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High Sierra

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High Sierra

by Burnett, W.R

  • Used
  • Good
  • Paperback
Condition
Good
ISBN 10
0718207807
ISBN 13
9780718207809
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About This Item

Littlehampton Book Services Ltd, 1968-10-01. Paperback. Good. 3.5973 in x 19.5851 in x 13.7895 in. Ex-library book, Hardback/Hardcover, usual stamps and marking. Clean text, sound binding.

Synopsis

The tormented and exhausted man at the center of W.R. Burnett's High Sierra is a notorious criminal whom the newspapers call "Mad Dog" Roy Earle. Earle is every bit the criminal the newspapers depict, but he is a complicated soul who is the tragic hero of the novel -- a horribly flawed man, a violent criminal who still retains a bit of a conscience but never gets a decent break.As in most of Burnett's novels, High Sierra ostensibly describes a carefully plotted crime that is undermined by human nature. More interesting and important, perhaps, is its study of Roy Earle, who hardly seems the "Mad Dog" he is made out to be in the press. Pardoned from prison, he idealizes his childhood as he wearily makes his way across the California desert to meet up with two hoods named Red and Babe. Earle is dismayed to find they have with them a tough and brazen woman named Marie, though he begins to warm to her crude charm. He has been moved by the plight of a physically impaired woman he meets, Velma Goodhue, and he resolves to help her -- imagining, somehow, that she will be his. After a holdup he plans with Red, Babe and Marie (who has now fallen in love with him), Earle takes money to Velma for an operation to repair her clubfoot. But the holdup has disastrous results. Red and Babe are killed, and Roy goes on the lam with Marie. They have nowhere to turn and even Velma deserts him. Earle sends Marie away, to meet him eventually in a mountain pass in the High Sierras -- a rendezvous high in the sky that will not take place as planned.Much happens plotwise in High Sierra but it is Roy Earle who holds our interest. As remorseless as the book is -- the concluding chapter consists a few lacerating paragraphs of post-mortem chitchat from the police -- it makes Earle a rich and deeply compelling man, without sentimentalizing him at all. Reading High Sierra is close to the experience of reading James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, a tough, bleak and unforgiving narrative that works a dark and elusive magic.

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Details

Seller
Stephen White Books GB (GB)
Seller's Inventory #
mon0000189891
Title
High Sierra
Author
Burnett, W.R
Format/Binding
Paperback
Book Condition
Used - Good
Quantity Available
1
ISBN 10
0718207807
ISBN 13
9780718207809
Publisher
Littlehampton Book Services Ltd
Place of Publication
London
Date Published
1968-10-01
Size
3.5973 in x 19.5851 in x 13.7895
Bookseller catalogs
Book;
X weight
0.4583 lb

Terms of Sale

Stephen White Books

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About the Seller

Stephen White Books

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2022
Bradford, West Yorkshire

About Stephen White Books

We are an online second-hand book dealer based in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
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