My Last Martini: Stories

by Barry Gifford

Book by Gifford, Barry

Genres: Fiction

78 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Barry Gifford is an American author, poet, and screenwriter known for his distinctive mix of American landscapes and film noir- and Beat Generation-influenced literary madness.

He is described by Patrick Beach as being "like if John Updike had an evil twin that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and wrote funny..."He is best known for his series of novels about Sailor and Lula, two sex-driven, star-crossed protagonists on the road. The first of the series, Wild at Heart, was adapted by director David Lynch for the 1990 film of the same title. Gifford went on to write the screenplay for Lost Highway with Lynch. Much of Gifford's work is nonfiction.

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't go seeking this collection but it was a serendipitous find in a Free Book Library in the neighborhood, the kind I've given up on as they usually hold dreck by James Patterson, Nora Roberts and others of that ilk. Somebody made the mistake of putting a great piece of story telling out finally. Although I was a big fan of David Lynch's "Wild At Heart" based on Giffords' characters Sailor And Lulu I never quite new where he fit in the world of contemporary fiction - after reading the opening story for which the collection is named I realized he's just a stone cold story teller.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decadent Egyptian King Farouk, Paul Klee bothering another painter, men who get kissed by strangers for being 'a martini man', naked pictures of women, an Italian soap opera actor, and an old mobster in Cuba.

Calmer than I expected from Gifford, but alright.

Interesting note about Gifford, even though some of his favorite settings are bordertowns and Texas and places like the San Antonio airport, you can't buy his books anywhere around here. As someone who is thrilled by the Gifford-scripted 'Lost Highway' and likes to laugh at the movie 'Wild At Heart', I've been looking for his work for a while. I finally found this slim book of stories for a buck yesterday.

Also:

Stories about artists traveling in Africa, carrying a valise, dining in cafes, delicately describing the local prostitutes, exhaustive updates on how long the narrator was in bed and his health in relation to the local climate... this type of story makes me vomit blood.

In fact, anything about Europeans or Americans touring any country that is not their own should never be written, read, or thought about for the rest of time.

Examples: 'Tender Is The Night', 'The Immoralist', 'The Sheltering Sky', 'The Darjeeling Limited' AWFUL JUST AWFUL QUIT IT.

[Jimmy Cline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aside from a few of his books being source material for some of Lynch's films (Wild at Heart and Lost Highway), I had no other motives for reading this. I wasn't really that surprised at my own disappointment. All I can remember of this book is how much it sounded like a bunch of watered down, neo-modernism.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I also recently re read this book. It was interesting and different than the other books of his that I have read. It was a bunch of short stories and I enjoyed them all.