Customer Reviews

Tishomingo Blues

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've seen Get Shorty, Out of Sight, and Jackie Brown but this was my first time reading one of Elmore Leonard's novels. It's obvious why his books are so popular in Hollywood; the story never drags, and his characterizations are dead-on perfect.

The plot includes a murder witnessed from an 80-foot high dive, a Mississippi casino, the Dixie Mafia, and various sexual liasons, all leading up to the climax at a Civil War reenactment. The main character is Dennis, a high diver who's another of Leonard's likable guys with a few flaws. The "good-guys", good being a relative thing with Leonard, are Robert, a Jag-driving streetwise gansta' from Detroit; Charlie, a Native American who may have pitched for the Tigers in the World Series; and John Rau, a straight-as-an-arrow lawman. Bad guys include an ex-deputy who runs the Dixie Mafia and his henchmen. A variety of other folks swirl in and out of the story.

What's best about this book is how even though you're never really sure what will happen next, the characters never do anything you wouldn't expect them to do. The people in Elmore Leonard's stories are smart, funny, sexy, and completely true to their motives. This will certainly not be the last of his books which I read.

***1/2

I've read only a few of Elmore Leonard's works, mostly from early on. Besides the tight plotting, sinister edge, and note-perfect dialogue, they all carried a kind of implicit moral heft.

So, despite its being manifestly better than 90% of the crime novels out there on the top lists, I was a bit disappointed in this venture. The plot meanders, its wheels amiably clanking rather than being ominously greased, and the cold-blooded killers we're supposed to root for seem to have nothing over the ones we're supposed to root against, except for a better sense of style. There goes that moral heft.

The rest of the master's strengths are still on display, though. And if it's not a page turner throughout, there are only a few slow stretches. There's the aging, philandering high-diver. The endearingly daffy subculture of Civil War re-enactors. The smoothly enigmatic blues fan from Chicago, arranging for a victory in his turf war with the inept local Mafia, which he intends to be as precisely choreographed as the battle of Brice's Cross Roads.

They all make for solid entertainment. But on the whole this will become more memorable within the canon of films based on Leonard (once the inevitable movie is made) than within the canon of his books.

Dennis Lenahan is a professional show diver. He travels the US looking for the opportunity to showcase his talents. It is in Tunica, Mississippi that he lands a job doing a diving show at the Tishomingo Lodge and Casino. While there he befriends many of the eccentric characters including many women and a black gangster from Detroit named Robert Taylor. After inadvertently witnessing the execution of his helper by the local mob, Dennis feels his own life is in danger and accepts the friendship of Robert Taylor who soon pulls him into his scheme to take over the drug trade of Tunica from the local boys. The showdown will occur at a Civil war reenactment.

The art of characterization is what Elmore Leonard does best. In fact, he may very well do it better than anyone else. This latest book is no exception to that. The plot can be a bit flimsy but it is the characters that bring it to life. Humor is also interspersed with the relatively casual and emotion free murders. The use of a Civil War reenactment provides a clever yet lighthearted approach to the ludicrous behavior of the bad guys and the really bad guys.

I liked this book, and I also like Mr. Paradise. Leonard is an acquired taste, in my opinion, but everyone should try at least one of his books. Leonard's writing style is always a pleasure, full of wit and sly observations that most of the rest of us miss. The premise was interesting in this book also, as was the connecting of the different characters. Also liked "The Last Juror" by Grisham and "The Bark of the Dogwood" by Jackson McCrae.

A high-diver performer witnesses a murder while standing on top of his dive ladder, and he tries to decide whether to admit to it or not. Meanwhile, he's befriended by a black guy who is trying to move into the drug business in this small town. His plan is to kill off the main people currently running it during a Civil War reenactment. Weird plot twists and you never know what is going on until it happens. Didn't care much for it.

this has all the Leonard character trademarks. It's Quirky, dangerous, sleazy, funny etc... same with the dialoge,unsual plot and intermittent violence. but it lacks anyone to care anything about. The main character, Dennis, could be someone to relate to but he's just not enough of a presence. And I didn't find myself caring one way or another about the rest. As for plot, you really don't get any kind of handle on what's happening or is going to happen untill around page 180. By then its all so messy you just don't care. I'm not the kind of reader who needs to be led hand in hand from one point to the next, but I just found myself asking too often "what's the point?" Its Leonard allright, just not enough.

Plain hard work all the way through. What on earth was going on, and why should I care less anyway? It was slow and at times incomprehensible; I got lost with whole passages of the dialogue: it seemed to be written in a foreign language at times.

Strangely, I did like the main character Dennis. If this writer is good at anything to do with writing then it must be in creating believable and sympathetic characters.

But the story was utter boring rubbish, with a long and tedious build up to a pathetic little shoot out. All the baddies get killed and the goodies (who were baddies too, but not so bad) survived. HOORAY !! But by the end I was hoping they would all get shot.

What a waste of time.

A thriller, not a whodunnit, set in messy Mississippi. Dennis, a show diver, comes to town to dive at the Casino. Robert Taylor, a smooth talking blues fan from Detroit, comes with his own agenda. The characters are very colourful if not highly original, and there's definitely room for a few laughs as the plot unfolds. But, unfortunately, not my type of book.

I read this book, when it first came out in hardcover and picked it up again from a borrowing library when it was there in paperback and I think this is a great Elmore Leonard story. I decided recently to get the cd version so I could experience the story in my car one more time. The story is great - 5+ stars, however the narrator on the multi cd set leaves something to be desired. He certainly can read well, and had good pacing, except, he does a bunch of imitations! Instead of creating unique characters he does Bernie Mac, Billy Bob Thorton, and more - even though those voices do not fit the characters being talked about. Like the ultimate fantasy castint by the reader. Sure, he does a good Bernie Mac, but c'mon it doesn't lend itself to the character and just because a Casino guy is named Billy - does that mean you have to make him speak in a bad "Sling Blade" parody. A wonderful book audibly ruined.

This ultra-cool novel is thoroughly entertaining cover to cover.
I can't wait to see the Movie. Characters range from the super cool to the corn-ball and hysterically funny!
A must read...would convert anyone to an Elmore fan!