Tough Guys Don't Dance

c1984. Tough Guys Don't Dance, by Norman Mailer I must read more of his works, however this Mystery is, for me, the perfect introduction to an author deserving of the title, 'Wordsmith'. I loved this novel, mainly because not one sentence in the entire book disappointed in the least. I was also pleasantly surprised at his deftness with plot - a crazy, paranoiacal romp involving a 'wannabe' big time Eighties Drug Dealer / Playboy. The whole story revolves around the protagonist, Tim Madden, and his relationships with God, himself, other men, women, and his mother and father. It is very deep, people. At one point in his confusion and frustration, he paces to and fro, repeating, "Oh God!", "Oh man!", over and over. I will not give away the ending of the story, so you must really read it, to enjoy it as I did. Characterization - wealthy, drug crazed, Dionysus worshipping, 'Party People' from all three Coasts: East, South, West. Also, the Protagonist and other Natives of Cape Cod, Massachussetts, in the mid Eighties time frame. The author eloquently differentiates the nuances of the various characters, with beautiful, subtle contrasts. In the film based on this book, a young Ryan O'Neal plays Madden, with Isabella Rosalini playing his true love. (Movie is great, book is best). Setting - Cape Cod, Massachussetts, in the Winter, or off-season. Cape Cod is a tourist town, near Plymouth Rock. It is where Tim Madden works as a bartender, just like his father. It is where the ghosts of all the poor suffering souls of the ages call out for attention. Awesome, extremely pleasurable reading.

Mailer had said that he wanted to write something fast, nasty and fun after the time and energy he lavished on two of brilliant and more ambitious projects, Ancient Evenings and Executioner's Song. Tough Guys Don't Dance is that book, in the tradition of Chandler, Hammett, Ross Macdonald. Tim Madden wakes up after a long life of wasting away as a binging alcoholic and finds his bed drenched in blood; later he finds his wife's severed head in a secret pot stash. He, however remembers none of it, and this provides Mailer ample room to ruminate about the metaphysics of hangovers and black outs and the perversions one finds themselves willing to commit when wealth and power are at stake. The cast of characters are unruly, pinched in the nerve and casting a faint whiff of what one imagines the store room where Dorian Gray's portrait was held in sick secrecy. Madden, hardly an innocent , stumbles and routs about trying to piece together the events of his last binge, terrified in the possibility that he might well be his wife's killer. This is the most horrible of personal journeys, the saga of a man seeking evidence as to whether he's a monster or merely a hapless dupe.Mailer's prose is breathtaking and poetic, and creates a tension with the gamy undertakings of the plot. This is not one of Mailer's masterworks, not be a long shot, but it has verve and drive and a splendidly sick wit, and it reminds us that Mailer can construct an odd tale and twist it in any direction he pleases.

"Tough Guys Don't Dance" is a good old fashioned thriller set in a decaying seaside New England town inhabited by a motley assortment of wealthy elitists, drug dealers, fishermen, psychopaths, and brooding alcoholic tough guys like the hero Tim Madden. Someone has it in for Tim--a struggling novelist and former criminal. After a night of heavy drinking and quazi-amnesia, severed heads are turning up on his property and the passenger seat of his car is drenched in blood. Can he find the killer (s) before he gets blamed for the killings? Mailer builds up the suspense like a true master of mystery (even though mystery is not his primary field). There is also some fine writing in this book. It should be read aloud like poetry. More than a decade before "Pulp Fiction" Mailer knew how to mix a thrilling crime drama with interesting conversations and musings about life, love, and amature philosophy. As Tim tries to solve the mystery, he broods about ethnic and cultural differences {he is a mixture of Irish and Jewish and the town is mostly Portugese}, history {he is obsessed with the Pilgrims and other aspects of local history like "hell town" a 19th century vice district}, wives, parents and family life, cops, prison, alcohol, drugs, war and on and on. In the hands of a bad {or even average} writer, this would just get anaoying, but Mailer carries it off well.

When I started reading this novel, I thought it was quite a boring read. The story moved too slowly, the chapters were too long and Norman Mailers language was too complex. It was like reading a detective novel too ambitious for it's own good, because since the plot isn't all that complicated it could have been made much more fast paced and exciting. However, the story constantly keeps on getting better, and in the end it is Mailers skill with language and form that makes you think you have read something special, allmost important.

Although Norman Mailer himself directed the feature length film of this movie (starring his sometime sparring partner Ryan O'Neal) it would be a shame if potential readers of this powerful novel refused to give it chance because they already rented the cinematic result. I dug parts of the film, too (the casting of Lawrence Tierney as Tim Madden's father was an inspired choice) but the honest magic of the book rests, as it often does with Mailer, in the prose -- a skillfully rendered, poetic narrative with sustaining magic and spellbinding storytelling. I bought this book when I was going through my first divorce. I can attest to the self-loathing and egocentricity that such an event inspires. Now, when I present a page or two of it to my freshman English classes, I'm transported instantaneously to that difficult time, and I find myself pulling for the protagonist, even if he may be an alcoholic mass murderer. It's a more important, universally appealing book than a look at the film would lead you to believe