, so the reader doesn't go into the book thinking it's something it's not. Norwood is not even close to True Grit, which I consider to be a masterpiece of literature. Rather than mission-based, Norwood is more of an amiable wander. An episode. Almost a cliffhanger. With no other installments that I'm aware of, darn it all.
This book is a little gem. It's possible that you have to come from the South U.S. to totally get all the full chicken richness of Portis, but I'm betting not. Anyone with an ear for writerly fiction should get frequent little thrills from the unique narrating voice. It's not a big book, it's not a deep book, but... it's a great little book.
BTW, there was a wonderfully bad film adaptation of Norwood. Neither Glenn Campbell nor Joe Namath will be remembered for their acting skills, but young Kim Darby shines here, as she does in another film adaptation of a Portis novel, the 1969 True Grit.
The book is sweet and it's fun. It's a great time capsule at the sixties... from a rural, non-flower-child perspective... and it's certainly memorable. The narrating voice is truly masterful.
If you grew up with a connection to the rural south, circa 1950's or 1960's, or if you are a fiction writer or fiction devotee with an interest in voice, you really need to give this book a try. And, if you don't fall into either of those categories, you might still enjoy it.
0 Response to "⋙ PDF Norwood (Audible Audio Edition) Charles Portis Barrett Whitener Inc Blackstone Audio Books"
Post a Comment