"Has Elmore Leonard ever written a bad novel?" Topic

I can't answer this, because I have not read everything he has written.
But, so far, the nswer is "No!"

I am reading "Be Cool" now. I've never seen the movie, so I am set for the ride.
It's a sequel to "Get Shorty", which is pure genius.

I wouldn't know, but I have liked all of "his" movies, so far….

" I've never seen the movie"

I wouldn't bother. After the excellent film version of 'Get Shorty', the film of 'Be Cool' is a terrible disappointment.

Get Shorty is one you can watch over and over though.

I was going to say the 'The Big Nowhere' is awful, a book which makes you sick to your stomach as you contemplate the rotten emptiness of the human soul, but of course that is James Ellroy rather than Elmore Leonard. I get the Els confused.

I really want to read some of EL's stuff as I have loved all the movies based on them as well. I went to my local Borders at one point and they had not one of his novels. Now I am sure I could get them via Amazon, so perhaps I should start buying them up that way.

BTWm I have submitted an official request to fix the title. In quadruplicate, with the goldenrod page notarized, and with a copy of my driver's license stapled to the pink page, along with a copy of the Direct TV bill for October..

I liked "Rum Punch" quite a bit. Though lately when I'm in the mood for a crime novel, I've been reading Michael Connelly. I just read "The Concrete Blonde" last week, and it was excellent.

Don't know. I have read 4 or 5 and enjoyed them all.

I heard a BBC radio interview with him once, and really warmed to the guy. No pretense, he wrote as a business.

He spoke about starting out, writing Westerns, which were big sellers in the 50s. He said he wrote his books, sent them off and got a string of rejection slips: 'Unbelievable characters, silly plots, bad pacing, etc.'

Interviewer (I'm paraphrasing from memory): "So how did you learn to write better characters?"

Leonard: "I didn't. What I did was subscribe to 'Western Geographic', and some horse, history and gun mags. I started to put details about clinching a saddle, or gun care and what not into the stories.

Then I resubmitted all the original stories with the bits of authentic colour. They all sold: 'great characters, believable plots, great pacing…."

Then, after Westerns stopped selling, he stopped writing them. He met a Chicago cop who liked his Westerns. The copy let him ride in his squad car for a week, and – according to Leonard – pretty much everything in his crime-writing career came out of that week.

So, if you want to find a 'bad' book, you may have to go back to those rejected Westerns. Maybe.

"I went to my local Borders at one point and they had not one of his novels."

That's weird. His popularity has waned a bit, but he is still an extremely popular writer.

A bad novel? I'm not sure he has written one. Some are not as strong as others. The two that I recall off hand as least favorites are "Bandits" and "Pagan Babies". I should read the former again, since it was next after "Glitz", which is probably my favorite EL and "Bandits" may have merely suffered in comparison. "Valdez is Coming" is my favorite Western novel, and I think my favorite Western film. I think I have read all of EL's novels, although not all of the short stories currently out in compilations. I haven't read the book he did for kids, "A Coyote's in the House".

Not all of his films have been made into great movies though.

I discovered his Westerns about a year ago. They are excellent as well.

The Hot Kid

"The Big Bounce"

What a dreadful novel. So predictable, big yawns. I picked it up as an airport read, and it fell short of those lowered expectations. I haven't seen the movies, either, so it's not "It's not like the movie" syndrome, it's just bad.

SMc.

Don't remember it being bad… but to be honest I don't remember much about it. May pick it up again soon to see.

Yes. I put two of his down without finishing them. Never again.

I finished Killshot, but the characterization was too childish and the ending unsatisfying.

Oddly, right after I finished it, everytime I picked up a newspaper or magazine, there was some news story out of Cape Giardeua Miss.

JW