reviews
Jun 15, 2011
Tammy
rated it: 
I am awarding this a rare 5-star rating.
This is my favorite Cain novel read to date. Absolutely brilliant. Oddly enough, this is the only Cain novel where I cared for the characters. I wanted the guy to get the girl, keep the girl, and live happily ever after. The subtleties given the characters were nuanced and real. And the ending is to die for.
I highly recommend this book. I can't wait to read it again.
This is my favorite Cain novel read to date. Absolutely brilliant. Oddly enough, this is the only Cain novel where I cared for the characters. I wanted the guy to get the girl, keep the girl, and live happily ever after. The subtleties given the characters were nuanced and real. And the ending is to die for.
I highly recommend this book. I can't wait to read it again.
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May 24, 2011
Sistermagpie
rated it: 
One of the craziest books I've ever read. So crazy it deserves a spoilery synopsis. Spoilers to follow:
Johnny is a down and out American singer in Mexico. Once he was a success in Europe, but he lost his voice and now he's broke. Also he's really bigoted. It's good to be prepared for that instead of hit in the face with his racist description of his love interest, Juana, on the very first page. Juana's a prostitute he steals from a bullfighter, but when he gets to her place and More...
Johnny is a down and out American singer in Mexico. Once he was a success in Europe, but he lost his voice and now he's broke. Also he's really bigoted. It's good to be prepared for that instead of hit in the face with his racist description of his love interest, Juana, on the very first page. Juana's a prostitute he steals from a bullfighter, but when he gets to her place and More...
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Mar 30, 2011
Marley
rated it:
I wasn't familiar with Serenade and from a brief perusal felt it wasn't typical of Cain. It's not exactly, but parts of it are. The plot is far-fetched to be sure, and drawn out. He could have used a better editor. But,...I also his enjoyed Cain's opera knowledge and his cynical take on Hollywood. It could just have been shorter. I wonder if he was settling some personal debts. The book has some hot love making, though, especially in the church Yikes! Just when the story hits a serious dra
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Jul 05, 2011
D.R.
rated it:
A former roommate left behind an antique, water-damaged collection of three of Cain's novels. I recently stumbled on it, and having seen movie versions of two of the three novels, I opted to read "Serenade," the movie version of which (starring Mario Lanza) I haven't seen. (The movie apparently bears little relation to the novel.) I've now perused a few, in my view, PC takes on "Serenade," but I can't agree with them. This is pulp, and the attitudes in the book, however offen
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Oct 17, 2010
Lynn
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jan 29, 2012
David
rated it: 
The following review contains spoilers . . . if you do not want to know the general contours of Serenade's plot, read no further . . . Opera singer John Howard Sharp is a self-loathing homosexual who wants to believe he is like any other man. At one point he protests that all men are 5% gay but that most men are fortunate enough not to meet that special someone who triggers that 5%. Unfortunately for John, he has met that special someone, and it turns out that homosexual activity has the littl
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Oct 17, 2010
Andrei
rated it:
On the one hand I really liked this book and on the other I didn't. It's strange, because it shifts gears in rather startling ways at least a couple times, so you can divide it up into a few semi-discrete stories, something that serves to make it more interesting and surprising but that also serves to weaken it, because some of them are better than others. The fact that some of the major plot twists are rooted in bigoted acts that aren't meant to be viewed in a negative light also makes me wary
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Apr 06, 2011
Stas
rated it:
It advances a curious theory of a link between anal sex and loss of a singing voice. I do recall that Dizzy Gillespie advised in the documentary A Night in Havana that first step in blowing a horn, even before the diaphragm is properly adjusted, is 'to clench your asshole'.
I met a nice Australian the other day, who was very pleased to buy an old hardcover edition. She did not know that there was a movie made, in 1956, with Mario Lanza. Instead of a whore, the tragic heroine is a daug More...
I met a nice Australian the other day, who was very pleased to buy an old hardcover edition. She did not know that there was a movie made, in 1956, with Mario Lanza. Instead of a whore, the tragic heroine is a daug More...
Jul 13, 2011
J.
rated it: 
Pushes toward five stars, but not recently-read enough for full review. Stands out from even the above-average run of pulp & noir as a unique conception, a weird remix of the standard elements, very intriguing.
Feb 14, 2012
About 30pp left - haven't had much time to read (too busy writing). I must admit it's somewhat different to "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman..." and it has been difficult to engage with the protaganist, a washed-up tenor who gets into acting and has denial issues with latent homosexuality, but there's just been a bizarre murder and the climax should be interesting......
Oct 17, 2010
William Thomas
rated it: 
i picked up this book at a thrift store, one of the original pressings of it and thought that it was a find. i absolutely loved the grit of double indemnity and the postman always rings twice. i thought that this would be the same, but instead i found a book rife with racial epithets and racial slants and a ridiculous amount of loathing, both of the world and himself. it seemed like a reflection of the author and not of the character in the book. i was sorely disappointed in this book becaus ei
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Oct 17, 2010
Andy
rated it:
The only James M. Cain classic that couldn't be filmed, "Serenade" in short is about a washed-up opera singer in Tijuana who hooks up with a fiery Aztec prostitute who resurrects his singing talent (yeah, right) and they both trek back to Carnegie Hall where the singer's former concertmaster/gay lover stalks him, only to get an Aztec warrior's sword through the heart from the whore.
Strong stuff? Cain wrote it in 1937, which means he's crazier and cooler than all of us. One of th More...
Strong stuff? Cain wrote it in 1937, which means he's crazier and cooler than all of us. One of th More...
Dec 17, 2009
g026r
rated it:
The dialogue is a step up on the believability scale from The Postman Always Rings Twice, but the story itself is only marginally better in general -- and positively laughably bad in parts.
The ending, on the other hand... Well, let's just say that I take back everything I ever said about Neal Stephenson endings. This is the definition of a far too pat ending.
The ending, on the other hand... Well, let's just say that I take back everything I ever said about Neal Stephenson endings. This is the definition of a far too pat ending.
Feb 15, 2011
Nick
rated it:
It has Cain's usual hard-boiled characters and nihilistic plot, which are always fun, but the bizarre plot turns (a gay subplot in the third act?) and stock characters (the tragic femme fatale Juana is a one-dimensional Mexican cliche) get weary. Only for the dedicated.
Oct 17, 2010
Andy
rated it:
wow. best cain book I've read -- better than postman rings twice AND double indemnity
Feb 15, 2012
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