-select- TheBookReportNetwork.com BookReporter.com ReadingGroupGuides.com AuthorYellowPages.com Teenreads.com Kidsreads.com

About The Author Excerpt: Elmore Leonard   The fact that Elmore Leonard has achieved the all-but-impossible state of getting glowing reviews from the literary critics while simultaneously achieving popular acclaim as a bestselling novelist is puzzling-until you read him. Characters, plot, compression, dialogue, wryness, and wit combine to provide a reading experience unlike any other. He considers his precursors to be Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck instead of the more obvious Chandler-Hammett-MacDonald line, and his own reading habits favor an edgier strain of storytellers like Jayne Anne Phillips. Washington Post reviewer Michael Kernan describes the typical Leonard novel as offering readers "guns, a killing or two or three, fights and chases and sex. Tight, clean prose, ear-perfect, whip-smart dialogue. And, just beneath the surface, an acute sense of the ridiculous." Leonard's style is almost entirely devoid of narration and description, and he moves his stories along, Hemingway-like, by what his characters say. "Leonard's viewpoint is not exactly cynical," said the Washington Post's Jonathan Yardley, "inasmuch as he admits the possibility of something approximating redemption, but it certainly is worldly and unsentimental." As a result, Yardley wrote, "his world bears a striking resemblance to the real one." Good to Know Leonard twice had to give up book writing for "real" work-the first time as an ad copy writer and the second writing scripts for educational and industrial movies-until the sale of his Western novel Hombre to Hollywood in 1967 gave him enough money to support his family while he struggled to start writing books again. In 1927, To assemble background material for his low-life adventures, Leonard relies in part on a research assistant. But he also spends considerable time dealing personally with both law enforcement and criminal types. One convict wrote Leonard of his efforts to get his fellow inmates to read Leonard's books instead of Sidney Sheldon's. He had convinced some former heroin dealers, the convict said, but had not yet converted the crack-and-cocaine crowd. Leonard has said that he puts his characters through a sort of audition in the opening scenes, before he decides whether they will stay or go, to see if they can "talk." This technique has earned him a reputation as one of the best dialogue writers in contemporary fiction. He says, however, "It isn't the words that are authentic but rather the rhythm of the way people talk." He is an innovator not only in his minimalist writing style but also in his approach to the morality of the crime-fiction genre. The good-versus-evil simplicity of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett is nowhere to be found in Leonard's books, replaced by a wary, fatalistic ambiguity. Master of two genres: The Western Writers of America have named Elmore Leonard's novel Hombre one of the 25 best Westerns of all time. And the Mystery Writers of America have honored him with their Grand Master Award, in recognition of his overall contributions to the field of mystery writing. Treatises and Treats Companions Elmore Leonard by David Geherin (Continuum, 1989). The only book-length treatment of Elmore Leonard and his work, now out of print but worth tracking down at the library or through used book sources. The first chapter takes a broad look at the first six decades of the author's life. After that, Geherin devotes individual chapters to each period in his writing career, starting with the 1950s westerns and finishing with his 1988 masterpiece, Freaky Deaky. Elmore Leonard's Criminal Records: Profile of a Writer. Highly recommended by "Dutch" fans, this 1991 video (available from Amazon.com and elsewhere), includes interviews with Leonard, who talks about his life and work, with particular emphasis on his crime novels. Best of the Net Official Elmore Leonard Web Site www.elmoreleonard.com Not nearly as much fun as the books themselves, but since it's the "official" site, created and maintained by Random House, it's a good place to check for information about Leonard's latest bestseller. You'll also find book descriptions and, in some cases, excerpts. New York Times Featured Authors www.nytimes.com/books/specials/ author.html Reviews and articles from the New York Times archives, plus an audio reading by Leonard. Get Leonard Selected Crime Novels The Big Bounce, 1969 Fifty-Two Pickup, 1974 Swag, 1976 Stick, 1983 LaBrava, 1983 (Edgar Award) Glitz, 1985 Freaky Deaky, 1988 Get Shorty, 1990 Rum Punch, 1992 Cuba Libre, 1998 Be Cool, 1999   Selected Western Novels The Bounty Hunters, 1953 Last Stand at Saber River, 1957 Hombre, 1961 Valdez Is Coming, 1970 Forty Lashes, Less One, 1972 Gunsights, 1979 If You Like Elmore Leonard… You might also like books by Thomas Berger, Carl Hiaasen, and Donald E. Westlake. Other Excerpts top of page

contact us | about us | privacy policy