What do you think?
Rate this book
A Swell-Looking Babe
The Manton looks like a respectable hotel. Dusty Rhodes looks like a selfless young man working as a bellhop. And the woman in 1004 looks like an angel. But sometimes looks can kill, as Jim Thompson demonstrates in this vision of the crime novel as gothic.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
56 people are currently reading
1610 people want to read
About the author
Jim Thompson
160 books1,630 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
James Myers Thompson was a United States writer of novels, short stories and screenplays, largely in the hardboiled style of crime fiction.
Thompson wrote more than thirty novels, the majority of which were original paperback publications by pulp fiction houses, from the late-1940s through mid-1950s. Despite some positive critical notice, notably by Anthony Boucher in the New York Times, he was little-recognized in his lifetime. Only after death did Thompson's literary stature grow, when in the late 1980s, several novels were re-published in the Black Lizard series of re-discovered crime fiction.
Thompson's writing culminated in a few of his best-regarded works: The Killer Inside Me, Savage Night, A Hell of a Woman and Pop. 1280. In these works, Thompson turned the derided pulp genre into literature and art, featuring unreliable narrators, odd structure, and surrealism.
The writer R.V. Cassills has suggested that of all pulp fiction, Thompson's was the rawest and most harrowing; that neither Dashiell Hammett nor Raymond Chandler nor even Horace McCoy, author of the bleak They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, ever "wrote a book within miles of Thompson". Similarly, in the introduction to Now and on Earth, Stephen King says he most admires Thompson's work because "The guy was over the top. The guy was absolutely over the top. Big Jim didn't know the meaning of the word stop. There are three brave lets inherent in the forgoing: he let himself see everything, he let himself write it down, then he let himself publish it."
Thompson admired Fyodor Dostoevsky and was nicknamed "Dimestore Dostoevsky" by writer Geoffrey O'Brien. Film director Stephen Frears, who directed an adaptation of Thompson's The Grifters as 1990's The Grifters, also identified elements of Greek tragedy in his themes.
James Myers Thompson was a United States writer of novels, short stories and screenplays, largely in the hardboiled style of crime fiction.
Thompson wrote more than thirty novels, the majority of which were original paperback publications by pulp fiction houses, from the late-1940s through mid-1950s. Despite some positive critical notice, notably by Anthony Boucher in the New York Times, he was little-recognized in his lifetime. Only after death did Thompson's literary stature grow, when in the late 1980s, several novels were re-published in the Black Lizard series of re-discovered crime fiction.
Thompson's writing culminated in a few of his best-regarded works: The Killer Inside Me, Savage Night, A Hell of a Woman and Pop. 1280. In these works, Thompson turned the derided pulp genre into literature and art, featuring unreliable narrators, odd structure, and surrealism.
The writer R.V. Cassills has suggested that of all pulp fiction, Thompson's was the rawest and most harrowing; that neither Dashiell Hammett nor Raymond Chandler nor even Horace McCoy, author of the bleak They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, ever "wrote a book within miles of Thompson". Similarly, in the introduction to Now and on Earth, Stephen King says he most admires Thompson's work because "The guy was over the top. The guy was absolutely over the top. Big Jim didn't know the meaning of the word stop. There are three brave lets inherent in the forgoing: he let himself see everything, he let himself write it down, then he let himself publish it."
Thompson admired Fyodor Dostoevsky and was nicknamed "Dimestore Dostoevsky" by writer Geoffrey O'Brien. Film director Stephen Frears, who directed an adaptation of Thompson's The Grifters as 1990's The Grifters, also identified elements of Greek tragedy in his themes.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
March 21, 2015
Dusty Rhodes is one seriously screwed-up dude. Of course when this book was first published in 1954, no one would have thought to call him a "dude," but no one would have disputed the fact that he was a young man with some pretty nasty problems--in other words, just the sort of protagonist that you'd expect to find in a novel by Jim Thompson.
Dusty has a little bit of college behind him--how much is not exactly clear--and he had once hoped to go to medical school. But he had to drop out of school after his mother died and his father lost his job at the local high school. This is back in the days of the Red Scare, and the local crusaders have accused the elder Mr. Rhodes of signing a petition upholding the right of free speech in America. And back in that day and age, such an accusation was more than enough to get one fired from a position of such responsibility, at least in a small conservative town in Texas where the story is apparently set.
Dusty thus takes a job as the night bell boy at the Manton Hotel. He could have chosen another job at the hotel, but figuring the tips involved, this is the one that pays the most money and Dusty needs all he can get now that he's the sole support of both himself and his father who, in addition to being unemployed, is also in failing health.
Dusty is a very attractive young man, but he's only ever loved one woman and that relationship turned out very badly. He's convinced that there will never be another woman in his life but then, early one morning, Marcia Hillis checks into the hotel. She's the most beautiful woman Dusty has ever seen and he concludes fairly quickly that she is now the only woman in whom he will ever be interested again.
The Manton is a high class hotel, and they have very strict rules about bell boys fraternizing with the female guests. Up to this point, Dusty has never been tempted to chance breaking the rule, but he might make an exception in this case, especially after the delectable Ms. Hillis indicates an interest in him.
Also residing in the hotel is a small-time gangster named Tug Trowbridge. Trowbridge befriends Dusty and tips him handsomely, and any well-seasoned crime fiction reader understands that the combination of the arrival of Marcia Hillis along with the friendship of Tug Trowbridge is bound to mean trouble for poor Dusty. Dusty ultimately realizes it too, but not before he takes that fatal first step down the wrong path that always spells doom for the poor mope who finds himself the main character in a noir novel.
This book is not the equal of some of Thompson's better-known work like Pop. 1280 or The Killer Inside Me, but it's a lot of fun nonetheless. Watching poor Dusty unravel is as gripping as watching the evil schemes that some of the characters have plotted unfold, and to no one's great surprise, before long Dusty Rhodes may well rue the day he ever encountered a swell-looking babe like Marcia Hillis.
Dusty has a little bit of college behind him--how much is not exactly clear--and he had once hoped to go to medical school. But he had to drop out of school after his mother died and his father lost his job at the local high school. This is back in the days of the Red Scare, and the local crusaders have accused the elder Mr. Rhodes of signing a petition upholding the right of free speech in America. And back in that day and age, such an accusation was more than enough to get one fired from a position of such responsibility, at least in a small conservative town in Texas where the story is apparently set.
Dusty thus takes a job as the night bell boy at the Manton Hotel. He could have chosen another job at the hotel, but figuring the tips involved, this is the one that pays the most money and Dusty needs all he can get now that he's the sole support of both himself and his father who, in addition to being unemployed, is also in failing health.
Dusty is a very attractive young man, but he's only ever loved one woman and that relationship turned out very badly. He's convinced that there will never be another woman in his life but then, early one morning, Marcia Hillis checks into the hotel. She's the most beautiful woman Dusty has ever seen and he concludes fairly quickly that she is now the only woman in whom he will ever be interested again.
The Manton is a high class hotel, and they have very strict rules about bell boys fraternizing with the female guests. Up to this point, Dusty has never been tempted to chance breaking the rule, but he might make an exception in this case, especially after the delectable Ms. Hillis indicates an interest in him.
Also residing in the hotel is a small-time gangster named Tug Trowbridge. Trowbridge befriends Dusty and tips him handsomely, and any well-seasoned crime fiction reader understands that the combination of the arrival of Marcia Hillis along with the friendship of Tug Trowbridge is bound to mean trouble for poor Dusty. Dusty ultimately realizes it too, but not before he takes that fatal first step down the wrong path that always spells doom for the poor mope who finds himself the main character in a noir novel.
This book is not the equal of some of Thompson's better-known work like Pop. 1280 or The Killer Inside Me, but it's a lot of fun nonetheless. Watching poor Dusty unravel is as gripping as watching the evil schemes that some of the characters have plotted unfold, and to no one's great surprise, before long Dusty Rhodes may well rue the day he ever encountered a swell-looking babe like Marcia Hillis.
August 20, 2017
Dave’s noir fest continues. A Swell Looking Babe is my fourth Thompson book, after The Killer Inside Me, The Grifters, and After Dark, My Sweet, all of which I liked a bit better, but this is still a book by the writer Stephen King said was his favorite. And this book was King’s favorite, so it is worth taking a look at if you respect King.
A Swell-Looking Babe is a thriller with echoes of Oedipus Rex, focused on bellhop Dusty Rhodes and his crush on a beautiful woman. The American Dream? Watch Dusty’s pursuit of it down a dark and self-destructive road. The woman leading him down the road was Marcia Hills:
“He had dreamed about her. Now, waking to the sweaty southern night, he found both arms clasped around his pillow, the cloth wet with saliva where his mouth had pressed against it, and he flung it away from him with a mixture of disgust and disappointment. Some babe, he thought drowsily, his hand moving from bed lamp to alarm clock to cigarettes. A dream boat--and that's the way he'd better leave her. Right in the land of dreams. “
So, obviously Thompson/Dusty is over the top in describing this “ideal woman”:
“Sure, he'd seen some good-looking women before, at the Manton and away from it. He'd seen them, and they'd made it pretty obvious that they saw him. But he'd never come up against anything like this, a woman who was not just one but all women. That was the way he thought of her, right from the first moment. All women--the personification, the refined best of them all. She was twenty. She was thirty. She was sixty. Her face, with the serene brown eyes and the deliciously curling lips; she was twenty in the face but without the vacuousness which often goes with twenty.”
Marcia Hills also resembles Dusty’s mother, recently dead, a woman the Oedipal Dusty had nearly had sex with.
He’ll need money to win this image-of-Mom babe. He also needs money to take care of his ailing father. How will he get it?! What are his priorities? And what are hers? I mean, a girl that beautiful, he can trust her, right? The resolution of this story is fun. It initially feels like the book is predictable, then it goes a bit deeper and darker, which makes him one of the best.
I'd might rate this 4, but I round down just to distinguish it from the other three I liked a bit better.
A Swell-Looking Babe is a thriller with echoes of Oedipus Rex, focused on bellhop Dusty Rhodes and his crush on a beautiful woman. The American Dream? Watch Dusty’s pursuit of it down a dark and self-destructive road. The woman leading him down the road was Marcia Hills:
“He had dreamed about her. Now, waking to the sweaty southern night, he found both arms clasped around his pillow, the cloth wet with saliva where his mouth had pressed against it, and he flung it away from him with a mixture of disgust and disappointment. Some babe, he thought drowsily, his hand moving from bed lamp to alarm clock to cigarettes. A dream boat--and that's the way he'd better leave her. Right in the land of dreams. “
So, obviously Thompson/Dusty is over the top in describing this “ideal woman”:
“Sure, he'd seen some good-looking women before, at the Manton and away from it. He'd seen them, and they'd made it pretty obvious that they saw him. But he'd never come up against anything like this, a woman who was not just one but all women. That was the way he thought of her, right from the first moment. All women--the personification, the refined best of them all. She was twenty. She was thirty. She was sixty. Her face, with the serene brown eyes and the deliciously curling lips; she was twenty in the face but without the vacuousness which often goes with twenty.”
Marcia Hills also resembles Dusty’s mother, recently dead, a woman the Oedipal Dusty had nearly had sex with.
He’ll need money to win this image-of-Mom babe. He also needs money to take care of his ailing father. How will he get it?! What are his priorities? And what are hers? I mean, a girl that beautiful, he can trust her, right? The resolution of this story is fun. It initially feels like the book is predictable, then it goes a bit deeper and darker, which makes him one of the best.
I'd might rate this 4, but I round down just to distinguish it from the other three I liked a bit better.
February 10, 2014
Not one of Jim Thompson's better outings. A tale of a bellhop seduced by the beautiful looks of a hotel guest, and how he gets mixed up with some criminal shenanigans. Pretty much the same set up as Charles Willeford's Sex is a Woman but written with a greater psychological insight and slightly more interesting sub plots and background details. Neither book were particularly amazing however. Just straight forward pulp crime fiction written to entertain for a few moments.
Thompson adds a bizarre Oedipus complex twist to proceedings but largely it's all very perfunctory and obvious events drift towards their inevitable and frustrating conclusion. Thompson at his best offers nasty pieces of work that the reader can't help but root for, here he offers wastes of space that you have no sympathy for as they're dragged towards a predetermined oblivion just to satisfy a depressing plot.
Thompson adds a bizarre Oedipus complex twist to proceedings but largely it's all very perfunctory and obvious events drift towards their inevitable and frustrating conclusion. Thompson at his best offers nasty pieces of work that the reader can't help but root for, here he offers wastes of space that you have no sympathy for as they're dragged towards a predetermined oblivion just to satisfy a depressing plot.
February 2, 2024
03/2016
Sometimes Thompson novels end not with a well structured plot twist but with a dive into dark surrealness, just terrible badness.
I actually read this before, when I was 25.
Sometimes Thompson novels end not with a well structured plot twist but with a dive into dark surrealness, just terrible badness.
I actually read this before, when I was 25.
June 2, 2016
What a jerk for a main character! However, it was hard to look away. No promising attributes for this guy. My first by this author but definitely not the last. Rating somewhere between 3.5-4, so lets round up.
October 27, 2024
Following a hunch, I decided to make this Thompson book my bus book - something to catch off-and-on, on-the-run, back-and-forth to work. It worked. I've read enough of Thompson by now and something about his stuff told me he'd benefit from being in motion while being read.
This particular tale is something of a departure for the author - which made it a pleasant surprise. ...Hmm... I just noticed I used the word 'pleasant' in describing a Thompson story. No, it's not a particularly pleasant story. It's pulp. It's noir. It's Jim Thompson.
But this one is less psychotic - though it's certainly about yet another guy who's mixed-up. He's just more of an average guy - well, average for Thompson. He's trying to be more legit. He's trying to hold down a steady job as a bellhop (a reliable one). And, through no fault of his own, he gets mixed up in some trouble - y'know, the kind that tends to be spelled b-a-b-e. But there are mob guys too. And even the more-legit guys in protagonist Dusty's sphere are rather sinister (in the sense of being overly suspicious of him - but, ok, it's not like he has the sunniest disposition). It seems Dusty just hasn't had much of a real break (especially emotionally) since he was born. Even that was a bust; he was put up for adoption. ~which ultimately resulted in an unsettled psyche.
We're very much in Dusty's head throughout - as he (often) tries to get a grip on what's real, what's not, and what he realizes could very well be his own active imagination. This is probably the most compassion I've felt so far for one of Thompson's leading characters.
This kind of heightened reality occasionally begs for some license - but that, of course, is in the service of pulp storytelling. The tension builds... the paranoia mounts... and the finale packs a wallop. This is among Thompson's stronger work.
This particular tale is something of a departure for the author - which made it a pleasant surprise. ...Hmm... I just noticed I used the word 'pleasant' in describing a Thompson story. No, it's not a particularly pleasant story. It's pulp. It's noir. It's Jim Thompson.
But this one is less psychotic - though it's certainly about yet another guy who's mixed-up. He's just more of an average guy - well, average for Thompson. He's trying to be more legit. He's trying to hold down a steady job as a bellhop (a reliable one). And, through no fault of his own, he gets mixed up in some trouble - y'know, the kind that tends to be spelled b-a-b-e. But there are mob guys too. And even the more-legit guys in protagonist Dusty's sphere are rather sinister (in the sense of being overly suspicious of him - but, ok, it's not like he has the sunniest disposition). It seems Dusty just hasn't had much of a real break (especially emotionally) since he was born. Even that was a bust; he was put up for adoption. ~which ultimately resulted in an unsettled psyche.
We're very much in Dusty's head throughout - as he (often) tries to get a grip on what's real, what's not, and what he realizes could very well be his own active imagination. This is probably the most compassion I've felt so far for one of Thompson's leading characters.
This kind of heightened reality occasionally begs for some license - but that, of course, is in the service of pulp storytelling. The tension builds... the paranoia mounts... and the finale packs a wallop. This is among Thompson's stronger work.
September 13, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 43 (of 250)
HOOK - 4 stars: "He dreamed about her...Some babe, he thought drowsily...A dream boat - and that's the way he better leave her...bellboys who attempted intimacies with lady guests invariably landed in serious trouble." Rhodes knows the rule: his mom has died, his dad had been fired, he'd had to drop out of med school to support his ailing father and that rule was: life is brutal and will cut you down fast. But knowing a rule doesn't save you...
PACE - 3: It took me 3 days to read this, and that's one day longer than my average time to read a crime novel of average length. It's only 145 pages, but I have 4 pages of notes. The structure involves numerous flashbacks and I just wanted to make sure I could get everything and then 'figure it all out' before all is revealed. (No, I didn't figure it all out, after all.)
PLOT- 4: Bill (Dusty) Rhodes works hard at a semi-sleazy hotel, the Manton. Bascom sees a beautiful woman, Marcia Hillis, enter the lobby and ask for a room. Hotel rules are that no single ladies are allowed to check in late at night, else the hotel gets the hooker business. But Bascom succumbs and Bill, the bellboy, takes her to her room. She slides a tip into his trouser pocket and leaves her hand there. Bill can't help himself, "his arms went around her, right around those smooth curving hips." But Marcia pushes him away and tells him to leave. As Bill exits she laughs. Then, Tug Trowbridge checks in with 2 male companions and pulls a thick stack of money from his pocket and ask Bascom to put it away in a safe. Bascom does, but intentionally gives Trowbrigde the
wrong key. And here we go: Bill's life takes a turn for the worse amid much criminal activity.
The final chapter is about the darkest chapter I've ever read, and therein lies the rub: it's only the final chapter that's great about this plot, but the rest is very good, for a 4 star rating.
CHARACTERS - 5: Here lies the strength of this work. The above characters are beautifully realized, as are Bill's parents. Then there is "Castic" Kossmeyer, a lawyer working for Father Rhodes in a lawsuit against the company who had fired Rhodes. "He was like some small deadly bird, coaxing a clumsy prey within striking distance."
ATMOSPHERE - 4: About Bill and his parents home: "It was a shabby, rundown house, a faded-blue cottage, in a block that was barely a half-block...It was bordered on one side by a vacant lot...a jungle of weeds..." Later, "Mr Rhodes was in the kitchen...His thin hair was damp from a recent shower...he had done the little that he could to make himself presentable, someone not to be ashamed of..." And so it goes, a kid/man raised on the wrong side of town. A house of people on the precipice of making it through life...or not...
SUMMARY - 4.0. If Thompson had written this entire book as he did the final chapter, I'd rate this higher. As a reader, the ending floored me, I thought it one of the best in noir, but one scene does not make a classic. This is one of my favorite novels by Jim Thompson, but I gotta say this is an author that, often, isn't 'fun' to read.
BOOK 43 (of 250)
HOOK - 4 stars: "He dreamed about her...Some babe, he thought drowsily...A dream boat - and that's the way he better leave her...bellboys who attempted intimacies with lady guests invariably landed in serious trouble." Rhodes knows the rule: his mom has died, his dad had been fired, he'd had to drop out of med school to support his ailing father and that rule was: life is brutal and will cut you down fast. But knowing a rule doesn't save you...
PACE - 3: It took me 3 days to read this, and that's one day longer than my average time to read a crime novel of average length. It's only 145 pages, but I have 4 pages of notes. The structure involves numerous flashbacks and I just wanted to make sure I could get everything and then 'figure it all out' before all is revealed. (No, I didn't figure it all out, after all.)
PLOT- 4: Bill (Dusty) Rhodes works hard at a semi-sleazy hotel, the Manton. Bascom sees a beautiful woman, Marcia Hillis, enter the lobby and ask for a room. Hotel rules are that no single ladies are allowed to check in late at night, else the hotel gets the hooker business. But Bascom succumbs and Bill, the bellboy, takes her to her room. She slides a tip into his trouser pocket and leaves her hand there. Bill can't help himself, "his arms went around her, right around those smooth curving hips." But Marcia pushes him away and tells him to leave. As Bill exits she laughs. Then, Tug Trowbridge checks in with 2 male companions and pulls a thick stack of money from his pocket and ask Bascom to put it away in a safe. Bascom does, but intentionally gives Trowbrigde the
wrong key. And here we go: Bill's life takes a turn for the worse amid much criminal activity.
The final chapter is about the darkest chapter I've ever read, and therein lies the rub: it's only the final chapter that's great about this plot, but the rest is very good, for a 4 star rating.
CHARACTERS - 5: Here lies the strength of this work. The above characters are beautifully realized, as are Bill's parents. Then there is "Castic" Kossmeyer, a lawyer working for Father Rhodes in a lawsuit against the company who had fired Rhodes. "He was like some small deadly bird, coaxing a clumsy prey within striking distance."
ATMOSPHERE - 4: About Bill and his parents home: "It was a shabby, rundown house, a faded-blue cottage, in a block that was barely a half-block...It was bordered on one side by a vacant lot...a jungle of weeds..." Later, "Mr Rhodes was in the kitchen...His thin hair was damp from a recent shower...he had done the little that he could to make himself presentable, someone not to be ashamed of..." And so it goes, a kid/man raised on the wrong side of town. A house of people on the precipice of making it through life...or not...
SUMMARY - 4.0. If Thompson had written this entire book as he did the final chapter, I'd rate this higher. As a reader, the ending floored me, I thought it one of the best in noir, but one scene does not make a classic. This is one of my favorite novels by Jim Thompson, but I gotta say this is an author that, often, isn't 'fun' to read.
August 8, 2016
Trademark Jim Thompson; a psychological crime pulp that delves deep into the confused and corrupted amid a mixture of violence, longing and sense of hopelessness that only Thompson can muster.
The plot itself is simplistic, with the linear nature incorporating flashbacks to Dusty’s (lead character) childhood that justify his easy acquiescence to seduction in the forms of lust and crime. A Bell Hop at a hotel with actor good looks and a high intellect, Dusty is easily swayed by swinging hips and the promise of a perverted comfort. It’s his foray into the crime, gatewayed by a hotel guest that changes the dynamic, upping the story from pulp to crime in a splash of blood and twist of double/triples crosses.
A Swell Looking Babe, while deviating somewhat from my presumption, does make for an entertaining read which at times meanders but delivers in the end.
The plot itself is simplistic, with the linear nature incorporating flashbacks to Dusty’s (lead character) childhood that justify his easy acquiescence to seduction in the forms of lust and crime. A Bell Hop at a hotel with actor good looks and a high intellect, Dusty is easily swayed by swinging hips and the promise of a perverted comfort. It’s his foray into the crime, gatewayed by a hotel guest that changes the dynamic, upping the story from pulp to crime in a splash of blood and twist of double/triples crosses.
A Swell Looking Babe, while deviating somewhat from my presumption, does make for an entertaining read which at times meanders but delivers in the end.
January 4, 2022
This is a strange little novel. The first chapter really baits the hook and then the narrative wanders for 35 or so pages, where I was wondering ok what is the point of all this? - although it will all become important by the end of the book - and then blammo, we are headlong into a blackmail and hotel robbery scheme. So there are two main threads involving Dusty, our noir protagonist, who is a bellhop at a hotel. He is "taking care" of his father who is in ill health. As the novel progresses this thread goes from what appears to be filler material to the primary arc of the novel. And then there is the hotel robbery as Dusty gets involved with gangster Tug and Marcia, the "sweel-looking babe" of the title. The robbery thread has all kinds of twists and turns, appears to be the primary arc, but by the end is actually a side plot. The close third-person narrative gets all inside of Dusty's manic head and that is what gives the novel all of its forward energy. The robbery plot doesn't always make a whole lot of sense and at times it seemed like Thompson was making it up as he went along, as if he added in the robbery as filler for the story he really wanted to tell about Dusty's relationship with his father. The ending was a bit confusing, and even after reading it a dozen times I'm still not sure what happened.
April 21, 2021
In a fun twist of happenstance, I just got done watching the TNG episode "The Royale", where our heroes get trapped inside of a crime novel featuring a bellhop in over his head, a dame, and a murderous gangster right before picking this up.
So, Star Trek similarities aside, this story has more twists and turns than a mountain road and a masterful example of an unreliable third person protagonist. The plotting and pacing are also perfect, with Thompson lulling you into a sense of security before dropping something heavy on you or making your reassess something you learned earlier.
So, Star Trek similarities aside, this story has more twists and turns than a mountain road and a masterful example of an unreliable third person protagonist. The plotting and pacing are also perfect, with Thompson lulling you into a sense of security before dropping something heavy on you or making your reassess something you learned earlier.
March 2, 2025
Novel·la avorrida. Fins i tot els moments que es suposa que haurien de ser de tensió són avorrits. Novel·la avorrida i, el que és pitjor, inversemblant. Una novel·la negra inversemblant! És la segona, i probablement última, novel·la que llegeix d'aquest autor.
La traducció de na Francina Jordà es molt bona, amb un català genuí i molt pocs errors. Hauria aprofitat més el seu talent amb una novel·la més bona.
La traducció de na Francina Jordà es molt bona, amb un català genuí i molt pocs errors. Hauria aprofitat més el seu talent amb una novel·la més bona.
April 10, 2016
Poor Dusty...just some mixed up kid working nights at a hotel to take care of his ailing father and, hopefully, someday continue his education toward becoming a doctor. At the surface this is Dusty's story. Underneath this veneer is a deeply troubled sociopath who suffers from extreme "mommy issues" and oedipal tendencies. While working at the hotel he befriends an aging gangster, irritates his night supervisor, and becomes enchanted with a seductive beauty. In other words, working nights at the hotel lays out a recipe for disaster.
Thompson is the man. In terms of the classic crime authors he is hands down my favorite. The weird twists his plots take are always surprising and the characters are devilishly fun to follow. What makes these characters unique is their narratives. As the plot thickens and the story progresses, they are truly in over their heads yet they maintain an illusion of control. This control turns to pride which begets hubris and then eventually leads to ... some avant-garde or messed up ending. A Swell-Looking Babe does not have a crazy-assed ending but the last few sentences come close. The touch and go sexual tensions are nerve racking and painful. These episodes add to Dusty's desire and his paranoia yet you can't help but root for him in the end. This is the genius of Thompson. Relating to some sicko and hoping to see them on top. When the cards finally fall the reader is left with a feeling. It will probably be different for each individual but a feeling will linger nonetheless. This is worth the cover price...to get out of one's comfort zone and be left with shock, repulsion, empathy, sympathy, disdain, or disgust. Thompson is to fiction what Cassavetes is to film.
Thompson is the man. In terms of the classic crime authors he is hands down my favorite. The weird twists his plots take are always surprising and the characters are devilishly fun to follow. What makes these characters unique is their narratives. As the plot thickens and the story progresses, they are truly in over their heads yet they maintain an illusion of control. This control turns to pride which begets hubris and then eventually leads to ... some avant-garde or messed up ending. A Swell-Looking Babe does not have a crazy-assed ending but the last few sentences come close. The touch and go sexual tensions are nerve racking and painful. These episodes add to Dusty's desire and his paranoia yet you can't help but root for him in the end. This is the genius of Thompson. Relating to some sicko and hoping to see them on top. When the cards finally fall the reader is left with a feeling. It will probably be different for each individual but a feeling will linger nonetheless. This is worth the cover price...to get out of one's comfort zone and be left with shock, repulsion, empathy, sympathy, disdain, or disgust. Thompson is to fiction what Cassavetes is to film.
April 11, 2023
Thompson is great at a bait and switch. He really does this with all three of the novels of his I have read so far. He sets up what seems like a pretty standard noir plot and then pivots into something totally unexpected and much deeper. In this case he sets us up for the "naive young man who gets involved with the wrong woman" plot. After making this set up he takes nearly a third of the book before returning to it because he is setting up something else, but you don't realize it at the time because you are waiting for the cliche plot you have been conditioned to expect.
This book is Thompson's version on Oedipus. Other than that I won't say anything else, but it amazing how well he was able to make that story meld into a hard-boiled noir world, without doing a direct adaptation of it, which I could imagine a less talented writer deciding to do.
This book was really close to getting five stars. I settled on four because there were a few things I thought could have been done better, the book feels a bit too short, certain things are maddeningly enigmatic even after we get through all the plot twists and the ending, while it worked for me better than some other reviews I have read, could have been a bit stronger.
Sometimes I wonder how much my ratings of a book are affected by what I read directly before.
"The Man Who Folded Himself" was such a perfect book that this one had a lot to live up to in order to meet that standard.
This book is Thompson's version on Oedipus. Other than that I won't say anything else, but it amazing how well he was able to make that story meld into a hard-boiled noir world, without doing a direct adaptation of it, which I could imagine a less talented writer deciding to do.
This book was really close to getting five stars. I settled on four because there were a few things I thought could have been done better, the book feels a bit too short, certain things are maddeningly enigmatic even after we get through all the plot twists and the ending, while it worked for me better than some other reviews I have read, could have been a bit stronger.
Sometimes I wonder how much my ratings of a book are affected by what I read directly before.
"The Man Who Folded Himself" was such a perfect book that this one had a lot to live up to in order to meet that standard.
November 1, 2012
This book opens strong. Dusty Rhodes is a bellhop but only until he can save enough money to go to med school. While working at the Manton he makes big money, but he is warned to stay away from women. That's been no problem until she walked in. Now he's willing to do anything to get her, even to his own detriment.
Thompson's writing flows very well so this is a quick and entertaining read. This is quite a feat because our hero is anything but the ideal subject of idolatry. The more we learn, the more dispicable he becomes but once you're hooked, you're in for the long haul.
Thompson's writing flows very well so this is a quick and entertaining read. This is quite a feat because our hero is anything but the ideal subject of idolatry. The more we learn, the more dispicable he becomes but once you're hooked, you're in for the long haul.
December 15, 2018
Jim Thompson is an absolute master of character-driven mystery. Weaving together elements of crime fiction, Southern Gothic, and sociological commentary, this book accomplishes A LOT within its slim number of pages. For those who like their pulps dark and nasty, this hits the spot.
Covered in-depth on the Bad Books for Bad People podcast:
http://badbooksbadpeople.com/episode-...
Covered in-depth on the Bad Books for Bad People podcast:
http://badbooksbadpeople.com/episode-...
March 11, 2025
When Jim Thompson was hitting on all cylinders he was as good as literary noir got. When he wasn't...well things didn't go so well. This was the second Thompson book in a row that just didn't work for me and had a terrible ending. The ending in this one wasn't as bad as the ending in The Getaway, that was abominable. This one just kind of...ends.
Dusty Rhodes (yeah, that's bad) is a night bellboy at The Manton, the nicest hotel in town. He works the nightshift because the money is better. And Dusty isn't your ordinary bellboy. He was in college and studying to be a doctor when he had to come home because his father lost his job, became ill and then his mother died. He also has movie star good looks. Oh...and he's one fudged up cracker...because it's a Jim Thompson novel and he has to be.
When a very attractive older lady checks in the hotel late at night we all know that things are going to go poorly for Dusty. And, of course, they do. There's robbery, murder, oedipal issues...the gamut. And mostly...I just didn't care. Dusty just kind of seemed to float in to things. And while we do ultimately find out that he's closer to a Lou Ford type than an innocent who got in over his head we don't care. Or, at least, I didn't. As for the ending, well it just kind of ends. And it's not even remotely satisfactory, because while it seems like Dusty may get his just desserts any marginally competent defense attorney will have him walking free in no time at all.
Dusty Rhodes (yeah, that's bad) is a night bellboy at The Manton, the nicest hotel in town. He works the nightshift because the money is better. And Dusty isn't your ordinary bellboy. He was in college and studying to be a doctor when he had to come home because his father lost his job, became ill and then his mother died. He also has movie star good looks. Oh...and he's one fudged up cracker...because it's a Jim Thompson novel and he has to be.
When a very attractive older lady checks in the hotel late at night we all know that things are going to go poorly for Dusty. And, of course, they do. There's robbery, murder, oedipal issues...the gamut. And mostly...I just didn't care. Dusty just kind of seemed to float in to things. And while we do ultimately find out that he's closer to a Lou Ford type than an innocent who got in over his head we don't care. Or, at least, I didn't. As for the ending, well it just kind of ends. And it's not even remotely satisfactory, because while it seems like Dusty may get his just desserts any marginally competent defense attorney will have him walking free in no time at all.
January 22, 2021
Edipo e il suo complesso
Che il diavolo se lo porti! Anche scrivendo di un semplice fattorino d'albergo Thompson riesce a farsi apprezzare.
Questione di stile, e non mi riferisco propriamente a quello letterario: si intuisce che dietro c'è un uomo che ne ha viste molte e con il talento di saperle raccontare in maniera semplice. E semplice non significa banale.
Qui ci presenta Dusty, un ragazzo che per fronteggiare la perdita del lavoro del padre ha dovuto abbandonare l'università e impiegarsi come fattorino.
Le scene si svolgono tra casa sua, è qui che avvengono le scaramucce con il padre, e l'albergo, luogo in cui una nuova cliente gli ha tirato un brutto scherzo.
Le due situazioni si portano addosso un'ambiguità che presto diventa protagonista essa stessa, che piano piano ribalta i dubbi e le certezze di Dusty, che a loro volta sveleranno al lettore verità nascoste per le quali il giudizio sui personaggi cambierà prospettiva.
Di personaggi ce ne sono una manciata e ognuno con le proprie peculiarità, e grazie a loro si compirà una sorta di percorso in cui Edipo ci avrebbe sguazzato.
Siamo nel '54, Thompson ha già pubblicato L'assassino che è in me e di lì a qualche anno sarà co-sceneggiatore insieme a Kubrick in Rapina a mano armata e Orizzonti di gloria.
So, long live Thompson.
Che il diavolo se lo porti! Anche scrivendo di un semplice fattorino d'albergo Thompson riesce a farsi apprezzare.
Questione di stile, e non mi riferisco propriamente a quello letterario: si intuisce che dietro c'è un uomo che ne ha viste molte e con il talento di saperle raccontare in maniera semplice. E semplice non significa banale.
Qui ci presenta Dusty, un ragazzo che per fronteggiare la perdita del lavoro del padre ha dovuto abbandonare l'università e impiegarsi come fattorino.
Le scene si svolgono tra casa sua, è qui che avvengono le scaramucce con il padre, e l'albergo, luogo in cui una nuova cliente gli ha tirato un brutto scherzo.
Le due situazioni si portano addosso un'ambiguità che presto diventa protagonista essa stessa, che piano piano ribalta i dubbi e le certezze di Dusty, che a loro volta sveleranno al lettore verità nascoste per le quali il giudizio sui personaggi cambierà prospettiva.
Di personaggi ce ne sono una manciata e ognuno con le proprie peculiarità, e grazie a loro si compirà una sorta di percorso in cui Edipo ci avrebbe sguazzato.
Siamo nel '54, Thompson ha già pubblicato L'assassino che è in me e di lì a qualche anno sarà co-sceneggiatore insieme a Kubrick in Rapina a mano armata e Orizzonti di gloria.
So, long live Thompson.
June 3, 2021
This is a strong noir, and all the elements are there. As the tale unfolds for our MC it seems to reach a point where he can better himself when of course they pull him back in. I try and judge a book by the time period when possible but some of the dialogue drives me crazy. Too many characters beat around the bush in their conversations. They need to pick up the pace. I don’t know if it would change much of the story, but if our MC is that dumb then he deserves his ending.
May 7, 2021
Excelente novela negra de un autor de culto como es Thompson. Te narra el devenir de un botones de un hotel y como las malas decisiones desencadenan en unos sucesos trágicos.
July 14, 2017
Jim Thompson was not an ordinary writer. Although widely acknowledged as one of the true masters of the classic noir genre, there are few writers, even today, who have successfully channeled Thompson's style of writing, but many do try. "A Swell-Looking Babe" was his thirteenth full-length novel and was originally published in 1954. It has all the classic elements of a fifties pulp novel, including a gorgeous femme fatale -- Marcia Hillis, a gangster with his own army of thugs - Tug Trowbridge, a protagonist who at first appears to be nothing more than an ordinary guy caught up in things he never anticipated - Bill "Dusty" Rhoads. It has murder, gunfire, armed robbery, attempted rape, incest, and blackmail. However, don't be conned by thinking this is anything like an ordinary pulp novel.
It is told through Dusty's point of view, although not necessarily through Dusty's voice, and Dusty may not be the most honest narrator available. Is Dusty just a blundering bellboy supporting his prematurely senile father? Was Dusty conned by his young mother and her lingerie into climbing into bed with her or was he a filthy monster as she claimed? How did his father lose his job with the school and how did his father become the emasculated fool that he became? Does Dusty merely fall prey to the hood Tug's machinations or has Dusty anticipated it all himself? Is Dusty merely conned by the tricky showgirl or does he allow himself to be conned because it suits his needs?
Is this really a pulp novel or is it some strange facsimile of such a novel, placing the reader in this strange world of Dusty's creation, a world revolving around a hotel with a few odd characters in it and Dusty's home where his father is doddering around and no one seems wise to how slick Dusty really is? Or is Dusty the simpleton he appears to be, reasoning things out slowly and cautiously?
Even the robbery in this book is not at its heart, not so much as the shocking oedipal complex is the center of it all. Thompson had a talent for creating the oddest, most eccentric characters. The people who inhabit his books are not just outside the fringes of society, but they do things that make you gasp out loud. His novels and this one is no exception feel as odd and strange as David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" movie. They just leave you feeling a bit uncomfortable.
It is told through Dusty's point of view, although not necessarily through Dusty's voice, and Dusty may not be the most honest narrator available. Is Dusty just a blundering bellboy supporting his prematurely senile father? Was Dusty conned by his young mother and her lingerie into climbing into bed with her or was he a filthy monster as she claimed? How did his father lose his job with the school and how did his father become the emasculated fool that he became? Does Dusty merely fall prey to the hood Tug's machinations or has Dusty anticipated it all himself? Is Dusty merely conned by the tricky showgirl or does he allow himself to be conned because it suits his needs?
Is this really a pulp novel or is it some strange facsimile of such a novel, placing the reader in this strange world of Dusty's creation, a world revolving around a hotel with a few odd characters in it and Dusty's home where his father is doddering around and no one seems wise to how slick Dusty really is? Or is Dusty the simpleton he appears to be, reasoning things out slowly and cautiously?
Even the robbery in this book is not at its heart, not so much as the shocking oedipal complex is the center of it all. Thompson had a talent for creating the oddest, most eccentric characters. The people who inhabit his books are not just outside the fringes of society, but they do things that make you gasp out loud. His novels and this one is no exception feel as odd and strange as David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" movie. They just leave you feeling a bit uncomfortable.
February 1, 2022
It’’s a novel by noir master Jim Thompson so you know you’re going to get: double crossing, femme fatales, mother issues, screw-up fathers, compromised sons, suckers who aren’t as smart as they think they are, Oedipal intrigue, murder, a somewhat convoluted heist gone wrong, manipulation, people desperate to get out of their small town, razor sharp writing, betrayal, sabotage, self-sabotage, self-loathing, psychological revelations, and a not so happy ending that doesn’t necessarily hold up to logical scrutiny. It falls just short of being top tier Thompson, but the writing is consistently great and the plot moves along at breakneck speed, like you expect from him. The characters are mean and crafty, if sometimes obvious in their machinations, but the twisting plot prevents it from getting predictable. If anything, the book’s weak spot is the aforementioned ending; I won’t get too specific to avoid spoilers, but I think the main character becomes convinced something is true that doesn’t feel true as a reader… But then again, maybe that’s the point.
May 26, 2022
If you've never read a Jim Thompson novel before, you have a surprise coming. Dusty Rhodes is a bellboy at the Hotel Manton in A Swell-Looking Babe. College-educated, he is held back by taking care of his aging foster father. He moons over a beautiful guest and gets too involved with a local gangster, also a guest at the hotel. When the guest plans a heist of the hotel during horse racing season, Dusty gets sucked in; but things do not happen as he expected -- neither with the robbery, the girl, or his foster father. Regardless how good a predictor you are, the ending will come as a surprise.
June 20, 2013
Thompson is a great writer. However this is not one of his best IMO. His best work is in characters -- most notably in making nasty characters sympathetic. This story just doesn’t do that -- or even try to. The plot itself is very cliche noir genre and the characters have little interesting happening. Furthermore, the main character is kind of wimpy and whiney throughout, I had a hard time enjoying him. He was an Everyman, not a Jim Thompson character... maybe even an idealized version of himself. Furthermore, the ending was flat and kind of abrupt.
Thompson is one of my favorite writers. This was written right after his biggest commercial success with The Killer Inside Me. It kinda feels like he just puked out a quick payday here for an anxious publisher... I'm sorry to say.
Thompson is one of my favorite writers. This was written right after his biggest commercial success with The Killer Inside Me. It kinda feels like he just puked out a quick payday here for an anxious publisher... I'm sorry to say.
June 7, 2008
Some nutty goings on in a hotel told from the perspective of a bellboy (not Jerry Lewis). There's cliche-type gangsters in there, too. Most of the action takes place indoors - Thompson should have turned this into a play!
January 19, 2024
I liked other books by Thompson - The Grifters, The Killer Inside Me - but this one is a bust. Stephen King says Thompson is his favorite author (I get that), A Swell Looking Babe his favorite book (I don't get that at all). The characters are stereotypical. The dialogue is phony and wooden. The plot is preposterous and contrived. The protagonist's thoughts and actions make no sense. My recommendation: Read any Jim Thompson book except this one.
November 12, 2021
Wherein the sucker turns out to be the dark-hearted one and the femme fatale the well-meaning one.
January 17, 2025
Creepy book.
But what I'd like to know is where do they scrounge up these dim bulbs who write the intros?
But what I'd like to know is where do they scrounge up these dim bulbs who write the intros?
Want to read
May 26, 2022PS3539 H6733 S86 1986 Memorial Library
May 4, 2010
I can't say I particularly enjoyed watching Thompson usher this character into complete oblivion. The final judgment made on the protagonist of this book is made with such masochistic fervor, it makes one's stomach turn - Fascinating and upsetting, considering Thompson must've identified with this character at least a little, since it was informed by his experience as a night bellboy in a Fort Worth hotel.
Every authority and every relative and every colleague of the bellboy in this book thrives on suspicion and hatred. The bellboy's mother is dead, the bellboy gives nearly all of his earnings to a semi-invalid father. Every time the family doctor visits he unleashes seething condemnation on the bellboy, for the father needs a shave! His clothes look unkempt! A lawyer hounds the bellboy for legal expenses his father has gathered. The bellboy's coworker berates him constantly. We are meant to feel sorry for the bellboy, of course he does not deserve such treatment. As a reader I resent being manipulated so clearly. Thompson almost pulls it off, he almost provides believable motivation for all the sadism, but it goes off the rails too soon.
Then there are the women. The swell-looking babe. If manipulative, incestuous head-games turn you on, than this is the book for you! (A real class dame right? What could a guy like me? Huh? Choking on resentment her curves want to make me explode in a rage! Snarling authority, always trying to maintain my authority, but then collapsing at her breast and weeping.) Some of these men and women from these 1950s books, every second of affection they receive comes at the price of such pain and guilt! A kiss is your ticket to hell! It's horrifying. It's very hard for me to read.
Also, these characters don't drink water or breathe air, they guzzle coffee and inhale cigarette smoke, despite constant references to the heat wave and sweating! Just funny to note.
In spite of the agony this book documents, I found it fascinating.
Every authority and every relative and every colleague of the bellboy in this book thrives on suspicion and hatred. The bellboy's mother is dead, the bellboy gives nearly all of his earnings to a semi-invalid father. Every time the family doctor visits he unleashes seething condemnation on the bellboy, for the father needs a shave! His clothes look unkempt! A lawyer hounds the bellboy for legal expenses his father has gathered. The bellboy's coworker berates him constantly. We are meant to feel sorry for the bellboy, of course he does not deserve such treatment. As a reader I resent being manipulated so clearly. Thompson almost pulls it off, he almost provides believable motivation for all the sadism, but it goes off the rails too soon.
Then there are the women. The swell-looking babe. If manipulative, incestuous head-games turn you on, than this is the book for you! (A real class dame right? What could a guy like me? Huh? Choking on resentment her curves want to make me explode in a rage! Snarling authority, always trying to maintain my authority, but then collapsing at her breast and weeping.) Some of these men and women from these 1950s books, every second of affection they receive comes at the price of such pain and guilt! A kiss is your ticket to hell! It's horrifying. It's very hard for me to read.
Also, these characters don't drink water or breathe air, they guzzle coffee and inhale cigarette smoke, despite constant references to the heat wave and sweating! Just funny to note.
In spite of the agony this book documents, I found it fascinating.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews