Millard Kaufman (1917–2009)

A couple sharpshooters go on a crime spree.

2.5/4 (Okay).

This is remarkably similar to "They Live by Night," which was released the previous year (and which I coincidentally watched last month). This movie has a better story, following a traditional tragedy arc rather than They Live By Night's inescapable existential doom. And the action scenes here are handled better. But They Live By Night had a better cast; it had a love story and a sort of warmth that really made you care about the characters. This movie is stock Noir characters being horny and making bad decisions.

(May 2021)… (more)

People either love or hate this book. While I like Vonnegut, Catch-22, etc, this book is unique. And entertaining. Kaufman's word choice is fantastic (yeah. he uses big words. Get over it and learn something) and he has great characters (a zany egyptologist who only wears dirty bathrobes, for example) and absurdly comical locales (a porn studio, old mansion, etc), and the circumstances that get the main character to Iraq are great. Tried to explain this book to a friend and came off sounding like a crazy person. The second half isn't as good but I was still more than willing to push through it and get to the end. Over all, I found this book entertaining, thought-provoking, and different.

(And better than his second book, Misadventure)… (more)

This was the second (and last, as he died before it was published) book by Kaufman, who wrote Bowl of Cherries in his nineties. I liked Bowl of Cherries better -- I found it's craziness a little more entertaining and the vocabulary/word choice was just fantastic (in a $10 word kind of way). That, said, this was still a very enjoyable book (and unlike Bowl of Cherries, had a good second half). Whereas Bowl of Cherries was more Vonnegut, this is more Coen brothers.

Noir genre, ambiguously set in the 80s in LA, murder mystery: Jack Hopkins is a real estate agent with a checkered past, an obnoxious boss, whiny girlfriend, and what seems to be a life of a hit man in front of him. A real estate mogul wants Jack to kill his wife, while his wife (our femme fatale) has offered to pay Jack $10 million to kill her husband. But then she turns up dead. Add in private islands, monkeys, illicit affairs, murder, rubies, backstabbing and dealmaking and it's an interesting, fast-paced read. This is more than just a murder mystery -- the characters are great in and of themselves and the ending is more than a "voila the murderer is revealed" type of ending (it's deeper).

I'd give this a B+. It's a rare combination of a quick read with actual substance, the characters are great, and I was entertained. It's a pleasant weekend read, but not life-altering or going to stick with you for years to come. Kaufman is such a great storyteller, you wonder what he would've done with an A+ plot.… (more)

Comic noir about a real estate agent entangled in a very messy domestic menage-a-trois leading to several murders and other shenanigans. Stylishly written with a cast of eccentrics and losers, it's like GlenGarry Glen Ross crossed with Fargo. Fun from the cocreator of Mister Magoo. See my full review at my blog here: http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2010/12/review-misadventure-by-millard-kaufman....… (more)