Sunday, December 30, 2007

Elmore Leonard disappoints with 'The Big Bounce'

I was feeling bored today and I took out Elmore Leonard's 'The Big Bounce' and read it at a stretch. I managed to finish the 325-page book in about four hours. I got the impression that it was one of Elmore Leonard's weakest books. There's no humor, no credible action and the story itself was vague.


It is about a small time burglar, Jack Ryan, hooking up with a young girl, Nancy, who lures him to robbery in her rich boy friend's house. The story is too stretched out and doesn't sound convincing. There is too much of introspection by Jack Ryan and there are scenes in it that seem unnecessary. I was terribly disappointed with this book.


It would have been okay if it didn't have any story but had some humor. There wasn't a line in it that was funny. Quite clearly, one of Elmore Leonard's duds. It felt like he wrote it half-heartedly. But he is a great writer and remains one of my favorite writers. I still have his 'Pronto' to be read.

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