The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! đ
imthechillalex's review against another edition
5.0
one of the essential texts to understanding why this country is the way it is
jubaboop's review against another edition
4.0
If âif you canât beat em, join emâ was a book!! So so good; i loved seeing the mc go from stupid to straight up crazy. A+ for the irony of it all. I didnât rly get the ending tho :(
- âPpl that cant realize that a heck of a lot of things are bound to go wrong in a world as big as this oneâ
- âWell thatâs my job, i said. Not doing nothing, i mean. Thatâs why ppl elect meâ
- âAnyone that breaks a law from now on is goinâ to have to deal with me. Providing, oâcourse, that heâs either coloured or some poor white trash that canât pay his poll taxâ
- âI let it go on for two, three minutes, letting these here good Christians work themselves up to the proper pitchâ
- âThem railroad workers throwinâ chunks of coal at you anâ splashinâ you with water, and you fellas without nothin to defend yourself with except shotguns an automatic rifles!â
- âPpl that threw away them big three-dollar-a-week wages on wild livin and then fussed because they had to eat garbage to stay alive! I mean, what the heck, they was all foreigners, wasnât they, and if they didnât like the good olâ American garbage, why didnât they go back where they came from?â
- âJust how much free will does any of us exercise? We got controls all along the line, our physical make-up, our mental make-up, our backgrounds; theyâre all shapin us a certain way, fixinâ us up for a certain role in lifeâ
- âAnd when youâre eatinâ and sleepinâ you donât have to fret about things that you canât do nothing about. And what else is there to do but laugh anâ joke⌠how else can you bear up under the unbearable?â
- âI got to go on anâ on, doinâ the Lordâs work; and all he does is the pointinâ,Rose, all He does is pick out the people anâ I got to exercise His wrath on âem. And Iâll tell you a secret, Rose, theyâs plenty of times when I donât agree with Himâ (blaming thing on others)
- âPpl that cant realize that a heck of a lot of things are bound to go wrong in a world as big as this oneâ
- âWell thatâs my job, i said. Not doing nothing, i mean. Thatâs why ppl elect meâ
- âAnyone that breaks a law from now on is goinâ to have to deal with me. Providing, oâcourse, that heâs either coloured or some poor white trash that canât pay his poll taxâ
- âI let it go on for two, three minutes, letting these here good Christians work themselves up to the proper pitchâ
- âThem railroad workers throwinâ chunks of coal at you anâ splashinâ you with water, and you fellas without nothin to defend yourself with except shotguns an automatic rifles!â
- âPpl that threw away them big three-dollar-a-week wages on wild livin and then fussed because they had to eat garbage to stay alive! I mean, what the heck, they was all foreigners, wasnât they, and if they didnât like the good olâ American garbage, why didnât they go back where they came from?â
- âJust how much free will does any of us exercise? We got controls all along the line, our physical make-up, our mental make-up, our backgrounds; theyâre all shapin us a certain way, fixinâ us up for a certain role in lifeâ
- âAnd when youâre eatinâ and sleepinâ you donât have to fret about things that you canât do nothing about. And what else is there to do but laugh anâ joke⌠how else can you bear up under the unbearable?â
- âI got to go on anâ on, doinâ the Lordâs work; and all he does is the pointinâ,Rose, all He does is pick out the people anâ I got to exercise His wrath on âem. And Iâll tell you a secret, Rose, theyâs plenty of times when I donât agree with Himâ (blaming thing on others)
matt_books's review against another edition
5.0
A nasty, misanthropic piece of work, Thompsonâs affable narrator bridges the (marginal) gap between small town politician and bloodthirsty manipulator. Just an absolute blast to read.
writermattphillips's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent metaphorical analysis of politics and life. Thompson at his best...
gazzav's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
ounity's review against another edition
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
wegmarken2006's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
jimmypat's review against another edition
4.0
Pop 1280 is a darkly humorous novel of a sheriff that works awfully hard to keep the job of being a do-nothing sheriff. Thompsonâs ability to create empathy for such a despicable character is kind of amazing..... and creepy.
paul_cornelius's review against another edition
4.0
Another masterful work of crime noir from Jim Thompson. He operates on two levels, here. First, there is the matter of the story, the plot. Pop. 1280 fits firmly within its genre. But despite the recurring iconography and conventions of that genre, it still creates one surprise and shock after another. Twist upon twist occurs, until the ultimate twist at book's end completely throws the reader for a loop.
The second level is that of psychology. The protagonist, Sheriff Nick Corey, will immediately remind readers of Thompson's other masterpiece, The Killer Inside Me, and of its hero, Sheriff Lou Ford. In fact, Ford and Corey are forged out of the same satanic pit, the same psychopathology, the same madness, and amoral abyss. I also wonder if there is something of an American Rasputin at play in this work. For the only clue to the time in which Pop. 1280 takes place is a line in which Corey wonders whether the Russian Czar will be overthrown by the Bolsheviks. It is something, at least, upon which I could not shake myself as I read on.
A final comparison between The Killer Inside Me and Pop. 1280 can be seen in their their level of descriptiveness. The Killer Inside Me is a much denser work, its psychology much more layered than that revealed in Pop. 1280. Lou Ford's evil acts grab out and clutch the reader, leaving him gasping at Ford's violence and brutality. Nick Corey's violence, on the other hand, almost seems to take place off stage. And the dialogue, the narration, and the style of prose almost seems lyrical. Corey, the malevolent mastermind, the ultimate manipulator, achieves his acts as if an angel, one part of lightness but mostly of darkness. He becomes the modern day Lucifer, and Thompson becomes a contemporary Milton.
The second level is that of psychology. The protagonist, Sheriff Nick Corey, will immediately remind readers of Thompson's other masterpiece, The Killer Inside Me, and of its hero, Sheriff Lou Ford. In fact, Ford and Corey are forged out of the same satanic pit, the same psychopathology, the same madness, and amoral abyss. I also wonder if there is something of an American Rasputin at play in this work. For the only clue to the time in which Pop. 1280 takes place is a line in which Corey wonders whether the Russian Czar will be overthrown by the Bolsheviks. It is something, at least, upon which I could not shake myself as I read on.
A final comparison between The Killer Inside Me and Pop. 1280 can be seen in their their level of descriptiveness. The Killer Inside Me is a much denser work, its psychology much more layered than that revealed in Pop. 1280. Lou Ford's evil acts grab out and clutch the reader, leaving him gasping at Ford's violence and brutality. Nick Corey's violence, on the other hand, almost seems to take place off stage. And the dialogue, the narration, and the style of prose almost seems lyrical. Corey, the malevolent mastermind, the ultimate manipulator, achieves his acts as if an angel, one part of lightness but mostly of darkness. He becomes the modern day Lucifer, and Thompson becomes a contemporary Milton.