Some men are real thinkersÂ…
So I says to myself, “Nick,” I says, “Nick Corey, these problems of yours are driving you plumb out of your mind, so you better think of something fast. You better come to a decision, Nick Corey, or you’re gonna wish you had.”
So I thought and I thought, and then I thought some more. And finally I came to a decision.
I decided I didnÂ’t know what the heck to do.
Some men have really solid opinionsÂ…
“Because I can hardly stand the sight of you, that’s why! Because you’re stupid!”
“Well,” I said. “I ain’t sure I can agree with you, Myra. I mean, I ain’t saying you’re wrong but I ain’t saying you’re right, either. Anyways, even if I am stupid, you can’t hardly fault me for it. They’s lots of stupid people in the world.”
The story is a pure grotesqueÂ… Every word of it.
Nick Corey is an unprincipled, corrupted on all sides sheriffÂ… But he has a purposeÂ… With the help of his low cunning, lying and scheming, meanly using others as catÂ’s paws he keeps approaching his goalÂ…
I thought, well, that was at least one nail out of my cross, and maybe, if I kept on being upright and God-fearinÂ’ and never hurting no one unless it was for their good or mine, which was pretty much the same thing, why then maybe all my other problems would get straightened out as easy as this one had.
He who wants to outwit everybody ends up outsmarting himself.140 s Zain1,611 194

Captivating!

The most captivating book IÂ’ve read this year. Humorous from page to page. Entertaining from word to word.

Not surprisingly, I assumed that l would find this book utterly fascinating, satisfying, scrumptious!

Original and engaging. Need many more adjectives to describe it.

Who is this man? Who is the Sherrif of old Pottsville? HeÂ’s not the fool that he appears to be.

DonÂ’t underestimate him. HeÂ’s ten steps ahead of everyone. I wish I knew how this story ended.

I have a good idea about it. Maybe my guess is wrong, but I doubt it.

What will anyone do to stay in power? Even if in a little pond Pottsville?

Just pick up the book and see for yourself. The most heavenly book you will ever read.

IÂ’ve got to go now. Gotta give this book its five stars.

Five stars. ??????????action-thriller classic group-reads ...more136 s2 comments Orsodimondo [part time reader at the moment]2,286 2,159

COLPO DI SPUGNA


Philippe Noiret e Isabelle Huppert.

È stato il mio primo incontro con Jim Thompson, e forse quello che mi ha colpito di più, grazie anche al magnifico adattamento cinematografico di Bertrand Tavernier, candidato all’Oscar come miglior film straniero, che sposta tutta l’azione dal Texas subito prima della partecipazione americana alla Grande Guerra (1917) agli anni Trenta, e nell’Africa Occidentale coloniale francese: il film francese si chiama Coup de torchon, è del 1981, e in Italia il libro è uscito sia col titolo originale che come Colpo di spugna.


La moglie bisbetica e rompicoglioni Stéphane Audran con l’idiota del fratello-cognato Eddy Mitchell.

Nello stesso anno sull’onda dell’entusiasmo per questo primo assaggio ho letto altri romanzi di Thompson, insieme a questo i suoi più celebri: The Killer Inside Me, The Grifters, The Getaway.
Ma Pop. 1280 resta il primo e credo il mio preferito.
Pop abbrevia Population, la scritta che si legge sui cartelli di benvenuto di molte cittadine, anche italiane: e quindi, si vuole indicare che in quel posto abitano 1280 anime.
A parlare e raccontare è lo stesso protagonista Nick Corey, sceriffo della Contea di Potts in Texas, luogo che conta per l’appunto 1280 anime all’inizio del racconto. Man mano che scorrono le pagine si capisce che l’indicazione del cartello andrebbe corretta, sbaglia per eccesso: le anime che abitano a Potts sono meno di 1280 perché diverse vengono uccise.


Il film è del 1981, diretto e sceneggiato da Bertrand Tavernier.

Come uso americano, anche lo sceriffo è carica elettiva, e quindi prevede elezioni, e quindi prevede campagna elettorale. E anche se non li prevede, sicuramente include tutti i magheggi tipici del caso. Tanto più se a correre per la carica è lo stesso sceriffo in carica, il simpatico e autentico figlio di puttana Nick.
Nick ha una moglie e un paio di amanti. Non ama granché lavorare, lascia correre, chiude un occhio ogni volta che può: e se si tratta di gente che ha soldi e potere, di occhi ne chiude due, e chiude anche le orecchie e si cuce la bocca.
Data lÂ’epoca, dato il luogo, gli afroamericani, allÂ’epoca ovviamente chiamati negri, fanno le spese per tutti.


S’insegna a sparare, s’impara a sparare perché ci sarà molto da sparare e uccidere.

Nick è simpatico e all’inizio gabba il lettore, gli fa credere d’essere un burlone, ci fa ridere. Poi, con il procedere della lettura, viene sempre più fuori che si tratta di uno psicopatico, diversamente morale. E la parte in cui quello che bolliva in pentola viene fuori del tutto, il momento in la follia di Nick Corey fin qui latente si trasforma in lucida efferata violenza sono uno shock, un pugno allo stomaco che toglie il fiato.


Tra loschi individui ci si intende sempre: Philippe Noiret con Jean-Pierre Marielle e Guy Marchand.

Poi, con il procedere dei romanzi, ho capito che si tratta del marchio di fabbrica di Jim Thompson: i suoi protagonisti sono tutti bastardi immorali, spietati assassini a piede libero, che però sanno far ridere.
Per Thompson, schedato nelle liste nere del senatore MacCarthy, di spiccate simpatie socialiste, se non del tutto comuniste, i suoi personaggi erano tipici rappresentanti dellÂ’America capitalista, parti dellÂ’affarismo selvaggio, frutti della corsa al denaro.



I reckon that's the bad part of whiskey, you know? - the bad part about a loto of things. Not the indulging of 'em, but the not being able to indulge. The afterwards, when the ol' familiar taste of piss is back in your mouth, and you want to spit it out at everyone. And you think, god-dang, why for did I want to be nice to that fella? And I bet he thought I was a good-danged fool.

americana noir108 s mark monday1,747 5,544

hee haw! a rambunctious, heartwarming delight! loveable and sweet-tempered Nick Corey, Sheriff of Potts County, has more problems than you can shake a stick at. poor guy! all he wants to do is kick back and hold on to his dippity-doo-da job not-arresting people. that's not too much to ask, is it? but things are always getting him down. pimps, bitches, and in-laws - the works! what's an amiable, peace-loving soul to do? well, happily, Nick's also a Medici-level manipulator, stone-cold killer, and demented psychopath. whew, close call! Inner Maniac saves the day! or does he?

what i enjoyed most about this grotesque and mordant death-farce was how simultaneously able and unable Thompson made Nick. he IS lazy. and petty. and a maniac. but he's so much smarter than anyone else around him and he does such a good job at fooling everyone into thinking he's a useless lackwit that he becomes bizarrely appealing. well, shucks... since Nick is a hideous representation of the cold-blooded reptile mind that exists within us all (including each of the characters in this novel), i suppose i am simply responding to him on a subhuman level, reptile brain to reptile brain. right? or not. who knows, let's just say i was led a lamb right into uh oh, i'm rooting for the bad guy land.

this is a classic. bleak and misanthropic and evilly hilarious. Jim Thompson hates humans. Humans Off Earth Now!blood-and-danger mind-the-gap97 s Glenn Russell1,427 12.4k Read




Don't be fooled!

Nick Corey might pass himself off as a good-natured hick sheriff intent on doing right but looking ever so slightly deeper we'll detect author Jim Thompson has given us a searing portrait of a man who is the embodiment of cruelty, ruthlessness and sheer evil.

According to Stephen Marche, Pop. 1280 offers up “a preposterously upsetting, ridiculously hilarious layer cake of nastiness, a romp through a world of nearly infinite deceit.”

And there's cool cat Mark Monday characterizing the novel as “bleak and misanthropic and evilly hilarious.”

Whoa, bubba, with this noir classic, Jim Thompson deserves to be celebrated as America's “dimestore Dostoevsky.”

For a Texas taste or Oklahoma oomph of what Nick Corey and the other folks in this top dog Thompson tale are all about, I'll mosey on over to Potts County, population 1280, and share the following Pop. movie trailer:

DARTH VADER TRICKSTER
As soon as Nick Corey opens his mouth, everyone judges Nick a dope. A stranger on a train wearing classy black-and-white checker suit and white derby tells Nick he can't use the washroom since it's being used by “a naked woman on a spotted pony” and a town pimp calls Nick a “two-bit clown.” Oh, people, if you only knew the high sheriff of Potts County plays dumb to lure you into his deadly trap. After all, Nick Corey has plans, big plans.

LACK OF SELF-AWARENESS
Nick tells us he's so worried he can barely eat, all the while chomping down a breakfast of “half a dozen pork chops and a few fried eggs.” Later on, after he gets off the train, Nick's worries continue, so worried he still can't eat but manages to chow down on a plate of corn bread and fried catfish. Goodness, Nick has eaten enough food for six men. Jim Thompson lets us know Nick isn't an out-and-out liar so much as a man who has colossal appetites and needs, so needy, he has to hide himself from himself.

BRUTAL BACKSTORY
Jim Thompson clues us in on his character's backstory but his usual practice is to hold off until the end of the novel (The Killer Inside Me, The Kill-Off, Savage Night). With Pop. 1280, things are different; Jim has Nick reflect on his childhood a few chapters in, telling us he's haunted by being a kid “getting beat half to death every time he (his father) could grab me.” Nick's father also blamed Nick for killing mom who died while giving birth to Nick. Now, there's an explosive combination: Nick's a victim of extreme physical and emotional abuse along with living with a heavy burden of guilt.

DESPICABLE RACISM
Warning: Jim Thompson doesn't hold back regarding how these white countryfolk view their Black brethren: subhuman, barely more than farm animals. And the language they use, even out in public, even speaking to Blacks directly. A novel not for the easily offended.

PSYCHOPATH
Up in their apartment, Nick's wife Myra launches into another one of her tirades against good-for-nothing Nick but she stops short suddenly when she sees something in Nick's eyes. Myra is stunned and immediately turns all sweet and nice. What does Myra see? Does she detect, perhaps for the first time, she's in the presence of a psychopath? Keep a lookout for this scene - so much goes unstated. Also, one of the more comical bits in Pop.: Nick relaying the way Myra, bless her egotistical heart, trapped Nick into marrying her.

RETELLING REVELATION
"The reason I went to see Ken Lacey, for example, wasn't the one I let on that it was. I'd done it because I had a plan for him - and you've seen what that plan was." Here Nick recycles back to let us know he purposely misled us about the reason for his visit to see Ken Lacey. Thus we're wise as readers not to be too quick in assuming Nick will always tell us the truth, to keep a constant lookout on how Nick will not only double-cross the women and men he encounters (and entraps) in Potts County but Nick could also be double-crossing us as readers.

WHAT NOT TO SAY TO A PSYCHOPATH
At one point beautiful sweetheart Amy tells Nick she knows very well he committed murder and he arranged things to look Ken Lacey did the killing. Nick responds, "What if I just can't help myself, Amy? What if it's him or me?" To which Amy replies, "Then, I'd be very sorry, Nick. It would have to be you." Oh, lady, to tell a psychopath that if you were given the choice between sentencing him or his victim to the electric chair, you would choose to fry him - not a sensible choice if you yourself want to stay alive. Such a telling scene, revealing our tendency to underestimate people, their capacity for both good and evil.

THE POTTS COUNTY SAGE SPEAKS
Toward the end of Pop., Nick shares his philosophy of life prompted by an overwhelming sense of emptiness. "And then suddenly it wasn't here, it was everywhere, every place this one. And suddenly the emptiness was filled with sound and sight, with all the sad terrible things that the emptiness has brought the people to." What Nick cities as specific instances of what the emptiness has brought people to is heart-wrenching. But then the shock: Nick's answer to cosmic emptiness. And even more shocking: Nick's statement in the novel's concluding sentence.

What am I alluding to here? For each reader to discover.


American novelist Jim Thompson, 1906-197775 s °°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ????? ??????? ???????? ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°° ?·.·´¯`·.·? ?????? ???????? ??????? ????????? ??736 854

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