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Cutter and Bone [Paperback]

Newton Thornburg
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Mar 1 2001 Midnight Classics
A thriller, and a whacking good thriller, too—shows how much can be done by a writer who knows his business—the best novel of its kind in ten years!—New York Times

First published in 1976, Cutter and Bone is the story of the obsession of Cutter, a scarred and crippled Vietnam veteran and his attempt to convince his buddy, Bone, that the latter witnessed a murder committed by the conglomerate tycoon, JJ Wolfe. Captivated by Cutter’s demented logic, Bone is prepared to cross the country with Cutter in search of proof of the murder. Their quest takes them into the Ozarks—home base of the Wolfe empire—where Bone discovers that Cutter is not pursuing a murderer so much as the great enemy itself, them, the very demons that have dogged his life.

A prolific writer, Newton Thornburg lives in upstate New York. His novels include A Man’s Game, To Die in California, Dreamland, The Lion at the Door, and Eve’s Men.

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IT WAS NOT THE FIRST TIME RICHARD BONE HAD SHAVED WITH A Lady Remington, nor did he expect it to be the last. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Dead Souls Mar 19 2003
By A. Ross
Format:Paperback
One of the best depictions of mid-'70s America I've come across, this powerful novel was written when the country was struggling to recover from the Vietnam War and remains as a vivid reminder of that time. Set mostly in Santa Barbara, the story follows two men firmly stuck in cycles of self-destruction. Bone dropped out of the corporate life and left his wife and kids in Minnesota to float around California as a gigolo, while Cutter came back from Vietnam minus an arm and a leg and teeters on the brink of insanity. Both are utterly disillusioned with the world around them and spend a great deal of time drinking and trying to blot out their rapidly suburbanizing, strip-mallifying, consumerist surroundings. The third member of this circle of dead souls is the sarcastic, Quaalude popping Mo, Cutter's live-in girlfriend and mother to his baby.

The whole book reads like one big hangover-the party (late '60s free love, rebellion, Vietnam, etc.) is over, and someone's gotta pay. One evening Bone unknowingly witnesses a murderer disposing of a victim, and what he half saw leads to a half-baked scheme to make some money. In another writer's hands, this could have lead to a comic caper, but Thornburg is intent on showing the county's loss of innocence through the bitter, maimed, and reckless Cutter, and his guilt-ridden and aimless buddy Bone. One problem I had with the story was the friendship between the two men. The book unfolds from Bone's perspective, and it's hard to fathom why he keeps returning to Cutter's side, other than guilt and/or a self-destructive streak.

In any event, the book starts fairly slow and there were a few times I considered ditching it. By the second half though, the lean prose gets more and more compelling, and the dilemmas get a bit more interesting. The final quarter or so takes the two men on a road trip from California to the Ozarks, in possible pursuit of the murderer. The climax is awfully gripping in a "y'all ain't from around here" Deliverance kind of way, and the final sentence packs a huge punch. ...Still, book's theme-that the Vietnam war did irreparable damage to the American psyche and values, and led to an America where money and consumption are king and justice is a mirage-emerges in full color, and the book remains an important picture of the empty '70s.

Note: This was made into a great dark film called Cutter's Way.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Dialogue's great... Oct 10 2001
Format:Paperback
...but there's not a lot of action in this one. As for the much-vaunted "shocking end", well, I saw it a mile coming, but maybe that's only cause I read a lot of thrillers. All in all, an entertaining enough book, but let me stress this: Not in the Ross McDonald-Raymond Chandler-Walter Mosley-James Ellroy league.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Tough, Bleak and heartbreaking. April 30 2001
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
A mystery (that holds until the last line), love story and commentary on post Vietnam America. Thornburg paints a collection of the most realistic characters I have come upon in an age.

Read it.

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