Nightmare Alley begins with an extraordinary description of a freak-show geek—alcoholic and abject and the object of the voyeuristic crowd’s...
read full description
reviews
Nov 18, 2011
Eddie
rated it: 
Early reports from friends suggested that this was a lurid melodrama set in a carnival; a warped carnie fantasia with freaks foregrounded. While the first few chapters fit this description fairly well - with a somewhat fragmented narrative accentuating the fun-house mirror effect (which by the way has an ill-fit with the remainder of the book), and the melodrama thick and lurid until the end - what I ultimately found more interesting were the occult themes running throughout, as related by an au
More...
10 comments
like
(20 people liked it)
Jul 15, 2011
James
rated it: 
Stan Carlisle is a mentalist in a traveling carnival. But the young man has higher aspirations and not many moral qualms. In the carnival he hooks up with Molly, an attractive young woman who becomes his partner in a vaudeville routine. Still aiming higher, Stan buys a mail-order divinity degree and sets himself up as a spiritualist.
Stan is looking for the one big mark that will make his fortune, but his own life is beginning to unravel. Molly possesses the moral compass that Stan la More...
Stan is looking for the one big mark that will make his fortune, but his own life is beginning to unravel. Molly possesses the moral compass that Stan la More...
2 comments
like
(7 people liked it)
Jul 15, 2011
Tosh
rated it: 
One of the strange titles from Noir literature. And at the moment very hard to find. William L. Greshan's novel is the rise and fall of a carnival con artist. From ambitious 'mind reader' to geek - the book has an excellent view of the carnival world as well as some show-biz aspects of the social world of Manhattan, etc. I read this book many years ago, and it stays in my mind as a contemporary (well 40's era) horror story of sorts. Also it became a great film made in the 40's. But the boo
More...
5 comments
like
(6 people liked it)
Oct 16, 2011
Aaron
rated it:
This book. I really do not know where to take it from there, considering I enjoy carnys, spiritualists, and con artists because there is some kind of grit and dirt with the whole lifestyle. The fact that the impression literature and movies show us is that these types of people are ruthless, dangerous, and will do almost anything to gain an advantage is well represented in Stan Carlisle. He moves from racket to racket with the promise of a bigger payoff. This also means that by today's standard,
More...
Aug 03, 2011
Derek
rated it:
"Show me." The American gift and curse. Captures the rise and fall of an early 20th century carny, hustler, spiritualist... chasing the dream. Nothing much has changed, the mega rich jealously guard their ill gotten gains, the lower classes agitate impotently (though with more grit than the soporifically "soma" sated modern television consumer.) Anyone trying to defy this natural order only invites personal tragedy. The chapters are divided along the lines of a tarot deck,
More...
Jul 25, 2011
Lauren
rated it:
What would you give to know your future? Let Madame Zeena answer your questions. Who would you call back from the afterlife if you had a chance? Let Stan Carlisle scare up your spooks. The characters that populate Nightmare Alley aren't psychics, or prophets-- they're hucksters looking for marks, laid low by drinking and by circumstance, and they can already see all the darkest parts of you. They know something that the humans who choose not to crawl along the seediest of underbellies never seem
More...
Aug 23, 2010
Jeff
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jun 13, 2010
Hood
rated it:
Bound: SunPost Weekly June 3, 2010
http://bit.ly/8Y8g5x
When Badass Books Become Kickass Flicks
Nightmare Alley
(New York Review Books $14.95)
When William L. Gresham’s Nightmare Alley racked its way into the marketplace, two-bit carnivals dotted the American landscape and two-bit carnies were something little boys dreamed of being. Sure it was a hardscrabble existence, and on the barometer of social acceptance it ranked just above hobo. Nevertheless there was a ce More...
http://bit.ly/8Y8g5x
When Badass Books Become Kickass Flicks
Nightmare Alley
(New York Review Books $14.95)
When William L. Gresham’s Nightmare Alley racked its way into the marketplace, two-bit carnivals dotted the American landscape and two-bit carnies were something little boys dreamed of being. Sure it was a hardscrabble existence, and on the barometer of social acceptance it ranked just above hobo. Nevertheless there was a ce More...
Jun 13, 2010
Greg
rated it:
1. This afternoon, after finishing this book and having a great lunch with Karen I couldn't stop thinking about this song and about how in a roundabout way it reminded me of Nightmare Alley. I'm not going to do more than just share the video, which is kind of amusing in an almost hipster kind of way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSdZ_yZP8...
2. How to make a geek, paraphrased poorly from the first chapter of Nightmare Alley. Find a drunk who has no money and is sufferin More...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSdZ_yZP8...
2. How to make a geek, paraphrased poorly from the first chapter of Nightmare Alley. Find a drunk who has no money and is sufferin More...
17 comments
like
(13 people liked it)
Jan 27, 2012
Scott
rated it:
A great but depressing noir book. The rise and fall of Stanton Carlisle, sociopath. Stan starts out as a lonely dreamer, a magician in the carny with dreams of becoming a mentalist and finally a nationally renowned spirit medium. These are all brilliant cons, Stan has no illusions about actual paranormal powers.
While he starts out as a fairly likable lonely dreamer, he becomes ever more hardened and cynical, and despicable as he becomes more successful. In fact, there are few sym More...
While he starts out as a fairly likable lonely dreamer, he becomes ever more hardened and cynical, and despicable as he becomes more successful. In fact, there are few sym More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jul 15, 2011
Andy
rated it:
One of the greatest books ever written. A hopeless carny works his way higher and higher up the psychic ladder conning hobos to tin-star deputies to high society and eventually top-ranking politicians. The higher up the tower of boob Babel he climbs the more insane he becomes. Each chapter is represented by a card of the Tarot. This book has been imitated a hundred times and still has never been equalled. Creepy as fuck and just as brilliant.
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jul 15, 2011
Micha
rated it: 
A very challenging read for my course in Noir, in that often it seemed to drag things out far longer than necessary, when I was used to much quicker novels before. I think I liked the ideas of it more than the book itself. It got very much into the carny underworld, and the fake seances and spiritual manipulations were interesting, but again far too drawn out. Also, extremely Freudian and in a very uncomfortable way.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Mar 04, 2011
Graziano
rated it:
“... we come like a breath of wind over the fields of morning.
We go like a lamp flame caught by a blast from a darkened window.
In between we journey from table to table, from bottle to bottle, from bed to bed.
We suck, we chew, we swallow, we lick, we try to mash life into us like an am-am-amoeba …” (page 242-3)
Nightmare Alley (1946) is set in a carny where Stan Carlisle works.
The book is structured in twenty-two chapters, the same nu More...
Dec 27, 2010
David
rated it:
This became a powerful, sort-of-noir 1947 film. Had always heard a happy ending was slapped on (and it was) that worked against the original. That's only kind of true. The book, which is also quite powerful, esp. in the writing, adds layers in terms of backstory and elements that couldn't reach the big screen at the time (abortion, sexual desire, harsh language, etc.). But, as it turns out, the screenwriter did quite an admirable job in streamlining the novel for a film still daring for its time
More...
Jul 15, 2011
Ben
rated it:
Kudos to New York Review Books for reprinting this, and for commissioning Nick Tosches to write the introduction. Based on the amount of fascinating stuff in said intro, I'd gladly bite the head off a chicken to convince a publisher to put out the bio Tosches is said to have cooking on Gresham.
Actually, I wouldn't do that, but several characters in Nightmare Alley would. What a fun, light-hearted romp this turns out to be, full of joyous discoveries of the redemptive potential of s More...
Actually, I wouldn't do that, but several characters in Nightmare Alley would. What a fun, light-hearted romp this turns out to be, full of joyous discoveries of the redemptive potential of s More...
Jul 15, 2011
Loren
rated it:
From ISawLightningFall.com
Literary fame has flitted all around William Lindsay Gresham. His name has become associated with C.S. Lewis and Edgar Alan Poe -- although not for reasons you might imagine. He gained a connection to Lewis when his second wife (poet Joy Davidman) left him for the Oxford don after Gresham broke a bottle over the head of one of his sons and discharged rifles into the ceiling during fits of rage. Comparisons to Poe came not only because of his writings' macabr More...
Literary fame has flitted all around William Lindsay Gresham. His name has become associated with C.S. Lewis and Edgar Alan Poe -- although not for reasons you might imagine. He gained a connection to Lewis when his second wife (poet Joy Davidman) left him for the Oxford don after Gresham broke a bottle over the head of one of his sons and discharged rifles into the ceiling during fits of rage. Comparisons to Poe came not only because of his writings' macabr More...
Jul 15, 2011
Frank
rated it:
Interesting pulp. Makes me curious about the film. The first 6 chapters are the best, describing the start of the protagonist's career as a mentalist in a carnival. It would seem to me the beautiful HBO series Carnivale definitely took some inspiration from these chapters. Although in the end, Gresham takes the other tack: whereas Carnivale was a fantasy story about supernatural powers, Nightmare Alley is all about deceit and trickery, it describes the Werdegang of a con man. Its outlook is rath
More...
Dec 11, 2011
Tim
rated it:
This is the story of Stanton Carlisle, a carnival
sideshow mentalist, who decides to strike out for the big time by
going into the spiritualism racket. With his knowledge of human
nature from years of working sideshows, he is able to fleece enough
people to start his own church. But it all comes crashing down
around him when he tries to scam a wealthy industrialist. The book
ends with the protagonist's descent into alcoholism.
First published in 1946, this is More...
sideshow mentalist, who decides to strike out for the big time by
going into the spiritualism racket. With his knowledge of human
nature from years of working sideshows, he is able to fleece enough
people to start his own church. But it all comes crashing down
around him when he tries to scam a wealthy industrialist. The book
ends with the protagonist's descent into alcoholism.
First published in 1946, this is More...
3 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Mar 01, 2008
Nancy
rated it:
Written in 1946 (my copy is from 1948), I would imagine that this book was a shocker when it came out. It is a classic version of the rise and fall type story, and very well done, considering that it took the author about 4 months to write it.
The basic premise is this. Stanton Carlisle works in a carnival, becoming an assistant to a woman who did a sort of mind reading trick, based on the principle of "cold reading." You know, like that show "Crossing Over," with More...
The basic premise is this. Stanton Carlisle works in a carnival, becoming an assistant to a woman who did a sort of mind reading trick, based on the principle of "cold reading." You know, like that show "Crossing Over," with More...
Jul 15, 2011
Mason
rated it:
Recently reissued by NYRB, one of the reasons I picked this up in the store was the introduction by Nick Tosches, which is a fine recommendation with which to begin. Originally published in 1946, Nightmare Alley is like a combination of Hubert Selby and Jim Thompson, filled with cons and marks, and benefiting from settings that range from a travelling carnival to spiritualist boudoirs. The story follows a young man who happens into carny life, and proves to be a natural mentalist, adept at readi
More...
Jul 03, 2011
Queenie
rated it:
Another NYRB re-released classic. A dark, gritty, alcoholic, freak-show circus world of marks, geeks, rubes, and evil grey-eyed female psychoanalysts. Trivium: First to introduce the term "geek" to the non-circus public. (A geek is the circus alcoholic who bites the heads off of chickens in exchange for booze.) Recommended when you're feeling retro, misanthropic, and/or thirsty.
May 15, 2011
Eric
rated it:
Top notch noir starting out in the carnival world and following an ambitious grifter into Manhattan looking to reel in one fat rich fish. Gloriously seedy with a side dish of gooseflesh. The oily lyricism of the grifters' idiom is on full display. I was sad when I had to put the book down, but the finish is a juicy serving of just deserts.
Jul 08, 2011
James
rated it:
I read this after having seen the movie with Tyrone Power. Nightmare Alley begins with a disgusting but also fascinating description of a freak-show geek, a former man who is both alcoholic and abject and the object of the voyeuristic crowd’s gleeful disgust and derision—going about his work at a county fair. It is an exciting novel with raw, Dostoevskian power. This could be considered in the same class with Nathanael West's "Miss Lonelyhearts" and Albert Camus' "The Stranger"
More...
Aug 10, 2011
Mary
rated it:
When I took this book out of the library I thought it was a new book. In reality it was a newly released classic from 1946. It was a real classic! A very interesting book about carnies and swindlers. I loved the era.
Jan 05, 2012
Christine
rated it:
In The Sweet Smell of Success, J.J. Hunsecker says, "You're a cookie full of arsenic." Nightmare Alley is delicious in the same way. A wild, wicked ride. It's not that you don't know where it's headed, but it's a ball getting there.
Sep 10, 2011
Joshua
rated it:
Excellent book. Some definite flaws in the narrative along the way but a great story and well told. It's fine noir fiction. Highly recommended.
Jul 15, 2011
Remy
rated it:
This book was such a disappointment because I thought I loved it at first. It was atmospheric and absorbing. The background of the travelling carnival was creepy, with some amazing imagery. The carnies playing poker with Tarot cards! But then the main character graduated to vaudville- with a mentalist act- then became a spiritualist, convincing wealthy people that he talked to the dead. This was still pretty interesting. But the second half of the novel dove deeper into the dark and surreal, too
More...
Jul 15, 2011
E.
rated it:
I quit about 200 pages in. This book was making me anxious and I couldn't see it going anywhere I was going to care about. I am open about my book quitting. If I'm not getting there I am happy to walk away from books. If I think there is any chance I'll re-visit down the road I usually won't review it but I'm pretty sure me and Nightmare Alley are kaput. The writing isn't bad, I just don't have any interest in the story.....
Dec 06, 2011
Katrina
rated it:
Disturbing and hard to read.
Worth the effort.
Gresham's only successful fiction, he really was a tortured soul...
Worth the effort.
Gresham's only successful fiction, he really was a tortured soul...
May 08, 2011
Eric
rated it:
Gresham's classic novel of a carnival sleight-of-hand artist's rise (and fall) as an a-list conman is one of the best I've read -- a precursor to the gritty street fiction of Nelson Algren or Mickey Spillane, but without the stilted dialog or literary bravado. Gresham's is a study of human vulnerability as seen through the eyes of a technician (and victim) of its exploitation. effing brilliant.
