Rum Punch

Ordell Robbie & Louis Gara #2

by Elmore Leonard, Joe Mantegna

Unputdownable! Beneath its fast moving surface, "Rum Punch" is a novel about growing old, about the way that time changes us, about the old dream of starting over again and its cost." -- "The Washington Post Book World." Pretty working-girl Jackie Burke is in a tight spot. She's just been picked up at Palm Beach International with fifty grand and some blow stashed in her flight bag. Lucky for her, the Feds want something Jackie's got: the inside track to Ordell Robbie, the notoriusly slick arms dealer. And they're ready to deal -- Ordell in exchange for her freedom. But Jacki's got another ace up her sleeve... Enter Max Cherry, bail bondsman. Big, tough, basically decent Max is on the verge of divorce and tired of the same old grind. That's where Jackie comes in. The fifty big ones are peanuts compared to what Ordell's got locked away in Freeport. But when a blond blowhead and a none-too-bright ex con try to muscle in on the action, it's time to pull and old bait and switch -- where the good guys are played off against the bad guys -- and where Jackie and Max hope to walk off into the Florida sunset with a hot half million in cold cash.

"Expertly blended...potent Dutch" -- "Chicago Sun Times."

"Rum Punch is Leonard's best work! He brilliantly reaffirms his right to the title of America's finest crime-fiction writer." -- "People.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Novels, Noir, Mystery Thriller

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Elmore John Leonard lived in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Memphis before settling in Detroit in 1935. After serving in the navy, he studied English literature at the University of Detroit where he entered a short story competition. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.

Father of Peter Leonard.

Reviews

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

DARK LIGHT BROWN



Ecco un classico Leonard (1992), autore prolifico (quasi una cinquantina di romanzi, più racconti a volontà, e sceneggiature), uno di quei romanzi che l’hanno reso celebre: crime fiction, trama complicata ma veloce e non impossibile da seguire, tanto dialogo e tutto da sballo.



Elmore Leonard è l’arte del dialogo:
Se un dialogo sembra libresco, lo straccio e lo riscrivo.
Quindi, alla ricerca dell’immediatezza, del sapore e del suono della strada, della verità, e via lontano dal parlato da “carta stampata”.
Una scelta non tanto stilistica, ma di caratterizzazione: il modo in cui un personaggio si esprime serve a definirlo tanto quanto gli abiti che indossa e la musica che ascolta.
Una lezione che George Pelecanos ha fatto sua.


Regista e protagonista.

I suoi protagonisti più che ricordare Chandler, malinconico e romantico, o lo schizofrenico Thompson, sono sull’impronta dei cowboys che popolano le pagine dei suoi (meravigliosi) racconti e dei suoi (presumo, perché non li ho ancora letti) romanzi western.
Si muovono ai margini della legge, da una parte o dall’altra di quel confine, e spesso sono tentati di attraversarlo. E, spesso lo fanno, lo attraversano: siano essi ufficiali giudiziari, garanti di cauzione come il Max Cherry di questo romanzo, rapinatori di serie B, strozzini.
Pesci piccoli, anche se sanguinari e spietati, soldati semplici della mafia, piccoli gangster del ghetto che se la tirano da padrini, trafficanti di armi o droga, gente ai margini dai giri grossi. Gente qualsiasi, ordinary people dell’underworld.


Protagonista e regista.

E personaggi femminili fuori dalla convenzione, di solito i migliori, di solito sono i suoi personaggi più coraggiosi.
Jackie ha 45 anni, è una hostess per una piccola compagnia aerea: dopo aver lavorato per TWA e PANAM, portando a casa tra i 40 e i 50 mila dollari l’anno, adesso è impiegata per una mini compagnia e il suo stipendio è sceso sotto la metà. Perché? Uno dei suoi ex mariti (ne ha già avuti tre) era pilota d’aereo con il vizio della cocaina – lei è rimasta incastrata per un trasporto che non era suo, ha pagato in silenzio al posto dell’uomo dal quale ha poi divorziato. E adesso a 45 anni, con sedicimila dollari all’anno, cosa si può aspettare se perde anche questo lavoro? Non è giustificata se cerca di mettere insieme in un colpo solo la sua pensione?


Robert Forster/Max Cherry con Quentin Tarantino. Forster veterano dello schermo, piccolo e grande, ha avuto qui la sua prima (e unica) grande occasione. Secondo me vinta in pieno.

Il titolo: nella nostra lingua evoca sensazioni sbagliate perché per noi il punch è più spesso bevanda calda, mentre il clima e l’atmosfera di questo romanzo richiedono abbondante ghiaccio. Tra l’altro, i personaggi del libro sembrano preferire la vodka, magari nella variante skrewdriver, più banalmente vodka orange (vodka con succo d’arancia).



Impossibile non fare il confronto tra libro e film considerato che il film è firmato Quentin Tarantino.
Per me rimane tra i migliori di Tarantino, l’ultimo del suo periodo d’oro, prima della deriva gigiona e autoreferenziale (dal mio punto di vista, a parte i due noiosissimi e prolissi Kill Bill, sono seguiti film divertenti e piacevolmente fatti, ma senza lo smalto dei primi, perché è appunto subentrato un eccesso di gigioneria e autoreferenzialità). Forse è stato il suo meno fortunato, sigh: probabilmente troppo sobrio, troppo poco stravagante per i suoi fan. Certo non per me.



Cosa cambia tra film e romanzo?
Bè, la trama si condensa ovviamente. In modo intelligentemente eclatante la protagonista da una magnifica bianca con gli occhi chiari diventa una bella pantera color cioccolatino, brown come il titolo del film (nel romanzo il personaggio si chiama invece Jackie Burke).
E cambia la storia tra Jackie e Max, il che comporta un finale differente.
Cambia l’ambientazione, dalla Florida si passa a Los Angeles.
Cast grandioso, tutto perfetto: la mia palma va a Robert De Niro che interpreta un Louis Gara dall’incerto QI in modo semplice ma magistrale.
La musica! Come l’intero film è un omaggio alla blaxploitation: su tutte, questa dal killer refrain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQfkf...


Pam Grier e Quentin Tarantino.

[Glenn Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recall someone saying how Elmore Leonard isn't old school `cause he built the school. Very true. My favorite Elmore Leonard novels are Tishomingo Blues and Pagan Babies; Rum Punch is my very favorite, thus this review. Also, in addition to reviewing the book, let me plug the audiobook read by Joe Mantegna. The voice of Joe Mantegna is pitch-perfect, his rhythm and inflections capturing each of the characters, male and female, as well as the mood and charged atmosphere of the entire story.

Perhaps readers know that Elmore Leonard listed his own `Rules of Writing'. You can easily find them with a quick Google search. Here is how Leonard follows his own rules in Rum Punch:

Rule: Never open the book with the weather or a prologue.
The novel's opening line: "Sunday morning, Ordell took Louis to watch the white-power demonstration in downtown Palm Beach." ----- A gripping scene right from the start; not a prologue or mention of the weather in sight.

Rule: Never use a verb other than `said' or an adverb modifying `said' to carry dialogue.
A snatch of dialogue from the first page: ""Young skinhead Nazis," Ordell said. "Look, even little Nazigirls marching down Worth Avenue. You believe it? Coming now you have the Klan, not too many here today. Some in green, must be the coneheads' new spring shade. Behind them it looks like some Bikers for Racism, better known as the Dixie Knights. We gonna move on ahead, fight through the crowd here," Ordell said, bringing Louis along.
"There's a man I want to show you. See who he reminds you of. He told me they're gonna march up South County and have their show on the steps of the fountain by city hall. You ever see so many police? Yeah, I expect you have. But not all these different uniforms at one time. They mean business too, got their helmets on, their riot ba-tons. Stay on the sidewalk or they liable to hit you over the head. They keeping the street safe for the Nazis."" ----- Right on, Elmore. No need for ornamentation here since Ordell's words speak for themselves.

Rule: Avoid using exclamation points (in other words, Leonard is telling us to let the action itself communicate power and excitement).
Vintage Elmore: "He saw the two bikers standing in kind of a crouch with their rifles, shoulders hunched, looking this way, nearer the house now than the gun range. He saw them out there in the open, cautious. Saw them both look toward the driveway at the same time and start to turn in that direction, raising their rifles. Louis heard the sound of automatic weapons, not as loud as he heard them in Ordell's gun movie or in any movie he had ever seen, and watched the two bikers drop where they were standing seem to collapse, fall without firing a shot, the sound of the automatic weapons continuing until finally it stopped. Pretty soon the jackboys appeared, the kids with their Chinese guns, curved banana clips, looking at the men on the ground and then toward the house."

Rule: Use regional dialect and jargon sparingly.
Elmore Leonard wrote to be read. When he writes dialogue, it doesn't matter if the speaker is from the inner city or the rural hinterlands, you can read it. Case in point: ""All right, go ahead," Simone said. "You find any other guns, or you find something else and you take it? The man's gonna come after you. Understand? Man that has more guns'n you ever saw in your life." ----- True to the character, in this case an older Black woman, but, again, you can read it. Every piece of dialogue in Rum Punch is equally clear.

Rule: Avoid detailed descriptions of characters and don't go into great detail describing places or things.
Here is how the author describes bail bondsman Max Cherry, one of the main characters, through the eyes of Ordell, another main character: "The man himself appeared neat, cleanshaved, had his blue shirt open, no tie, good size shoulders on him. That dark, tough-looking type of guy like Lewis, dark hair, only Max Cherry was losing his on top. Up in his fifties somewhere. He could be Eyetalian, except Ordell had never met a bail bondsman wasn't Jewish." ----- That's it-short, crisp, a few telling details.

Rule: Cut out parts the reader tend to skip.
The hardback edition of Rum Punch is 297 pages. I've read the novel three times, never skipping a page, ever. Why would I skip pages? What happens and what is said on every page drives the story.

Rule (the last and most important rule): If it sounds like writing, rewrite it.
Rum Punch does not sound like writing. That's a fact. A Victorian romance, it isn't. What Rum Punch sounds like - regarding dialogue - is a verbatim transcript from living, breathing people. And the world the characters inhabit is described in enough detail that we get a clear picture.

If you haven't read any of Elmore Leonard's 45 published novels, Rum Punch is a great place to start.

[James Thane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published in 1992 as Rum Punch, this book was then made into a very good movie by Quentin Tarantino in 1997, titled "Jackie Brown." The movie featured a great cast, headed by Pam Grier and is one of the best filmed adaptations of an E.L. novel. It's also one of Leonard's best novels with great off-beat characters, an engaging plot and dialog that could only be written by Elmore Leonard at the top of his game. With the release of the film, the book was then republished as Jackie Brown.

Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara first appeared in Leonard's 1978 novel, The Switch. Fourteen years later, Ordell has become a thief and minor-league gun runner while Louis is fresh out of prison. Also returning is Ordell's sometime girlfriend, Melanie. Ordell has a big score in mind that involves ripping off the leader of a group of white supremacists, and he recruits his old pal Louis to give him a hand, dangling Melanie before him as bait.

Ordell has a minor problem in that one of his confederates, a guy named Beaumont Livingston has been arrested. Ordell fears that Beaumont might give him up and so bails him out of jail, using a bail bondsman named Max Cherry. Ordell then has Beaumont killed.

Ordell is selling most of his guns in South America and is stashing the proceeds in the Bahamas. He uses an airline stewardess named Jackie Brown to smuggle the money back to the states in small increments, but when Jackie is arrested carrying one of the deliveries, Ordell fears that she might turn on him too. So again, he seeks the services of Max Cherry to get Jackie out of jail.

All of this happens within the first few pages and sets the book's very entertaining plot into motion. There are great twists and turns and it's a lot of fun watching these characters interact with their often conflicting and hidden agendas. For someone who has never read Elmore Leonard and who wonders what the fuss is all about (assuming that such a person could actually exist), Jackie Brown is a great place to start.

[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

4.5 Stars

“My ass may be dumb, but I ain’t no dumbass” – Ordell Robbie

Well, call me a dumbass because I had no idea that Rum Punch was the real name for



For the past 17 years I’ve been singing the praises of Tarantino’s film – only to find out Elmore Leonard was actually the mastermind behind this product. (In defense of my undying Tarantino love – casting Pam Grier as “Jackie Brown” rather than some rando white broad as “Jackie Burke” was genius). A Facebook discussion regarding “manly authors who write manly books” was the driving force behind me letting the moths out of my wallet and dropping $15.00 (FIFTEEN MOTHERFUCKING DOLLARS?????? HIGHWAY ROBBERY!!!!!) on Rum Punch this weekend. When I discovered one of my favorite films was actually a book by an author I should have been reading a long time ago (due to my Carl Hiassen fangirl status), I had to come off the cash and read it immediately.



What did I find? The movie “Jackie Brown” literally played in my head while reading this book. Leonard’s work is so brilliant that Tarantino didn’t even have to change the dialogue. I love an author who can toss a billion main characters into one big pot and produce something delicious – and that is what happens with Rum Punch.

If you’re one of the few who have never seen “Jackie Brown” but are looking for an action-packed tale of double-crossing with a complex plot that, at times, might leave you asking



– then this is the book for you.

If you’re like me and have read many “Elmore-inspired” authors, once you read the real thing you will know:

[Jayakrishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best Elmore Leonard novels. I am glad Tarantino made a film based on this. I would have preferred Cathy Moriarty playing Jackie rather than Pam Grier, who was great. I was thinking about Cathy from The Raging Bull (1980) while reading this because the air hostess character is white in the book. Impossible for me not to think and talk about the movie because I watched it before reading the book. Trust me, everything that's good in the movie is from this book.

Jackie Brown has some of the best dialogs ever written, all of which Tarantino used in his movie. The book starts off with a White Pride parade, which was not in the movie. I guess Tarantino knew exactly what needed to be taken from the book for his movie. A lot of other famous directors have ruined some wonderful Elmore Leonard novels. Tarantino did not ruin the movie. He made a movie that was as good as the book. I wish Tarantino just made films based on Elmore Leonard novels instead of making all those revisionist history movies.

Elmore Leonard, the chronicler of the urban lowlife of the best country in the world, delivers another classic. I remember laughing out loud when Max Cherry looked at all that modern art. Good job, Elmore. Your best book caught the attention of the best American filmmaker of the nineties.

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Bandits, Be Cool, The Big Bounce, Touch, Three-Ten to Yuma, 52 Pick-Up or Mr. Majestyk—there are probably others too, but I can clearly see, just from reading Rum Punch, why so many of Leonard's novels find their way to the big screen. This had a cracking story that was clever, cool, and really engrossing—despite me already knowing the nuts & bolts of it through Jackie Brown.

Dialogue. As well as the plot, it's all about the dialogue here because there is just so much of it. It is screaming MOVIE! right in your face; it is screaming TARANTINO! And in the end they came together like syrup on a pancake.

A crime novel yes, featuring some bad sons of bitches and things you would expect in a crime novel—guns, drugs, money, back-stabbing, dead bodies; but, through the growing relationship of the lonely Bail bondsman Max, and the ever so likable Jackie Burke, it sure does have a heart too.

I seem to have been on a run of late reading novels that are also films I've already seen. And generally I've found it doesn't really matter which comes first. Certainly didn't spoil my enjoyment here. Big Up Elmore!

[Carla Remy · Rating 5 out of 5]

12/2022

From 1992
I never read this before. The movie of it ("Jackie Brown ") came out when I was 21 and I only saw it once in the theatre. 25 years later I finally read the book. Figured I'd forgotten enough of the plot.
I usually can't give Elmore Leonard less than a five star rating. From this era Leonard anyway (1980 until he died in 2013). It's obvious and been said before what an incredible writer he is. So I'm not saying it.
It is funny to point out that Jackie (in the book Jackie Burke) is a blonde white woman and so is Karen in Out of Sght.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even more resonant and layered than The Switch, but just as compulsively readable and enjoyable, this is Elmore Leonard at his best. He never condescends to his flawed, conniving, desperate, and altogether human characters, and he never tips his hand as to where his twisty plot is headed. It’s a pleasure to know that he was incredibly prolific, and that there are so many more of his novels I have yet to read.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is classic Elmore Leonard story telling.
Leonard takes the phrase ‘There’s no honour amongst thieves’ and cranks it up more than a few notches. All the characters here are villains. Some are nice and some are down right horrible but they’re all villains just the same.
One of the horrible villains, Ordell Robbie, is a gun dealer with a great deal of money banked off shore, $500,000.00. to be exact. He wants to get his hands on his money and with the help of some of his nefarious friends sets up a fool proof scheme to bring it into the USA.
Now, the Feds know that Ordell’s a gun runner but just can’t catch him doing anything illegal. So they also set up a sting with the help of some of their nefarious friends.
Now we have a free for all. Everybody now has a scheme to get their hands on the money. All the villains are lying to each other. The police are lying to the villains and the villains are lying to the police. As I have said “it’s a free for all”.
There’s lot of humour but it’s all very, very black.
So, who comes out on top?
The answer to that question is in the book.

A great, entertaining read 5/5 stars.
Highly recommended.

[robin friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Flight Attendant And The Bail Bondsman

Elmore Leonard's novel "Rum Punch" (1992) tells a tangled tale of crime, violence and double-crossing written in a punchy style with sharp dialogue. The plot is confusing to follow at first, but it works out. Most of the story is set in West Palm Beach, Florida; but the setting is not the primary focus of the book. The main interest of the work lies in the snappy writing and in the characters and their relationships.

While the book is full of sexual scenes and of comments about women, the primary character is Jackie Burke, 44, a flight attendant for a cut-rate airline flying from Florida to the Bahamas. Jackie has been smuggling large sums of dirty money from the Bahamas to Florida derived from the illegal weapons trade. On one eventful trip, she is caught by Florida and Federal law enforcement agents. Jackie is eager to stay out of prison and wants to live through mid-life and beyond in comfort. She is thrice divorced. Jackie works both sides of the fence with law enforcement to stay out of prison and with a group of hard, violent criminals to play them off against each other and to try for a stash of cash. She is a tough, sharp no-nonsense woman in this novel.

When Jackie is first arraigned, she needs the services of a bail bondsman. Max Cherry, 57, has been in the trade for years but is growing tired of it, particularly because his business has been infiltrated by criminal elements. Cherry has long been separated from his artsy-craftsy wife but continues to give her money. When Jackie is bailed out by Ordell Robbie, a hardened criminal in his 40s involved in illegal arms and drugs, she is in danger of her life due to Robbie's fear that she will turn. Max becomes interested in Jackie and becomes involved in her difficult balancing act to save her life, stay out of jail, and walk off with some of a $500,000 stash.

The gritty story builds in tension and complexity with many acts of violence and many twists and turns as the cops, the crooks, and Jackie devise plots and counter -plots to get the money. The story also manages to show human situations, including the feelings of purposelessness expressed by many characters as they age. More than once, a character states that he doesn't know what he wants from life. The relationships of the crooks with each other and of law enforcement with each other also is explored. The developing relationship between Jackie and Max also is worked in to what otherwise would be a brittle, complex story of various groups trying to walk off with a heist.

"Rum Punch" is a fast-moving book which works as effective crime fiction and as writing with its characterization and style. The book was filmed by Quentin Tarrantino under the title "Jackie Brown". The Library of America, which aims to publish the best in American literature, has included "Rum Punch" in its three volume collection of crime novels by Elmore Leonard. It is valuable to see the breadth of American literature, including its tradition of crime writing. Leonard's writing is worth getting to know.

Robin Friedman

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another of my forays into 'Which is better, the book or the movie?'

I hadn't read 'Rum Punch' until now. I had seen 'Jackie Brown' - Quentin Tarantino's adaptation - twice before, but not recently. So I just gave it another look.

This one's something of a hard call in terms of 'Which is better?' because, in a way, the question doesn't really apply. Leonard's novel is one of his best. In it, he does what his fans love most about what he does. The story is a well-thought-out, complicated, sleek-and-slick mind-fuck.

In one of the blu-ray extras, actor Robert Forster is quoted as saying that the film is "50% Leonard and 50% Tarantino." To me, that's not accurate. At least in terms of the writing, the film is closer to 80% Leonard and 20% Tarantino. QT took out a lot of the peripheral content that made the book a richer experience but which wasn't necessary for making the movie a rich movie. On top of that, he added a fair amount of pure-Tarantino dialogue, most of which went to the brilliant Samuel L. Jackson. ~ and he added a killer soundtrack - which the book, outside of a bit of Motown, couldn't offer.

Upon reading Tarantino's screenplay, Leonard said it was not only the best adaptation of one of his books but the best screenplay he had ever read. Hmm... that latter statement is perhaps laying it on a bit thick. But it's an understandable response; it's a damn good screenplay. And, to me, 'Jackie Brown' remains QT's best film - rather faithful to a book that already packs a hefty punch.

[Daniel Villines · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Rum Punch we revisit characters from Leonard’s earlier novel, Switch, which allows his readers to marvel at the long-term growth of Ordell Robbie, Louis Gara, and Melanie Ralston. Let’s just say that Ordell Robbie becomes a criminal of the type that Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson cannot resist depicting in the movie adaptation of this novel, Jackie Brown.

Rum Punch is classic Elmore Leonard. The characters are a beehive of activity, each of them trying to manipulate life to their advantage and bringing themselves to points of decision. And the decisions they make are filled with a wonderfully realistic mix of amazement, surprise, and understanding.

In comparison to the 14 other Leonard novels that I’ve read, however, this one suffers a bit from character overpopulation. I think his best books, books such as Split Images and Killshot, focus on a limited number of characters to the point where we think we know them until we don't. In Rum Punch, the Leonard experience is spread pretty thin through most of the book until the end-game is reached. At that point, the focus narrows down and the book races towards its amazing ending in typical Leonard fashion.

[Stefanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unlikeable, un-root-for-able characters, rampant sexism, and not a lick of excitement. Huuuuge disappointment for my first (and likely last) Leonard book.

[Charlie Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jackie Brown

Otra novela de Leonard con personajes únicos relacionados entre sí por un fino hilo que en cualquier momento se puede romper.

Personajes extraordinarios como Jackie, la azafata que hace encargos de tráfico de dinero, Ordell, el traficante que controla todo, Max, el agente de finanzas para sacar a gente de la cárcel, Louis un ladrón torpe, Melanie, amiga fatal de Ordell o Ray el policía que quiere pillarlos.

Una trama que los hace interactuar en un entorno en el que todos quieren ganar pero para ello alguien debe perder. Ajustes de cuentas, bocas cerradas, una visión del mundo del tráfico de armas. Trampas y señuelos para todos en el juego final, ¿Quién se saldrá con la suya?

Jackie Brown fue llevada al cine por Tarantino con bastante éxito. No la he visto así que no puedo comparar la adaptación con la novela. Pero conociendo al director no me extraña que haya estado bien porque las historias de Leonard son perfectas para Tarantino.

[Bud Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just the shit. The absolute shit. Only focused on the characters. And through that focus never wavers from what is important to the story. Plot is squirrelly like life is. As chasing down that squirrelly plot in pursuit of understanding the characters, it gets to be that he’s not writing about characters, he’s writing about people and in doing that he’s not hashing out a plot but unspooling a close knit transcendence above the little life and its maze of lust and guts problems … major writer writing sideways through the average gook to get to the heart of it all — in league with Woolf and McCarthy and Morrison and Baldwin and Tim O’Brien … momentarily saying, look at this shit, you can’t do this, but you never thought to want to—Leonard is writing for the person mopping up the blood and also rearranging all the holy candles getting ready for Sunday, no least common denominator. it’s a good one … up there with The Things They Carry, and Jesus’ Son, and Fat City in my ‘dudes who don’t read will become readers after’ list … but also, I think it’s a real modern example about how anybody can write about class and race and not reduce people, but make an effort to really try and show them, full center, for who they are, caught in the middle of no-future capitalism … it’s no mistake that the climax of the novel is in a mall full swing of 90s vapid consumer culture — big recommend.

Update: I was at the beach all day drinking in the sun and the ocean was warm and lots of ecstatic swimming and then we went out to a very nice dinner cause tax returns came in so not saying this review is extra sweet, maybe it’s accurate, but before bed, just wanted to add some levity, maybe the book isn’t better than the Easter bunny, or maybe it is better than Santa Claus too, hard to puzzle out right now. I’ll try to reread on the worst day of my life and see what happens



Update Update: today August 23rd, 2021 while getting out of my car at Walgreens I was attacked by a person with a knife. A stranger. In an unprovoked attack. They plunged the knife into my chest and thanks to the cashier at Dollar General an ambulance was called and they saved my life. Person got away but I forgive them because they are fake for the purposes and constructs of this subpart in this review. But in the hospital when I regained consciousness the nurse asked me if there was anything I wanted. Wow. I said I wanted Rum Punch. She brought it and we read it together and we both said it was great. GREAT. but I knew for sure cause it was the worst day of my life. It was just a normal day for her, she said, not my words, hers. I’m not gonna describe her in some horny way Elmore Leonard would. Her name is Gail and she has a whole story but she asked I don’t air it out here so I won’t.

[Paul Bartusiak · Rating 5 out of 5]

After all these years, my first Elmore Leanord book.

What a Punch it packs!

Narrative form is truly different, even the tense of what someone speaks, and perspective can change in a heartbeat, so effective.

The dialogue pops, makes you really see the characters, makes you laugh out loud:

    "Man, this shit works on my nerves," Ordell said. "Tells me I should change the plans around. First thing, I have to find somebody to take Simone's place."
    "Don't look at me," Louis said.
    "I'm not looking at you, I'm thinking who I can use."
    "You're looking at me," Louis said in the dark.
    "You could do it."
    "Walk in the women's fitting room? How would I work that?"
    "Shit," Ordell said. "Lemme think."

It's no wonder the popularity of his work. Truly marvelous.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

A great place to start if you haven't read any Leonard: the Miles Davis of crime writers.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5 stars?

I really can't help wishing I had read this before I saw Tarantino's Jackie Brown; I suspect I would have given this novel a solid 4 stars. I enjoyed reading it, particularly since I had recently read the author's SWITCH for the express purpose of reading this one. So it was good to learn what happened to Ordell and Louis, and to appreciate the genesis of what Tarantino did with the story in his excellent movie.

[Joni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clásica novela policial de los noventas que Tarantino filmaría par de años después (quizás su mejor película). Un ritmo vertiginoso y los personajes y situaciones típicas del genero hacen una lectura rápida y entretenida.

[Jessica Haider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rum Punch is a smooth-talking, double-crossing novel. The plot? A flight attendant, a gunrunner, a bail bondsman, and an ATF agent walk into a South Florida crime caper, and each one believes they’re the smartest person in the room. Spoiler: they’re not.

Jackie Burke (the flight attendant I previously mentioned) is the kind of woman who can smuggle cash, outsmart the feds, and still make it to work on time. The dialogue is snappy, and the story moves as if it has a plane to catch.

Oh, and if any of this sounds familiar, it’s because Tarantino adapted it into Jackie Brown—same rum punch, just with a splash of Pam Grier and a killer, nostalgic soundtrack.

And by the way, the audiobook narration def had that smooth-talking, slick feeling.

[Pietro Crincoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dovrei leggere più spesso libri non scelti da me, come in questo caso, dove il libro è stato scelto da un gruppo di goodreads. La lettura è stata una piacevole sorpresa. I personaggi sono tratteggiati in modo vivido attraverso dialoghi molto credibili, il romanzo ti fa entrare nel mondo di trafficanti e spacciatori, ti fa capire le loro motivazioni e la loro psicologia senza bisogno di spiegazioni.

[Camille Dent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my kind of story in general, but I think avid readers of the genre would enjoy it a lot! I was really intrigued by the writing style, even if the plot itself didn't do much for me. Leonard's limited third-person narratives work extremely well as both story-telling and character development media.

[Cindy Landes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il y a des vieux thrillers qui vieillissent mals et d’autres qui ont ce petit côté vintage l’fun, comme celui-ci! ☺️
Il y avait aussi une touche d’humour qui donnait un côté rafraîchissant à ce thriller. Des personnages flamboyants, presque caricaturaux, mais dans un sens positif!
Bref, une belle surprise!

[Cxr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un nero dalla carnagione chiara che aspira ad uscire dal ghetto in cui è nato, un bianco dalla carnagione scura appena uscito di prigione dopo una condanna a quattro anni. Due improbabili delinquenti di piccolo cabotaggio e scarso cervello, Ordell e Louis sono i protagonisti di questo noir, insieme all’ immancabile femme fatale, Jackie, bella, intelligente e naturalmente vincente. Ah, c’è anche Max Cherry, garante di cauzioni, che innamorato di Jackie la aiuta, decidendo lui stesso di cambiare vita, salvo, poi ripensarci nel finale: “Dai Max vieni ti porto via da tutto questo”, gli dice Jackie e lui: “Ma dove andrai?” e lei “Non lo so, ma che importanza ha?”. A questo punto è il lettore a decidere il finale del sotto testo romantico del libro.
La trama fa acqua un po’ qui e un po’ lì, lungi dall’ essere quel meccanismo a orologeria dei migliori romanzi di genere. Personalmente ho trovato appena sbozzati e dunque psicologicamente poco credibili anche i personaggi. Ma il libro si fa leggere per la scrittura avvincente e per i dialoghi decisamente divertenti.

Tarantino ne ha tratto il film Jackie Brown, trasformando il cognome Burke in Brown e la bionda Jackie in una nera procace. Il film si fa vedere, ma a parte il filmato delle donne che pubblicizzano le armi, ha una prima parte piuttosto piatta e un po’ noiosa, sicuramente meno divertente del libro. Tra l’altro, travisa il personaggio di Ordell, trasformandolo nello stereotipo del nero che parla jive e ne è orgoglioso. Mentre Leonard fa parlare Ordell come un bianco, perché è proprio la negritudine il simbolo della povertà ed emarginazione da cui si vuole affrancare. Cinematograficamente molto riuscita è invece la sequenza finale del libro, lo scambio dei soldi, che Tarantino realizza con tre sequenze diverse, ciascuna dal punto di vista di un personaggio, ma proposte una dopo l’altra, invece che in montaggio parallelo.

Un caso in cui il film è meglio del libro? Non direi. Il libro è più originale, divertente, aperto. Tarantino ha alcune intuizioni cinematograficamente geniali, che interpretano al meglio la scena clou del libro. Ma per il resto è piuttosto noioso, mentre il libro non lo è mai.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've enjoyed many adaptations of Elmore Leonard's books so I figured it was about time I read one of them.

This was later turned into the film "Jackie Brown" by Quentin Tarantino and he was pretty faithful to the book. It follows Jackie Burke, a flight attendant who gets caught up in a gun smuggling ring while trying to appease both Ordell Robbie (the smuggler) and Ray Nicolet (ATF agent). She also strikes up an interesting friendship with Max Cherry (bail bondsman).

It's a nicely paced story and was a great introduction to Leonard's works.

[Johnathon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book, sharp, fast paced, cool dialogue and dark sense of humour.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is absolutely a high point in a career full of them. Like always, though, I find Leonard's stuff hard to review because all of his books, to one degree or another, are variations on a theme: double- and triple-crosses perpetrated by A) a shrewd woman, B) a world-weary guy (who typically has the hots for the shrewd woman), C) a couple incompetent villains, and D) assorted other Miami and/or Detroit lowlifes. And of course all of it is shot through with Leonard's unerring ear for dialogue.

Rum Punch is no different from a lot of Leonard's other work, but this one crackles even more fiercely. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why, though, except to say that the story – a flight attendant and a bail bondsman attempt to outwit the ATF and a gun-runner – is the perfect confluence of character and con. Quentin Tarantino turned this into Jackie Brown, his follow-up to Pulp Fiction, which is probably all you need to know. One of Leonard's best.

[Luca Masera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probabilmente, essendo "Jackie Brown" di Tarantino uno dei miei film preferiti, aver letto dopo il romanzo da cui è tratto (anche se qui la hostess protagonista della storia si chiama Jackie Burke ed è una bionda di Miami) mi ha reso un po' prevenuto nel giudizio.
Scorrevole nella lettura, divertente in alcuni passaggi, ma a mio avviso non molto di più... di sicuro non il memorabile capolavoro crime che mi aspettavo.
Forse, se lo avessi letto negli anni '90, anche io come Tarantino mi sarei innamorato di quei personaggi che, invece, oggi mi rimandano semplicemente agli strepitosi Robert De Niro, Robert Forster, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton e - soprattutto - la meravigliosa Pam Grier nei panni di Jackie Brown.

[Derrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only my second Elmore Leonard read. I really enjoyed it. The whole reason I wanted to read this is because I love the film Jackie Brown. The film follows the book pretty closely. Even had a lot of the same dialogue. I like the way Elmore Leonard writes and I have yet to read anything else quite like it.

[Jason Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Know how they say the book’s usually better than the movie? It’s cause of writers like Leonard.