List Books To They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Original Title: | They Shoot Horses, Don't They? |
ISBN: | 185242401X (ISBN13: 9781852424015) |
Edition Language: | English |
Setting: | Los Angeles, California(United States) |
Horace McCoy
Paperback | Pages: 122 pages Rating: 3.86 | 6594 Users | 615 Reviews
Explanation In Favor Of Books They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
The marathon dance craze flourished during the 1930s, but the underside was a competition and violence unknown to most ballrooms—a dark side that Horace McCoy's classic American novel powerfully captures. "Were it not in its physical details so carefully documented, it would be lurid beyond itself." —NationItemize Of Books They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Title | : | They Shoot Horses, Don't They? |
Author | : | Horace McCoy |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 122 pages |
Published | : | September 15th 1995 by Serpent's Tail (first published 1935) |
Categories | : | Fiction. Mystery. Noir. Classics. Crime |
Rating Of Books They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Ratings: 3.86 From 6594 Users | 615 ReviewsAssessment Of Books They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
This is a bleak novel which shows humanity at the bottom of desperation and despair. McCoy spent time at an event like the one depicted in the book. He conveys the raw emotion of the Depression-era Hollywood and those would-be actors and directors struggling to survive. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? doesn't offer a glimmer of hope. "There is no new experience in life. Something may happen to you that you think has never happened before, that you think is brand new, but you are mistaken." InHorace McCoys 1935 novel They Shoot Horses, Dont They? contains one of the bleakest lines in all of literature. Its where Gloria, who dances in the marathon dance, asks without a trace of irony or black humor, Why are these high-powered scientists always screwing around trying to prolong life instead of finding pleasant ways to end it? Can there ever be a more negative, more downbeat, pessimistic view of life?Turns out, Gloria was raised in the most dreadful way, by abusive, cruel people in West
I know I must be missing something here, but I just don't get why this has endured as a profound piece of classic American literature. Apparently 1930s French Existentialists went gaga over it and Simone de Beauvoir named it as "the first existentialist novel to have appeared in America". So if you are a literary theorist, and get off on those labels and how they come to mean something to a certain group of people during a certain period of time, then you probably want to read this book and are
Novella length, but it packs an emotional wallop. Bleak, grim, seedy, gritty, the story of a dance marathon in the 1930's and how far people will go to survive, how much a soul can take.Another of those novels where I couldn't see how the title could fit in with the synopsis on offer but "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" fit perfectly. Well worth a look at.
Finding out the meaning of the title broke my heart!
HOURS ELAPSED 879COUPLES REMAINING 20Short and very brutal, this is a matter-of-fact account of the bleakest despair. The marathon dance contests of the 20s and 30s were like something dreamed up by Caligula but they really happened and the powers that be never saw fit to close them down, even as the young couples sagged to the floor from physical and mental exhaustion after only being allowed 10 minutes rest every two hours for three solid weeks. It was all dont worry folks, theyll be back in a
Great shot of pulp fiction. Short, sharp, and memorable.
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