Skip to main content

#Review of an Evergreen Bestseller - A Stone for Danny Fisher

A Stone for Danny Fisher is one of those evergreen bestsellers that has wowed readers across several generations. 

Why did I pick this book? For one, I remembered reading it way back when I was in college and being consumed by it! It had made a huge impact on me and I particularly recalled one scene that has remained with me all through the years -- an emotional, gut-wrenching scene involving Danny and his beloved dog, Rexie.

Second, it was one of the first books that introduced me to the genre of "pulp fiction". Harold Robbins was notorious for writing 'trashy books with a lot of sex' but this is not one of them! This is one of his early books -- the depth of emotion and the motivations of Danny Fisher who lived in the times of the Great Depression could rival those of any literary fiction novel.

Third, A Stone... has tremendous nostalgic value for me. I remember discussing this book with my Dad. Somehow, reading it again was like reconnecting with him and reliving those moments.

Here goes my review:

Forty-plus years after I'd first read A Stone..., I found it as compelling a story as I had when I first read it. I could not put the book down until I finished the last page. I was tearing up once more when Danny loses his beloved dog Rexie. I found myself experiencing anguish all over again at the blows that life deals this talented boxer. Danny could have gone on to become a celebrated boxer but instead has to constantly fight poverty. The angsty relationship between Danny and his father is one of the best fictional accounts of father-son relationships. Sarah/Ronnie the prostitute with a golden heart is probably a role model for all those yesteryear movies with similar characters that have graced the celluloid screens of Hollywood as well as Bollywood. The relationship between Danny and Nellie and the ups and down they face is sweet and emotional, heart-wrenching and realistic. And then there is Danny's brother-in-law, Sam - a character with shades of grey who plays a huge role in Danny's life. Set in the age of the Great Depression, the story delivers an emotional punch in the gut after all these years! 

 It would make a great movie and strangely enough there has been only one adaptation of the book -- the 1958 movie starring Elvis Presley, King Creole.

If you have read the book, do read it again and if you haven't, don't miss it!

Labels:

Comments

  1. Tarang Sinha29 September 2018 at 15:09

    Nice review and it sounds interesting. That book is special if you can re-read it and still enjoy {I rarely re-read books}. Also when you feel like discussing it with someone. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous29 September 2018 at 15:21

      Yes, indeed. Thanks for reading the review, Tarang. :)

      Delete
  2. Rakhi Jayashankar29 September 2018 at 23:34

    Short and crisp review

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Facing my fear - one Pitch at a time

Pitching makes me freeze up. In fact, the very thought of it makes me wanna run away.  For a screenwriter that's simply bad news. Because no matter what, if you want to get your stories out of your computer and hit the big screens, then you need to get comfortable with selling your story to potential producers and studios. And the first step in that journey is pitching.  My fear of pitching has prodded me to find different ways of overcoming the hurdle. So, for a few years I tried to work with agents in the hope that they would read my book and be able to handle the job of pitching. But soon I realized that agents were not into reading. So, I was just another name in their long list of clients. How that helps them grow their business is a different story, and one that I will perhaps share at a later point when I get around to solving that mystery! But the turning point (life does imitate screenplays!) came when I was called to pitch my book to a prominent OTT channel. This was...
1 comment
Read more

Basu Chatterji's "Balcony Class" Films

Basu Chatterji's Rajnigandha was like a breath of fresh air in the 1970s film universe of Bombay. At a time when the Angry Young Man was beginning to dominate celluloid screens, Amol Palekar was as un-hero-like as you could get. He was the Common Man who traveled in buses, did not have hero-like mannerisms and did not breathe fire and brimstone at his opponents. Basu Chatterji's Middle of the Road Cinema burst on to the scene and surprised the movie-going audience with its everyday situations and storylines that had an undercurrent of humour. Chatterji catered to an audience that he liked to call the "Balcony Class".  Anirudha Bhattacharjee, author of Basu Chatterji and Middle-of-the-Road Cinema writes an entertaining and heartwarming account of the life and work of Basu Chatterji, one of the most under-rated directors of Indian cinema. Recall of Chatterji's brand of feel-good, slice-of-life movies is perhaps highest for his Rajnigandha, Chotisi Baat, Baaton Baa...
4 comments
Read more

'Pure Evil' has been my biggest and most complex project - Author Balaji Vittal

Love them or hate them, you simply can't ignore them. That cliche is perhaps most apt when it comes to the bad men of Bollywood. In fact, some of the most memorable lines of dialogue have been mouthed not by the heroes but by the villains of Hindi cinema. So it is only fitting that these shining stars of the dark world (after all, antagonists are the protagonists of their own stories!) deserve to be spotlighted. Balaji Vittal , the author of Pure Evil: the Bad Men of Bollywood undertakes this onerous task of highlighting the world of these evil characters and how they have come to occupy a special place in the hearts and minds of movie goers.  I spoke to Mr. Balaji Vittal, a National Award winning and MAMI Award winning author of Bollywood books, a columnist for News18, Outlook India, The New Indian Express , a Bollywood commentator and a public speaker, about his journey of venturing into the world of Pure Evil .   Here are some excerpts:   Your book "Pure Evil: the Bad...
Post a Comment
Read more