Bookman

by Ed Baldwin

Selling books door to door in small towns in Mississippi after dark was no easy job in 1965, but Phil Lazar got good at it. His immature redneck bad behavior leads to hilarious hijinks and harsh consequences until that night in the Memphis jail when there was no one else to call but the man he'd been running from all along. The civil rights struggle was in the news that year, but the twist that leads to Phil's redemption tears open stereotypes of black/white interaction to show a much more nuanced cooperative relationship that underpinned commerce and politics in Memphis; then and now. Read about the Mid-South as it was, and is, and could be.

172 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1990

About the author

Ed has lived in every southern state except Mississippi; but he spent the night in jail there once. That was the basis for "Bookman," historical southern fiction.

A former Air Force flight surgeon, Ed writes adventure novels featuring exotic locations, international intrigue and fast paced action featuring Captain Boyd Chailland, an Air Force fighter pilot turned undercover operative. "The Other Pilot," "The Devil on Chardonnay," The Mingrelian," and "The Fourth Domain" have all hit the Amazon best seller lists in political, financial, and travel categories.

Returning to his southern roots, Ed has completed "Sliding Delta," a story about Delta blues music. It will be released June 1. He is researching "Empire of the Sunken Lands," a multi-generational saga about the draining of America's largest swamp west of the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

Ed lives in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Reviews

[Ed Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you ever wonder what it would be like selling books door to door? How about in small towns in Mississippi in 1965 at the height of the civil rights struggle? This book, my first novel, has been in the Library of Congress since publication because a young man struggling with his own demons sees writhing social change in the Mid-South first hand. A lawyer at the LOC told me their selection criteria for long term inclusion in the collection lean heavily toward books that show a place and a time. That's Bookman.

I started Bookman in 1979, and it was published in trade paperback in 1990. The movie rights were purchased by Bruce Carlson, and it remains in development. It has just been re-released in Kindle format in December, 2012.

I give my own book four stars, deducting a star because the protagonist is a jerk. I thought the story should be told through the eyes of a typical bookman; someone who had failed at something and was successful on the rebound. Most people think Bookman is funny, but there is some serious stuff there. Read Bookman, and go back to Memphis, 1965.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for review, so I want to give my honest opinion.

From someone who has tried out door-to-door sales, I think this book really captured the environment well. I didn't do so well with that job, but I understood his rise and fall. I also think the book was wrapped up well, even with the main character's open-ended choice.

I felt like the beginning was very uneventful. The end was where things were exciting. Also, I know the book's purpose is to showcase one man's odyssey, but it also mentioned highlighting the setting (time and place). I didn't really get any insight into those things.

[Eileen Carter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my type of book

I just couldn't seem to get interested in this book. As much as i tried i found it to be dull and not one to hold my attention.

[Virginia Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye a few years older and plunked down in the Mid-South. That’s sort of how Ed Baldwin’s Bookman unfolds, except that Phil Lazar is not as innocent as Holden and he engages in a lot more sex and drinking. The book is a snapshot of the hot, humid, tense days of the mid-1960s, with a background hint of Civil Rights struggles and a casual acceptance of white privilege, before there was such a term.

The story is narrated by Phil, and it begins with a flash-forward 20 years to his life as a community leader and head of the family business. Then the narration takes the reader back to Phil’s beginning as the discredited, shotgun-wedded father-to-be who is forced to do the dirtiest, most boring jobs in his father-in-law’s florist business. The rest of the book tells how the young scoundrel evolves into the solid businessman of the opening chapter.

Along the way, Baldwin portrays the characters, escapades and politics of an occupation and business that no longer exists -- door-to-door selling. In the interest of at least partial disclosure, I knew the author when he first wrote the book and I, too, knocked on doors selling Collier’s Encyclopedias as a college student one summer. The depiction is accurate, from the recruitment, training and job conditions, to the pitfalls of knocking on the door of the home of the chief of police of a small town with a “no soliciting” law.

Baldwin keeps the action moving. Just about the time you tire of the drinking parties or the sales trips, he drops something new into the story. Baldwin went on to write gripping thriller novels. But this, his first novel, offers a different kind of suspense, wondering how this screw-up is going to learn how to man up and straighten out his life.

[Amy Lynch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bookman's Rise and Fall

This story, set in the mid '60's in Memphis, captures all the highs and lows of salesmen lives during that era. Interesting twists keep the story line interesting and the reader's interest piqued. The end is a bit abrupt, but no less interesting than the rest of the story.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story; nice ending

[Marlene]

Also not my favourite book. Sorry.

[Eryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Interesting Take on a Coming-of-Age Story

It's a good book, about something I've never experienced, selling books door-to-door. (I sell books, but from a shop.) The day of these salesmen might be gone, but it's an interesting insight to the time without bludgeoning the reader over the head about it. This reads like a memoir, and a light-hearted one at that. The last chapter I kind of cruised through when the MC was talking about what he had learned, but was surprised when the book just ended there. It seemed sudden. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it. However, it could use an editing/kindle format polish. There were several punctuation errors that could be attributed to a bad upload. It wasn't enough to keep me from reading.