The Paperboy

There is some amazing writing here -- taut, surprising, incredibly perceptive. Take this description of the man kicked to death by the sheriff in the first pages, former car salesman Jerome Van Wetter

who was discharged finally not for being a drunk -- which he was, but drunks, in fact, are not always bad salesmen;someone has to sell cars to other drunks -- but because, even after he had been at the dealership many years and was as familiar a showroom fixture to loyal Plymouth buyers as the new models themselves, something in his deportment frightened customers off. He could not overcome it with clothes or talk of the state champion Little League team or his smile. The smile, in fact, only made things worse. I know this having once been

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left alone with that smile and the new line of Plymouths while my father and Mr. Duncan went into the office to close a deal on a Chrysler. The indistinct malevolence which Jerome Van Wetter carried hung off him at unexpected angles in much the way his suits hung on his bones, but gathered to its purpose in his eyes. There was a predatory aspect to the way they fell on you, expecting something, waiting, a tiny interest finally stirring, like a slow smile, as he found the little places inside you where he did not belong. He seemed to understand the effect he had on customers, and wore sunglasses indoors.

On the surface, the book first appears as a mystery. But I think it's more a study of the different sides of love built around the corruption of the reporters who are trying to uncover the truth behind Van Wetter and then the sheriff's murder. I never doubted these characters for a moment and the setting rang very true.

Don't watch the movie, BTW. Awful. show less

This is the third novel by Dexter I've read, and the third I loved but most likely won't read again. The prose is wonderful, dripping in humid Florida atmosphere. But it's so sad and profound that I don't know if I can stomach another go-through. Who knows.

One of the things that struck me about this book is how much is dissects the cruelness of people, even in the littlest of ways. It's especially true how men treat women in The Paperboy--even the well-meaning fellers are fairly awful.

This novel is a spare, gritty depiction of the unpleasant nature of journalism and the depths of immorality to which some of its practitioners will sink in an effort to win recognition. But it’s also far more than that. It’s also the story of a young man’s maturation—that young man is our narrator, Jack James, who tells many stories in the course of this novel. He tells the story of Thurmond Call, a local sheriff who was murdered in cold blood on a dark country road. He tells the story of Hillary Van Wetter, the local ne’er-do-well who was convicted of the murder. He tells the story of Charlotte Bless, a sexually combustible woman who has fallen in love with Hillary and who enlists the help of Jack’s brother (and his show more unscrupulous colleague) in freeing Hillary. He tells the story of Ward James, Jack’s brother, an intrepid and indefatigable journalist who struggles with the truth of every story he writes just as he struggles with the profound secret that plagues his every waking moment. He tells the story of Yardley Acheman, Ward’s writing partner, whose lust for journalistic glory poisons almost every character in the novel. And he tells the story of his father—an emotionally disconnected man who is simply incapable of creating any kind of bond with his sons in the wake of his wife’s abandonment.

Pete Dexter is such a masterful writer that all of these stories become one complex narrative web—the most minor tug on one strand of the narrative yields distinct and incontrovertible effects on all of the other strands. It’s impossible to separate the intricacies of Dexter’s tale as he examines universal themes like the nature of evil, the virtue of truth, the recklessness of ambition, the toxicity of denial, and the consequences of compromise in a way that makes all of these abstract ideals almost palpable. Rarely has such spare prose resulted in such stylistic power—Dexter is a writer who knows well how to tell a story. show less

I enjoyed this a lot......quicker read than usual, but i do love the small segmented chapters....they fit my busy life very well. Haunting, creepy, sad exploration of a pair of brothers, both very unlike each other, getting pulled into an investigation of a old local murder in a rural part of Florida in the 1960's. Fascinating study of the newspaper business, the odd obsession some seem to have with convicted murderers on death row, river dwellers, political corruption and dysfunctional families, all bundled into a relatively calm, but steady story that just flowed along effortlessly, in spite of the fact that the majority of these characters are pretty unlikable....but our narrator, and his quiet devotion to his awkward introvert show more brother pulls you along whether u want to or not. I just found out they made a movie of this.....very interested in seeing that now! show less

Something haunting about this book. Maybe it's the dead on portrayals of flawed human beings. I read a review that said Pete Dexter's characters really stick with you, and they do. They're drawn in short but revealing strokes. I was left with the impression, however, that one of the reasons they'll stick with me is that so many things were left unresolved in their stories. They nag at me like the feeling that I forgot to pack underwear for a long trip does.

Huh. The story in this book is good but the telling of story, is really slow and filled with a lot of unnecessary detail. I get trying to add atmosphere but this book for me just seemed to drag on, and yet at the same time more detail about the killer, the sheriff who was killed and the opinions of those in town are given barely any detail.
Good story idea poor execution.

This isn't really a mystery either but it's a fascinating well told and well written story about a family of a father and two sons. Ward and Jack are the brothers of their newspaperman father. Ward follows in his footsteps and Jack tells the story. But this is more than just a plot - it's a really interesting read. I have had the book on my list of those to check out and now I wish I could remember who told me to read it! Oh well. It was good!