Tough Guys screw around

Tough Guys Don't Dance by Norman Mailer

Well, I was a Norman Mailer virgin until now. The lead character, Tim Madden, fins himself in a sticky situation when he wakes up "on the 24th day after his wife Patty left him" to a car full of blood, a small pot farm with a head in a footlocker, and a call from the chief of police (now married to Tim's ex-girlfriend). Mailer creates robust characters in Tim and Chief Regency, the despicable drunk and the psycho cop. The tale is supposed to be an exploration of machoism and homosexuality, but I found it quite tame by today's standards. The plot, while claiming to be fast-paced mystery, is more about Tim's awkward worship of his tough guy father than the murder mystery. The climax comes too late and is so muddled (described by Wardley Meeks III and Captain Regency) that I wound up reading it twice just to be sure I had really understood the resolution. While Mailer's writing is well worth plodding through the book and he broaches some interesting topics, I won't be diving into the huge tomb, Executioner's Song, anytime soon.

I dedicate this post to one of my favorite tough guy movie characters, Patrick Swayze as Dalton in the movie Roadhouse. Swayze was great in this classic 80s flick. Just try to flip past it when it's on TV - I bet you'll wind up sucked in once again. I hope you're doing well Swayze.