Wild at Heart

Road-trip mytho-poeticism rendered almost entirely in dialogue, but without all that much criminal activity (and nowhere near the same feeling of sinister stakes the Lynch film brings out). This is not surprising, considering Barry Gifford started out on the poetry side of things, but this does read like a first novel, even if it apparently isn’t. There are a lot of thoughts and low-key philosophy thrown in that walks the line between profundity and dirt-bag wisdom.

It works well as a supplement to the David Lynch film in that the things I enjoy in each are completely different, though it took me a while to mentally age down Sailor and Lulu from their Cage/Dern incarnations. Probably the thing I most enjoy is that the only main show more character Gifford doesn’t try to inhabit is the obvious (potential) authorial stand-in, Sailor. Gifford is much more interested in Lulu, her mother, and Johnny Farragut, and that gives things a nearly feminist cast, which, one year before Thelma and Louise makes this amongst the first road-trip narratives primarily concerned with the female experience of it, albeit one written by a man. show less

Here we are introduced to Sailor and Lula- a pair of young free spirits hitting the road and heading west. I thought it would be a more violent and action orientated tale but it was a mostly an easy-going journey, until Sailor, an ex-con, decides to break the law again. I saw the film Wild at Heart many years ago. I am a big David Lynch fan but that one didn’t work for me. That said, once I discovered that the film was based on a series of books, I thought I might want to give one a try. I am glad I did, plus they are novella size, so you can get through them quickly.

It's really impossible for me to separate this text from the film that it inspired. I was already in love with all the characters. The book is more flash fiction, less mystical. Some of the more out there parts of the film are not to be found. Gifford's goal is realism, not surrealism. The ending is different. Sort of. It still blazes... for the wild at heart.

I read this back in the day in the lead up to seeing the film adaptation. I really shouldn't have bothered. Wild at Heart, following the adventures of Sailor and Lulu, never scales any great heights and made me wonder what indeed the film producers saw in the book to consider outlaying millions into filming it.

I actually liked the movie better for once.

La persecución a la que una posesiva madre somete a su hija Lula y al novio de ésta. Sailor, sirve de excusa para realizar un alucinante trayecto por el lado más salvaje de la sociedad estadounidense. Personajes pintorescos, psicópatas, mafiosos y siniestras representaciones bíblicas acompañarán a los jóvenes protagonistas a través del mítico Sur estadounidenses, tratado aquí con una crueldad, una violencia y una sensualidad inusitadas.

En lättläst klassiker. Fin kärlekshistoria med inslag av grit-lit och kriminalroman. Bra.