book data
235 ratings, 3.36 average rating, 21 reviews
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published
November 26th 1992
(first published 1984)
by Abacus
binding
Paperback, 256 pages
isbn
0349103275
(isbn13: 9780349103273)
description
"A novel that is as brash and brooding and ultimately as mesmerizing as the author himself...The dazzling balance betwen humor and horror keeps u...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 302)
Is this where Mailer asks the question, why do gay men congregate in cities with giant phallic monuments? I can't remember.
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Read in September, 2007
Ok, yes. This book has a veneer of misogyny, but truly the real issue here is not a hatred of women but a willful misunderstanding of women. This book’s only concern is masculinity; the women here are presented only as noir femme fatales or gun molls. To take great offence at Mailer's disparaging such mythical creatures is akin to being frustrated at the mischaracterization elves or unicorns. This is the nature of the genre. What made this book worth reading (for me), was the application of Ma...more
Read in November, 2008
recommends it for:
Dan and Mike
In general, this book was like pulling teeth...from your vagina. Yup, vagina dentata, which surprisingly, did not make an appearence in Tough Guys. Still, I found the level of misogyny quite satisfactory. I think it's supposed to be satirical? And don't despair, guys, Mailer hasn't forgotten about you; he also explores machismo and homosexuality...so read it if you want to "search the recesses and buried virtues of the modern American male." And who doesn't?
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Read in January, 1986
While not considered to be Mailer's best work, it is nevertheless my favorite. If I could offer this bit of advice: read it like you are watching a black and white film noir movie on a dark and rainy night. It's meant to be digested that way, only you won't get that until you've read it a number of times. Mailer explores marriage, homosexuality, marriage AND homosexuality, among other erotic notions, on the back roads along Cape Cod.
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Read in October, 2008
Norman Mailer lived in Provincetown and this book fairly accurately captures the deadbeats, drunks, crooks, cops, and drunken crooked cops that make up a large portion of Cape Cod's year-round population.
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Having read this book, i felt violated. gratuitous profanity and sex. a waste of Mailer's talent and intelligence and obvious display of his misogyny. It was, however, a page-turner, so I finished it quickly!
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Read in December, 2007
a funny, bloody 80s noir with a reprint of updike's long and ridiculous description of a vagina. (which mailer and his character greatly admire.)
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Read in August, 2005
Norman Mailer is one of my favorite authors but this one he must have written more-so drunk than usual because it's really sub-par
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It wasn't the misogyny, the machismo, or the overblown prose. There is just noir out there that is so much better and more original.
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I enjoyed this book; however, I grew weary of Mailer`s sexual fixations and found the plot a little too farfetched.
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a present for my then future mother-in-law. was she trying to say something about my predilection for tango ?
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Read in January, 2000
This was interesting. I think it's about smoking pot. Honestly, I'm not so sure, though.
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Somewhat of a murder mystery. Kinda cool. Norman Mailer tries to be such a man's man.
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Not his most critically acclaimed novel, but one of my favorites.
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Read in January, 1982
characters at the there most extreme limits
fantastic one liners
fantastic one liners
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honestly got it because it has one of the best titles ever. decent book
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Read in July, 2007
Mailer has an annoying pedantic tone. Don't know why I keep reading him.
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I haven't read this yet, but the movie is pretty entertaining.
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