Herlihy's gift to American literature was this novel. Though the rest of his work is less remarkable, the author created a special vision of American life in Midnight Cowboy. Herlihy's reputation was founded on his ability to write about "grotesqueries" in an authentic voice, and nowhere is this talent better illustrated than in the exploits of Joe Buck and Ratso Rizzo. The novel is full of contrasting elements that go to...
0Report
Our pop culture offers us numerous, superficial views of lives lived like sit-coms or melodramas, clothed in Gap attire, well-groomed and comfortably normal. Here is a compassionate story of friendship among two fringe dwellers, ugly on the surface, and whom few would deign to look at in passing on the street. Joe Buck is a young, dumb narcissist who believes he can take New York by storm as a stud sought after by rich, lonely...
0Report
Great as the film is, Herlihy's book is even greater. Joe Buck, the naive Cowboy with dreams of making it big selling himself to the women of New York City, comes off better via the written word. What the book drives home so well is Joe Buck's thorough feeling of loneliness, and filling that void in the most unlikely place, and in the company of the most unlikely character. The "country boy goes to the cold, sprawling metropolis"...
0Report
I have just re-read Midnight Cowboy after reading it for the first time back in 1969, when the movie came out. I was startled once again by the gritty, desperate telling of Joe Buck's story. Joe is a complete loser, incredibly stupid, and seems to have no dignity. If anything, he becomes even more of an invisible non-person once he hits 42nd St. Things change when he pairs up with Ratso, a crippled swindler who is, perhaps,...
0Report
The movie was great, but the book WAS better. Joe Buck leaves his native New Mexico to "lasso Manhattan" Along the way he suffers the problems and indignations that many who come to the big city with a few dollars and no viable plan do. Buck meets up with local swindler Rico "Ratso" Rizzo and the two plan their adventures together. This book takes us back to a gritty, tough New York City. It creates a "Noir" mood that...
0Report