367. The Postman Always Rings Twice

The Postman Always Rings Twice
James M. Cain
1934
Around 120 pages

Tale as old as time, or at least, as old as Therese Raquin. After Henry Miller, it's quite nice to read a coherent story that doesn't focus on flatulence and vaginas. Instead, we get a story that could really be written in any genre. This time, we get the hard-boiled version.

Frank Chambers is a drifter who stops at a rural California diner for a meal. The diner is owned by an old Greek guy, and his much younger wife Cora. Frank and Cora fall in love and decide not to go the expensive divorce route.

This is a prototypical hard-boiled story. The way that the entire narrative is framed as a confession, the hot dame that turns alcoholics into killers, the inevitable betrayals. So the predictability might be boring to some people, but I enjoyed the ride. Cora actually felt like a real person instead of just some male fantasy. Well, mostly.

It was also a nice departure from the tough as nails detective telling the story to a different sort of narrator. The Listmakers are so obsessed with this story, it's on the movie list as well. Twice.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted as a film seven times. 

Dorothy Parker, on the novel: "Well, there's all sorts of stuff written about what kind of novel it is—it seems to baffle these critics as they keep trying to label it. But to me it's a love story and that's all it is." The Queen hath spoken.

UP NEXT: Novel with Cocaine by M. Ageyev. Sounds straightforward.

366. Tropic of Cancer

Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller
1934
Around 320 pages

I tried to have good mindset going into this one. I have read Tropic of Capricorn before, so I knew what I was getting into. But we have a lot of post modernism ahead of us, so I did my best to drop my 'tude and read it like it was a very long poem. A poem that is hellbent on grossing us out.

Um, let's see what I can recall in terms of plot. It seems autobiographical, Henry Miller has disgusting friends and has sex with women. Only he's not mature enough to use the word "women." He makes the every day into something gross. 

I guess this was revolutionary, since so many countries banned it. I can see it being exciting for teenagers stuck in Pleasantville, who are just learning what sex is. On the other hand, it's nothing that John Cleland, Rabelais, and James Joyce haven't covered already, much as I wish they didn't. 

There's a place for novels like this, but I hope it's far away from me.

RATING: -----

Interesting Facts:

In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the book non-obscene. I'm really getting sick of those guys.

On why the book is named Tropic of Cancer: "It was because to me cancer symbolized the disease of civilization, the endpoint of the wrong path, the necessity to change course radically, to start completely over from scratch." Oh, get a grip.

UP NEXT: The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

365. A Handful of Dust

A Handful of Dust
Evelyn Waugh
1934
Around 310 pages

Evelyn and I haven't always been on the best terms, mostly because he can be a dull writer and I think it's weird he married somebody also named Evelyn. But I have to give credit where credit is due, this novel did not go in the direction I thought it would.

Tony Last is happy living in his ugly ancestral home with his son John Andrew, but his wife Brenda is pretty miserable. Brenda starts an affair with somebody not that great, I suppose she wants a story for herself. Tony is ridiculously ignorant of the affair until it is spelled out for him, and he eventually takes a mid-life crisis trip to South America. Then things take a pretty wild turn.

Like Fitzgerald, Waugh really is capable of acute self reflection, which is probably why he was so unhappy. The characters weren't necessarily realistic; I think Brenda was demonized and Tony was martyred, which is probably due in large part to it being from He-Evelyn's perspective. 

I did enjoy the deliciously dark ending that satisfied the horror fan in me.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to the radio, stage, and film.

Based on Waugh's own experience traveling to South America.

UP NEXT: Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. Another Henry, and a very crude one at that.

364. Tender is the Night

Tender is the Night
F. Scott Fitzgerald
1934
Around 315 pages

If every author is writing the same book over and over again, trying to get it right, theoretically their last book should be their best. That is certainly true with Tender is The Night, which Fitzgerald clearly put his heart and soul into. Too bad it is frequently overshadowed by The Great Gatsby, as this is the vastly superior work.

Dick and Nicole Driver are a glamorous couple who rent a villa in Southern France, and surround themselves with other expat hotties. Rosemary Hoyt, a 17-year-old actress, is staying with her mother in a nearby resort. Rosemary becomes infatuated with both Nicole and Dick, and picks up on the fact that the couple is not stable. Dick has a drinking problem and Nicole is struggling with mental illness. Sound like anybody we know?

Fitzgerald poured himself into this story, and it's obvious he's offering us a sad reflection on his life. Why can't two hot rich people in France be happy? What is it about the human condition that we can make it so difficult for ourselves? Of course, Fitzgerald doesn't have the answers to these questions, but he is capable of painting a compelling portrait of two people who exist to destroy each other, like every great love story should be.

I agree with Fitzgerald that this is the novel he should be remembered for. A masterpiece.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

The title is taken from the poem "Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats.

Fitzgerald considered the novel his masterwork. 

Rosemary Hoyt was based on 17-year-old Lois Moran, who Fitzgerald had an affair with. Zelda set fire to her expensive clothing in a bathtub in revenge. 

UP NEXT: A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh. More Waugh. Yay.

363. Thank You, Jeeves

Thank You, Jeeves
P.G. Wodehouse
1934
Around 230 pages

It feels a bit twisted to adore a book that uses blackface as a major plot point, even if we do try to put ourselves in the mindset of a white British guy from the 1930s. But damn, is Wodehouse charming and disarming. But it's a weird choice from the Listmakers, who could have simply chosen a different Bertie Wooster adventure. I guess they didn't want us to get too charmed.

Jeeves the valet is fed up with his boss's Bertie Wooster relentless playing of the banjo ukulele, so he leaves his service to work for Lord Chuffnell, one of Bertie's old friends. Bertie travels to one of old Chuffy's cottages in Somersetshire to practice his instrument without being bothered by people with ears. Chuffy hopes to sell his rundown manor to J.Washburn Stoker. He is also in love with Pauline, Stoker's daughter and Bertie's former fiancee. Chuffy wants Bertie's blessing to propose to Pauline. Misunderstandings ensue.

Bertie and Jeeves are fascinating characters. On the one hand, you have Bertie, who is the epitome of the man that fears marriage above all else, and hilariously lampoons the British lords we keep hearing about. On the other hand, we have Jeeves, whose influence cannot be minimized (where would we be without Ask Jeeves?). They are almost Shakespearean in their banter, and I loved it.

Wodehouse's mastery of language is clear in the way he plays with his words and puns. An excellent break from the more serious novels on the List, even if the race stuff is handled in a 1934 way.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Blackface performances were popular at the time Wodehouse was writing this novel. At the time, Al Jolson, Bing Crosby and Shirley Temple were among the many actors who performed in blackface. Ick.

UP NEXT: Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. My favorite Fitzgerald.

362. Call It Sleep

Call It Sleep
Henry Roth
1934
Around 460 pages

There sure are a lot of Henrys on this List. Henry Roth almost sounds like a name you would come up with if you were floundering to come up with a real author at a fancy cocktail party. Alas, Henry Roth is very real, and very disturbing.

Call It Sleep tells the story of a Galician Jewish immigrant family in the slums of New York. David Schearl, a six year old boy, has a loving relationship with his mother Genya, but is routinely terrorized by his father Albert. They are soon joined by his mother's sister Bertha, who is coarse, gross, and entirely repulsive to Albert. David eventually meets Leo, an older Catholic boy, who takes advantage of David's affection in the cruelest of ways.

The characters in this novel are so creepy, and David's life is so bleak, that this is a hard novel to get through. Albert made me feel like I was reading an Emile Zola novel again, where the father is an abusive and monstrous boar who makes the entire household miserable. 

The heavy religious themes didn't do much for me, but obviously my heart hurt for David. Interesting to get a Jewish novel on here.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Out of print for nearly 30 years.

UP NEXT: Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse. This is a fun one!

361. Miss Lonelyhearts

Miss Lonelyhearts
Nathanael West
1933
Around 210 pages

It's the Great Depression, so get ready to live in the sunken place. Not that we haven't read depressing novels before, but they have mostly been about dying in war, not having the economy crash. So get ready for sadness's new flavor.

Miss Lonelyhearts is an unnamed newspaper columnist tasked with writing a newspaper column for the lovelorn and lonely. Which would have totally been me before the invention of dating apps. Miss Lonelyhearts shimself is a pill, who is desperately trying to find meaning in his life, through religion or beating women. His editor Shrike, frequently pranks him and feeds into the notion that everything is awful always.

Certainly not an optimistic book, nor a particularly pleasant novel for those of us who actually like women, art, or media in general. It is an interesting example of detournement, for those of us who like learning about big words and movements outside of university. Unpleasant, and skippable.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into multiple films, an opera, and a Broadway play.

UP NEXT: Call It Sleep by Henry Roth

360. Murder Must Advertise

Murder Must Advertise
Dorothy Sayers
1933
Around 360 pages

I feel like the List looks down at mystery novels, so we don't see them very often. But at the heart of every great novel is a mystery, so I don't have any such snobberies (I have plenty of others though). It takes a real craftswoman to put together a story as intricately designed as this one. 

This is actually the eighth entry in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, which might send the purists into a tailspin, where they have to read the first seven novels before tackling this one. Good thing I'm so normal and non obsessive. But the only thing you need to know is that Lord Peter Wimsey is a rich English gentleman, who solves mysteries for his own amusement. Pym's Publicity Ltd has recently been rocked by a mysterious death. Junior copywriter Victor Dean fell down the office's iron spiral staircase, making no attempt to save himself on the fall down. His replacement, Death Bredon, finds a half-finished letter in Dean's desk to his boss, saying something "undesirable" has been going on in the office. Hmmmmmmmm.

Why are the plot of Sayers' novels so much easier to follow than the adventures of Sam Spade? I think there is more talent there. We are back to the Holmes-style detective, and honestly, I can't get enough of these stories. It's fun to guess the culprit and see how all of the subtly planted clues pay off in the ending. Highly recommended.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Sayers worked as an advertising copywriter until 1931.

Sayers hated the book. Girl, you are too hard on yourself!

UP NEXT: Miss Lonely Hearts by Nathanael West

359. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
Gertrude Stein
1933
Around 310 pages

Gertrude Stein is in love, and now we all must suffer. I think Stein is a very dull writer, and the jig was up pretty early that this was Gertrude writing, not Alice. Alice herself is not a very fascinating subject. She hung on the arm of Gertrude and was privy to the salons of the 1920s. Big deal, who wasn't?

"Alice" tells stories of the artists of the period, including Henri Matisse, Guillaume Apollinaire, and Pablo Picasso. Unfortunately, she does not delve into the juicier aspects of her relationship with Stein. I guess every book can't be a Sarah Waters' novel.

She also discusses The Making of the Americans which is one of the worst novels the List has made me read. So despite my Pittsburgh bond with Gertie, I would label this skippable.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Ernest Hemingway called it "a damn pitiful book."

Alice never thought it would be a success. That's so Alice.

UP NEXT: Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers. She's been mentioned in several List books lately. Now we get to see what all the fuss was about.

358. Testament of Youth

Testament of Youth
Vera Brittain
1933
Around 688 pages

We've heard plenty of accounts from men during World War I, so it's interesting to get a woman's perspective from this era as well. It seems like being a woman during this time largely consisted of sitting around, waiting to hear if your loved one is dead yet.

Testament of Youth is a memoir of Brittain's life from 1900 to 1925. Are we allowing memoirs on the List? Is this even a novel? Oh well. Brittain originally plans on attending Oxford, but becomes a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse instead, once her life is directly affected by the Great War. It also describes her time at university and her attempts to become a respected journalist. 

We have now reached the era where authors can properly reflect on the War since it is finally over. Brittain is a very sympathetic narrator. The "disillusioned youth" is a common motif on this List, but Brittain manages to really make it fresh through her hopes and goals. We also get a frightening glimpse at how female writers were treated at the time. 

A long, but worthwhile read.

RATING: ***-

Interesting Facts:

First installment of Brittain's memoirs, which continue with The Testament of Friendship and The Testament of Experience.

UP NEXT: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein. Snore.