Edward Bunker (1933–2005)

In my quest to escape from the safe little box the books I read normally fall within, I've challenged myself to pick up things that aren't usually me. Edward Bunker's No Beast So Fierce was my first attempt to do that. This is an autobiographical crime novel. It's written as the memoir of Max Dembo, a parolee from Folsom Prison who has just completed an eight-year term. Trust me when I say that this isn't the type of book I'd normally choose to read. Keep that in mind too, while you read show more this review. It's just the opinion of one reader who is exploring new territory.

Let's start with what I liked about this. Max Dembo is a pretty fascinating case. Imagine emerging from prison, only to find that you no longer fit in with the world as it is today. Max faces not only the issue of being a former convict, but also of being someone who hasn't been part of mainstream society for almost a decade. His clothes are wrong. His demeanor makes him stand out in a crowd. Even the way he talks isn't necessarily in style anymore. Here is a man who is finally free, and yet now has so much standing in the way of the new life he wants to build.

I can't tell you enough how riveting it was to watch Max face all this. Edward Bunker puts the life of a parolee in vivid black and white. It's no wonder that Max hates mainstream society. They treat him like a leper without even knowing him, simply because of where he's been. It took a lot for me to read through the parts of this where his simmering rage was directed at, well, people like me. People who don't know a thing about the system and how it creates people like him. If nothing else, this book opened my eyes to the huge divide between the former convicts and everyone else.

What I didn't like, and trust me I know it's just my own biases working against me, was that this was a really heavy book. It's obvious that it will be the instance you realize that Max isn't going to make it. Still, as he started the downhill slide, the thoughts and words that came onto the page were tough to swallow. Racism, sexism, it's all on the pages. I think what made it harder for me was that much of this book is very wordy. Bunker doesn't cut down Max's stream on consciousness for our benefit. It's all there, and sometimes it's a little overwhelming.

I'm not sure how much of this review actually makes sense, to be honest. I'm not even certain how I really feel about this book. I've given it three stars mainly because I liked it, but not enough to keep following Max. It's distinctly possible that it's because I never liked him in the least. The fact is, this is a well written book. It's true, and it's gritty. If that's for you? You'll probably enjoy it. show less

This was a fabulous book about a fabulous man. He was quite literally a genius and way above his years in mentality as a child, hence his super rebellious nature. As he puts it, he was dealt a bad hand, and the rest of his life he simply tried to make the best of it.

The book is a scathing look at the US penal (and judicial) system from someone who lived it a huge portion of his life. It also demonstrates just how much the system fails for those formerly convicted, who have done their time show more and paid the price, but then are disallowed from going back into society. You can't get a job with a record, you just can't. Minimum wage crap jobs is all that's open, and even those aren't always! It's a wretched situation.

Anyhow, aside of providing a look at the dismal situation of an American convict, we also, obviously, get a very good look the man writing about it all. And he's someone I wish I could have known. Incredibly intelligent, witty, bold, a bit rash, lots of fun... I'd, sadly, not heard of him before. But after learning all about him, and seeing how well he wrote while doing it, I am quite anxious now to go read his novels. show less

Decisamente cinico e nichilista, da leggere in momenti di tranquillità... Lo stile è vivido e immediato, e il racconto è graffiante, urticante, dà fastidio, in questo sta la sua forza.

A visceral- hard hitting crime fiction novel; from a man who practically grew up in the California penal system (Mr. Bunker was a thief and drug dealer, who spent more than 20 years behind bars before being released for the last time in 1975) In this book, Mr. Bunker has no time for florid/pretty prose. He gets to the meat and potatoes from the get-go (No pussyfooting, just the way me likes)

The main protagonists are: Troy Cameron and his two amigos; Diesel Carson and Gerald ‘Mad Dog’ show more McCain, whom after being release from the poky; are on a freight train to mayhem. Their plan is to only hit other criminals such as pimps, and drug dealers, because what are they gonna do? Call the cops?

Their first hit goes somewhat smoothly, the second one, however becomes complicated because their assignment is to kidnap a child from a former associate of a powerful Mexican kingpin. Amid all of this there’s an elephant farting in the room, because one of the protagonist is nothing more than a drug-addled, blood thirsty, cold blooded killer, who has innocent blood on his hands—a passage in the book which I found upsetting—but that’s what great art does; it’s supposed to move you one way or another, but move you nonetheless.

Five out of Five Stars for this dark, violent and unsettling novel.

Edward Bunker, writer and actor, born December 31 1933; died July 19 2005 RIP. show less