No Way to Treat a Lady

by William Goldman

Uno dei migliori noir mai scritti.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Goldman grew up in a Jewish family in Highland Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and obtained a BA degree at Oberlin College in 1952 and an MA degree at Columbia University in 1956.His brother was the late James Goldman, author and playwright.

William Goldman had published five novels and had three plays produced on Broadway before he began to write screenplays. Several of his novels he later used as the foundation for his screenplays.

In the 1980s he wrote a series of memoirs looking at his professional life on Broadway and in Hollywood (in one of these he famously remarked that "Nobody knows anything"). He then returned to writing novels. He then adapted his novel The Princess Bride to the screen, which marked his re-entry into screenwriting.

Goldman won two Academy Awards: an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for All the President's Men. He also won two Edgar Awards, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Motion Picture Screenplay: for Harper in 1967, and for Magic (adapted from his own 1976 novel) in 1979.

Goldman died in New York City on November 16, 2018, due to complications from colon cancer and pneumonia. He was eighty-seven years old.

Reviews

[Neil Schleifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting psychological thriller with compelling characters. This story was turned into a 1968 film (with a screenplay co-written by the author) and later adapted into a musical play Douglas J. Cohen. The premise is compellingly Freudian -- we become what our mothers make us and we have a choice: we can let that maternal influence kill us, or we can kill them. In the case of the serial killer at the heart of the story, he kills his mother again and again, leaving an ironic symbol on each victim's forehead: the lipstick smudge of his own mother's kiss. He is tracked down by a detective with his own mother problems. The idea that both killer and cop might be cut from the same cloth is a fascinating premise. It is this idea that allows the story to transcend being just a cat-and-mouse chase. Arguably, Goldman improved upon the story in adapting it from page to film. The screenplay alters some story elements significantly for the better, including the virtual elimination of a sub-plot involving a copy-cat killer that figures strongly in the novel's denouement. Similarly, the author's style in the novel can, at times, be jarring in the way that he switches gears. Sometimes we are reading diary entries, sometimes watching things from the comfortingly distant perspective of the omniscient; sometimes we are inside the character's head, at others reading articles from the Daily News or NY Times. This plays out as more of an interesting experiment in exposition than effective story-telling. Still the story and the characters stand out as first-rate. Readers be warned -- there are, at times, some graphic descriptions of violence.

[Daniele Palma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bel giallo, i dialoghi sono degni di un "hard boiled" e aggiungendoci una spiritosaggine direi che è un frettoloso Marlowe di Chandler, perché frettoloso? La storia si conclude un po'troppo sbrigativamente, curato maggiormente poteva diventare un bel "io uccido" di Faletti, a parte queste riflessioni il testo è bello, il giallo prende, coinvolge non annoia, in 150 pagine (che sono pochissime) tutto si svolge in modo ordinato ed esauriente, i personaggi li conosciamo nel vivo e subito.
Lo consiglio, anche per vivere un po' il clima degli anni 60/70.
P.s. è statunitensissimo al 1000%

[Aaron Martz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, clever and amusing thriller that reads like a lost Alfred Hitchcock story, complete with mommy issues and jealous killers. The twists and turns pile up all the way to the end, and in between there is even time to hash out the lead cop's story - his mother being the worst of the bunch. This is all very fast-paced and funny in a macabre sort of way, and the ending is uproarious. This book is worth tracking down, even if you'll likely have to pay out the nose for a copy.

[Ivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pulp fiction. An enjoyable read. Some of the characters are pretty poorly drawn, and the dialogue is often forced - I didn't believe the characters would say such things (just bad - even allowing for the times). And worst of all was the mother of the detective; just too much. I really believe the detective would have given the murderer his mother's name and address. Still, it was compelling. The character I liked most was Sadie Bellows - but only because she reminds me of someone I actually know. My final thoughts on this novella is that it's fun and quick, but it is one of those rare cases where the film was better than the book.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can really see the path(s) Goldman wound up taking with his writing in this book - the dialogue-heavy scenes and short chapters (53 in 160 pages) point toward his future in screenplays, while his rushing writing - sentences within sentences, both long and headlong - became a hallmark of his novels, making them exceedingly difficult to put down. It was his fifth novel, but I think it was the first one to truly tap into Goldman's gusher of talent. It's no footnote - it's a preface...

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. Now I want to watch the movie again. I remember loving it when I was a teenager.

[rndgmoat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-done thriller from a transitional era in the genre's development, Goldman's No Way to Treat a Lady is a quick and nasty read that is equal parts Jim Thompson and late-period Alfred Hitchcock.

The story focuses on a serial killer strangling victims throughout Manhattan and the somewhat damaged policeman who sets out to catch him. Goldman displays his skills as a screenwriter in this economically-written novel of genuine suspense featuring moments of black comedy and gut-churning violence.

We can have an intellectual discussion about the societal implications of so many compulsively readable novels about violence against women, but if you are a fan of the two genre influences cited above, you will like this quick read. Goldman doesn't waste words and comes up with some really clever set pieces for the killer's increasingly elaborate murders. Along the way, we get a healthy dollop of paperback Freudianism and a very telegraphed fridging of a female character. 2/3 of the way through, the book takes a turn and reaches for greatness before concluding with a genuinely dark ending.

All in all, if you like this kind of thing, this is a great piece of crime fiction.

[Grump · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a psycho killer strangling women in 60s NYC. He calls the detective working the case to taunt him. Then there’s a twist. Each chapter comes from a different angle, sometimes it’s the killer’s inner thoughts, sometimes it’s the cop’s diary, sometimes is an excerpt from the Daily News. The book moves quick and by changing up the POVs, Goldman makes what could be a run of the mill murder mystery a fairly compelling little read.

There’s a lot of violence against women and zero likable female characters. But the author did go on to write the Princess Bride and we all know how capable Buttercup was.

A decent short-flight crime story.

[Bogdan Pisai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deși noir, nu e lipsită pe alocuri de umor. Destul de previzibilă de la un punct. Am citit o ediție în franceză (”Soyons regence!”) și, în ciuda așteptărilor, am folosit adeseori dicționarul.

[G. Salter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The themes (policeman vs detective... but are they more like each other than they think?) aren't quite so novel today, but the plot is still relentless, the twists entertaining, and the dialogue snappy.

[Zev · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was -boring-. The way the multiple POVs were used, and the lack of clear delineation between flashbacks and modern-day, was probably so novel and creative in 1964. It's still used today, but differently. Here, it's sloppy. Maybe there's been a lot of growing pains around this literary device over time. I was not attached to any character. I didn't care about what turned out to be such a flimsy plot. This was a character study with scene and costume changes. It was really a story about two bland people who the author tried to make seem edgy. Maybe they were when this came out. Anti-Semitic stereotypes are present. Mostly I rolled my eyes but sometimes gritted my teeth. The book ended on a massively open vagueness. How unsatisfying, even in such a boring book. Don't waste your time on this literary hunk of boredom.

[Dino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bellissimo noir in cui il maniaco omicida deve farsi "poliziotto".