One of the great forgotten novels of the 30s - Raymond Chandler
Somewhere between the hardboiled talk of Dashiell Hammett and the dustbow...
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Jun 21, 2010
Tim
rated it: 
Raymond Chandler declared this one of the great forgotten novels of the 1930s. I'm not going to argue with Chandler.
Anderson gives us a look at depression era bank robbers in Oklahoma and Texas. It was fertile ground with Bonnie & Clyde, Dillinger, et. al. having been all over the newspapers. Anderson looks at a trio of escaped convicts who are robbing banks in Texas, before shifting the focus to a single character Bowie Bowers. The shift allows us to get a better glimpse in to More...
Anderson gives us a look at depression era bank robbers in Oklahoma and Texas. It was fertile ground with Bonnie & Clyde, Dillinger, et. al. having been all over the newspapers. Anderson looks at a trio of escaped convicts who are robbing banks in Texas, before shifting the focus to a single character Bowie Bowers. The shift allows us to get a better glimpse in to More...
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Feb 04, 2009
Yofish
rated it: 
Seemed pretty out-dated, especially language-wise. I had some trouble following what was going on, and who really believed what. Starts with prison escape, and follows the escapees (especially one in particular) as they go around robbing banks. Makes a point of how newspapers exaggerate to make the robbers seem worse, and how bankers rip off money attributed to robbers. Also a love story in there, but I didn't get much out of that either--she was bored and found him exciting? Mostly, I thin
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Jan 29, 2012
Kid
rated it: 
The most gracefully written crime novel there is. . .a MUST read for fans of the genre - pick it up at any and all costs.
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Apr 05, 2008
Dfordoom
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Edward Anderson’s 1937 novel Thieves Like Us tells the story of Bowie Bowers, murderer and bank robber. Bowie breaks out of prison with two companions, and they carry out a series of daring bank robberies. They may not be intellectuals, but they’re not stupid. They’re smart enough to know that in a corrupt society politicians, police, lawyers and businessmen are all in their various ways just “thieves like us”. Lying low after a robbery, Bowie meets and falls in love with Keechie. Bowie is
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Dec 06, 2010
Victoria
rated it:
Such an great joy it is, beautiful writing!
Anderson's classic portrait of small-time Depression era bank robbery takes you not only through a vivid, poignant experience that breaks your heart with its humanness and immediacy, but even beyond that---on the very final page---into an unforgettable metaphor for the economic disaster of 1929 that destroyed so many homes, so many lives.
This is literature. This is what fiction is supposed to be.
Anderson's classic portrait of small-time Depression era bank robbery takes you not only through a vivid, poignant experience that breaks your heart with its humanness and immediacy, but even beyond that---on the very final page---into an unforgettable metaphor for the economic disaster of 1929 that destroyed so many homes, so many lives.
This is literature. This is what fiction is supposed to be.
Dec 26, 2009
Adam
rated it:
Anderson's second, and final, novel is a stunning piece of character-driven noir. From one end to the other, the book bears the minimalist stamp of a Hemingway disciple. Whereas Dashiell Hammett took his cue from Hemingway and spun macho minimalism into the beginnings of the hardboiled detective novel, Thieves Like Us feels less like a genre novel than the sort of thing Hemingway himself might write about characters who just happened to be criminals. The book has much more dialogue than plot
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Dec 28, 2011
Scott
rated it:
I'm not sure why more people don't rate this book higher. It's a great gritty noir novel masquerading as a crime novel. You feel the humanity and nobility of the characters, how they are not that far from us, even while you realize these are kidnappers, murderers, and thieves. It perfectly captures the '30s Great Depression era feel and the Robin Hood aura that surrounded many of the serial bank robbers of the time.
May 07, 2010
Frank
rated it: 
Pulp surfeit, or is this really weaker than the other novels in LoA's American noir of the 30s and 40s? I didn't manage beyond the first 40 pages or so. Uninvolving story, repetitive action, too much of the same (criminals bragging), too much slang and too much would be writerly writing. Not the lean and spare hard-boiled style of Cain or McCoy, by far. Not for me.
May 31, 2011
Evan
rated it: 
This would have been much better had the book ended 20 pages earlier. The surprise near the end would only have been a shocker to men in the 1930s. Excellent dialogue and framing, but somewhat dated, though that is part of its charm.
Sep 21, 2011
Michael
rated it:
I would recommend this book, basis for a Robert Altman 1974 movie starring Keith Carradine, Shelley Duval, Louise Fletcher, and Tom Skerritt. Three escaped convicts go on a crime spree across Oklahoma and Texas. The younger of the three fall in love with another's cousin and finds himself torn between wanting to live normal or stay loyal to his friends. In the end, we affirm that not all thieves are behind bars.
Mar 10, 2009
Micha
rated it:
Again, not my favourite novel in the Noir course, but a decent story if you're into the Bonnie and Clyde couple-on-the-run sort of thing.
Mar 08, 2008
Matthew
rated it:
Although nicely written, the dragging pace of this book -- exacerbated by the looming sense of doom that weighs down every page -- made it a difficult novel for me to finish.
A kind of low-budget version of The Grapes of Wrath, and a thematic -- if not actual -- inspiration for movies like Terrence Malick's Badlands.
A kind of low-budget version of The Grapes of Wrath, and a thematic -- if not actual -- inspiration for movies like Terrence Malick's Badlands.
May 07, 2010
David
rated it:
read after seeing the Robert Altman film many many years ago.
Quite enjoyable
Quite enjoyable
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