About this title: A study of the elaborate personalities that develop within prison walls, and their tenuous relation to prisoners' past lives and crimes. A convicted drug addict and murderer adapts to the gloom, fascination and eroticism of the new camaraderie. The American author was a Pulitzer Prize winner.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1983
ISBN-13:9780345307927ISBN:0345307925
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. 1983 Ballantine paperback. NOT EX LIB! Barely creased spine, moderate to heavy cover & edgewear, pages bright with some notes & reading wear, a few bent page corners. 226 p. Glued binding. read more
Edition: Reprint.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books, New York
Date Published: 1978
ISBN-13:9780345273000ISBN:0345273001
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. As tight as new. Totally clean and unmarked inside. Corners still sharp. Light wear to covers and spine. A terrific copy. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books of Canada, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Date Published: 1978
ISBN-13:9780345273000ISBN:0345273001
Description: Good. 12mo. {007114} Falconer by John Cheever. ISBN 0345273001. Published by Ballantine Books of Canada in 1978. MASS MARKET PAPERBACK 12mo {Book Condition} GOOD {Book Condition Details} Binding: slightly frayed ends, Cover: soiled, darkening, edge wear, soiling, creasing on Spine, creasing, scuffing, Text: tanning, slightly soiled page edge(s), creasing. {Keywords} FICTION ROMANCE CALIFORNIA NEVADA. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1978
ISBN-13:9780345273000ISBN:0345273001
Description: Good. 0345273001 Mass market paperback, previously read used book in good condition, varying degrees of shelf wear, some spine creases, m..._ read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1978
ISBN-13:9780345273000ISBN:0345273001
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. solid book with clean lightly tanning pgs, book shows shelf, edge & corner wear, front & back covers are tanned & faded, some corners bumped. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
"Beautiful prose (won a Pulitzer), but very dated. Like so many American novels of the 70s, this is a very enclosed book, drilling down into a flawed man's consciousness. No credible women characters (perhaps fair enough as is set in a prison), a glorification of drugs and alcohol, crazily unbelievable plot twists, lots of short-story style interludes. I could forgive all those flaws if there was a bit of verve to the book, but it is grimly Great American Novel Serious. Sorry, buster, but I've moved on."
"I amy have read this book when it first appeared but I can't remember. I was interested in reading it because of its departure from Cheever's normal milieu of suburbia. Its frank descriptions of prison life was considered very blunt years ago."
"The book was a little overly masculine at times, but very beautifully written. I'm glad I gave Cheever a second chance after disliking his short stories."
"This book is both inventive and conventional; it would even make a pleasant beach read. John Cheever effectively manages both a broad lyrical range and--do I dare say it?--a plot! Yes, it can be done. Falconer wrestles out many of the sordid details of a heroin addict sentenced to prison for fratricide (the gay lover, the methadone, the riots, the cat killing) with a prosody that seems somehow unattainable. And, it's not by any stretch a victim's story. Where Cheever excels is where he is able to wrap his mind around all the mental games we play while at the same time making the games at once serious and awkward. He portrays the grossness of humanity with grace and wit and further exposes many of our prides and prejudices as the free associations of benevolent chance. Cheever further artfully deals with an explosion of rhetorical ideals within a man who is essential thrown into a featureless cell to be forgotten by society. This book is nothing short of a masterpiece, and in all honesty--if it were solely for plot--it's not one I would pick-up, read the jacket, and say, 'this sounds good...' Fortunately, I began instead with the first sentence, and couldn't put it down."
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