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Bang Bang
Paula Sherman embarks upon a one-woman quest to change America, ultimately becoming national hero and villain, enforcer and outlaw, lover and leader, in this provocative, darkly exciting tale. When a bungled armed robbery gets Paula's friend killed right in front of her, she finds herself propelled to national attention as her words and image are stolen and used in a pro-handgun election campaign. Mousy little Paula is no longer just an overworked waitress with a beautiful singing voice—she has become a symbol for the violence that she detests. The pro-gun propaganda gives her an idea that will transform her, redeem her name and her image, and change the way an entire country talks about handgun violence.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 29, 2007
The writing is intense. The author is extremely sensual in his descriptions of wine, food, sex, and emotional states. While the book is short, it takes a while to read because you want to stop and get some food, wine or companionship.
Also it is great fun as a political statement against guns and the NRA.
The chapter on nun's in WalMart is especially delicious and got the book banned from WalMart.
Also it is great fun as a political statement against guns and the NRA.
The chapter on nun's in WalMart is especially delicious and got the book banned from WalMart.
September 4, 2007
My most recent library trip unintentionally ended up with a string of satire.
But unlike Moore and Jennings, Hoffman isn't playing for laughs.
Her portrayal of one woman's rebellion against America's gun culture is poignant and painful. And incredibly well written.
But unlike Moore and Jennings, Hoffman isn't playing for laughs.
Her portrayal of one woman's rebellion against America's gun culture is poignant and painful. And incredibly well written.
October 3, 2007
IT'S WYSIWYG
In Lynn Hoffman's fabulous Bang BANG, what you see is literally what you get. Hoffman writes in such an immediate, descriptive style, scene after scene comes alive in the theatre of your mind. It's like watching through the lens of some 16 megapixel digital camera as it clicks off four frames a second.
The cast of characters is special. I love Paula - who wouldn't - but the rest are wonderfully vivid too. Here's Manny Cardoso introducing himself: "...I have become, thanks to a set of circumstances and predilections too bizarre to mention, a man whose ruling passions and personal madness have been stripped away. With the core of my craziness gone, a great deal else is gone too. I find myself almost completely without lusts and cravings. It would not be too much to say that I barely have preferences. I have a few consistencies, almost enough to give me what may be thought of as a personality, but my most compelling characteristic right now is my almost total emptiness, a blankness that's not like the desolation of winter but closer to the expectant vacancy of early spring."
Throw in Harvey Lichtman, the "Urban Ranger", assistant counsel to the city council whose hobby is malicious gossip and low stakes blackmail; Caterer Connie Battaglia, "...lean and spare, long black hair on skinny shoulders, grace in her spidery arms." and Lawyer Daniel Farber, admiring Paula from a distance, and you have the ingredients for a rather special experience. Which brings us to the food. Three words: off the planet. Hoffman's encyclopedic knowledge and appreciation of food and its accompaniments shines so brightly the rest just had to be extra special too, or be eclipsed. Fortunately for all of us, it is. Bang BANG is a winner. Be sure not to miss it. Art Tirrell, author of 'The Secret Ever Keeps' ISBN 1601640048.
In Lynn Hoffman's fabulous Bang BANG, what you see is literally what you get. Hoffman writes in such an immediate, descriptive style, scene after scene comes alive in the theatre of your mind. It's like watching through the lens of some 16 megapixel digital camera as it clicks off four frames a second.
The cast of characters is special. I love Paula - who wouldn't - but the rest are wonderfully vivid too. Here's Manny Cardoso introducing himself: "...I have become, thanks to a set of circumstances and predilections too bizarre to mention, a man whose ruling passions and personal madness have been stripped away. With the core of my craziness gone, a great deal else is gone too. I find myself almost completely without lusts and cravings. It would not be too much to say that I barely have preferences. I have a few consistencies, almost enough to give me what may be thought of as a personality, but my most compelling characteristic right now is my almost total emptiness, a blankness that's not like the desolation of winter but closer to the expectant vacancy of early spring."
Throw in Harvey Lichtman, the "Urban Ranger", assistant counsel to the city council whose hobby is malicious gossip and low stakes blackmail; Caterer Connie Battaglia, "...lean and spare, long black hair on skinny shoulders, grace in her spidery arms." and Lawyer Daniel Farber, admiring Paula from a distance, and you have the ingredients for a rather special experience. Which brings us to the food. Three words: off the planet. Hoffman's encyclopedic knowledge and appreciation of food and its accompaniments shines so brightly the rest just had to be extra special too, or be eclipsed. Fortunately for all of us, it is. Bang BANG is a winner. Be sure not to miss it. Art Tirrell, author of 'The Secret Ever Keeps' ISBN 1601640048.
October 16, 2007
Lynn Hoffman does something of which few authors I know of are capable. He has written a novel in which the gun lobby, AKA, National Rifle Association NRA and the food lobby which I don’t think has a lobby, and if it does, I won’t hazard a guess at its acronym, and are almost equal in their importance.
Perhaps it was bound to happen. A waitress witnesses the senseless murder of a friend and becomes incensed about the proliferation of guns. Before she can realize what has happened, Paula Sherman is in the eye of a political storm. Predictably, she grows in character and strength in the maelstrom of public outcry over gun control.
The bottom line is that you find yourself yelling at the pages, “You go, girl! Every time Paula speaks out. By the end of the book, you find that she has. Put simply, Bang Bang has a message and no reader will be unable to hear it.
Perhaps it was bound to happen. A waitress witnesses the senseless murder of a friend and becomes incensed about the proliferation of guns. Before she can realize what has happened, Paula Sherman is in the eye of a political storm. Predictably, she grows in character and strength in the maelstrom of public outcry over gun control.
The bottom line is that you find yourself yelling at the pages, “You go, girl! Every time Paula speaks out. By the end of the book, you find that she has. Put simply, Bang Bang has a message and no reader will be unable to hear it.
October 6, 2007
A stunning accomplishment, a laugh-out-loud, cry-out-loud, terrifying, original and wonderful novel. I read it at least three times in draft form and once after it was published. bang Bang ranks high among the best novels I've ever read. I can't recommend it more strongly.
December 13, 2007
Reviews like this one
Now see, here’s one true thing. You don’t write for reviews and there’s no reason (really) that you should even care what they say. The writer in you was looking for an experience in the doing, not the sound of applause. And here’s another true thing: you’re more than just a writer. You’re also that person, that little kid who wants to hear that he’s doin’ okay.
So this little kid ain’t the writer. But he feeds the writer. So . . Here's an excerpt from a review of bang BANG by John Kwok, an Amazon top 50 reviewer.
"Philadelphia-based food writer Lynn Hoffman is one of our unsung literary treasures. He's an expert at writing clear, concise, snappy prose which will linger in your memory like some excellent sauvignon blanc wine you had at dinner. ... (This is) one of the most intriguing works of fiction published this year that I've stumbled upon; a work written by someone who should be regarded as among our finest American writers working now in any genre, period. It is also quite hilarious, a surefooted comic satire aimed right at the heart of NRA and its legion of diehard supporters intent on keeping our country awash in firearms. "bang Bang" offers a vivid literary portrait of modern Philadelphia that could have been written by the likes of Raymond Chandler or Elmore Leonard. Hoffman is a keen observer of human nature, using his prose as much as a film cameraman or photographer might use a camera and lens, carefully recording every important detail in a given scene. He also offers in Paula Sherman, a bright, tenacious heroine for whom the reader will be rooting for as she embarks upon her campaign to bring some sanity to the NRA and its leadership.
Sure did make this little kid happy.
You can read more at:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601...
Now see, here’s one true thing. You don’t write for reviews and there’s no reason (really) that you should even care what they say. The writer in you was looking for an experience in the doing, not the sound of applause. And here’s another true thing: you’re more than just a writer. You’re also that person, that little kid who wants to hear that he’s doin’ okay.
So this little kid ain’t the writer. But he feeds the writer. So . . Here's an excerpt from a review of bang BANG by John Kwok, an Amazon top 50 reviewer.
"Philadelphia-based food writer Lynn Hoffman is one of our unsung literary treasures. He's an expert at writing clear, concise, snappy prose which will linger in your memory like some excellent sauvignon blanc wine you had at dinner. ... (This is) one of the most intriguing works of fiction published this year that I've stumbled upon; a work written by someone who should be regarded as among our finest American writers working now in any genre, period. It is also quite hilarious, a surefooted comic satire aimed right at the heart of NRA and its legion of diehard supporters intent on keeping our country awash in firearms. "bang Bang" offers a vivid literary portrait of modern Philadelphia that could have been written by the likes of Raymond Chandler or Elmore Leonard. Hoffman is a keen observer of human nature, using his prose as much as a film cameraman or photographer might use a camera and lens, carefully recording every important detail in a given scene. He also offers in Paula Sherman, a bright, tenacious heroine for whom the reader will be rooting for as she embarks upon her campaign to bring some sanity to the NRA and its leadership.
Sure did make this little kid happy.
You can read more at:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601...
August 9, 2019
"Boys and their stupid little bang bangs"
This is a novel that may have once been a screenplay. Or it was begun as a screenplay and then finished as a novel. Or perhaps it is a novel that will someday become a screenplay. The film critic Pauline Kael entitled one of her collections, "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"; and I am told that in Japan "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" or simply "kkbb" refers to an American action film. In fact, Lynn Hoffman told me this.
Hoffman does not narrate so much as report as from a seeing eye. "I Am a Camera" by John Van Druten (by way of Christopher Isherwood's "Goodbye to Berlin") comes to mind. Hoffman actually uses the words "fade to black" or something similar to end some of the scenes. He guides the reader's eyes as a camera would. The scenes are intensely seen, the author describing minute details such as thin french fries shaped into a bird's nest on a diner's plate. In "Mummerland, an Urban Village Theme Park," a dancing woman has "a row of studs implanted above each eyebrow. The studs have little diamonds backed with light emitting diodes and the refractions of their light seem to blink like a pair of eyes as she pauses, swings, pauses." The scenes are often more atmospheric than plot-related. The scene in which Paula is masturbating could have been left out or included as a director might see fit. The story would not be affected. This is a novel, written mostly in the present tense, crying out to be a film.
Hoffman's style is thick with wordplay, so much so that it demands a lot on the part of the reader. At first I found it something close to annoying. I had to get up to speed, so to speak. Here are some examples:
A 16-year-old got roughed up in a fight at a playground. A few minutes later he has a .22 caliber pistol. He demands that a friend drive him back to the playground. When the friend doesn't, he fires a shot, "originally intended for playground use," missing his friend but hitting a little girl in the side and killing her. The mourners are "blinded silent" by the tragedy. (pp. 93-94) And later a man chasing Paula is "blindsided" by her friend Daniel. (p. 101)
Daniel is Paula's first "realreal lover." (p. 96)
A van is "looking for a spot where the iron law of parking says that none can be." (p. 104)
A fruit bowl shaped like an airplane is "a fruited plane." (p. 131)
Dr. Judith Sills has a voice that is "liquid velvet decorated with bugle beads." She has "she-class" and "sounds like sex in high places, like wisdom all dressed up for a party." (p. 157)
Clearly there can be no question of the brilliance of Hoffman's prose. Every sentence is the result of deep consideration or clear inspiration. He makes the words dance as they caress our skin, invade our nostrils or perhaps offend or delight our eyes and ears. We can sense his desire to hook the reader up to a virtual reality machine so that our entire sensual experience can become as immediate as the computer screen in front of my eyes. And he is a sharp social critic, witness "The Nick Blaylock Show" (pp. 90-91) in which he uses a Brit talk show host to make his observations, or the satirical excerpt from the "New York Review of Literature" on page 152.
There are a couple of things however that detract from this novel as a work of art. One, it is relentlessly didactic in the sense that Hoffman has a message, a message that the National Rifle Association will not like. In the novel there is no NRA--were the publishers afraid of being sued? But there is a UGA--United Gun Association. It will do just as well. Paula Sherman, Hoffman's 24-year-old, red-haired heroine, is a waitperson at a Philadelphia restaurant who sees her best friend Tom shot to death before her eyes. It is a particularly traumatic experience for her since she loved him dearly and was roughed up herself, and because something bizarre happens afterward. Paula is quoted out of context so that it appears that she said in an interview, "It wasn't the gun, it was that man." This misstatement is taken up by gun advertisers and used in ads in gun magazines. It even makes the six o'clock news. Paula is horrified that the intent of her words should be so twisted and the death of her friend used to sell more guns and that her name should be associated with the travesty.
Two, the story unfolds as a fantasy of wish fulfillment. The easy way the citizens of these United States rally to the support of Paula's crusade and the lack of effective counterattack by the UGA defies credulity. In the real world, alas, most Americans are too massaged by Big Macs and TV screens to get up and do anything, while the NRA would rally the troops and flood the media and the halls of Congress with enough propaganda to delight the ghost of Goebbels. And the idea that most cops would side with Paula and not the UGA is dubious. Hoffman "explains" this notion by telling us that the UGA favored the legalization of an armor-piercing, cop-killing bullet. I still don't buy it. Cops love their guns, believe me. If you Google the words "police and the NRA" up will come many links that make it clear that the NRA and the police are part of a mutual admiration society. True, the police opposed the NRA's support of the infamous Teflon-coated bullet that could pierce police armor, but that is practically the only major bone of contention between them.
Nevertheless, I hope this book is made into a movie and seen by millions. And I hope Paula Sherman becomes an American heroine, and I hope Lynn Hoffman gets to write the screenplay.
--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri”
This is a novel that may have once been a screenplay. Or it was begun as a screenplay and then finished as a novel. Or perhaps it is a novel that will someday become a screenplay. The film critic Pauline Kael entitled one of her collections, "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang"; and I am told that in Japan "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" or simply "kkbb" refers to an American action film. In fact, Lynn Hoffman told me this.
Hoffman does not narrate so much as report as from a seeing eye. "I Am a Camera" by John Van Druten (by way of Christopher Isherwood's "Goodbye to Berlin") comes to mind. Hoffman actually uses the words "fade to black" or something similar to end some of the scenes. He guides the reader's eyes as a camera would. The scenes are intensely seen, the author describing minute details such as thin french fries shaped into a bird's nest on a diner's plate. In "Mummerland, an Urban Village Theme Park," a dancing woman has "a row of studs implanted above each eyebrow. The studs have little diamonds backed with light emitting diodes and the refractions of their light seem to blink like a pair of eyes as she pauses, swings, pauses." The scenes are often more atmospheric than plot-related. The scene in which Paula is masturbating could have been left out or included as a director might see fit. The story would not be affected. This is a novel, written mostly in the present tense, crying out to be a film.
Hoffman's style is thick with wordplay, so much so that it demands a lot on the part of the reader. At first I found it something close to annoying. I had to get up to speed, so to speak. Here are some examples:
A 16-year-old got roughed up in a fight at a playground. A few minutes later he has a .22 caliber pistol. He demands that a friend drive him back to the playground. When the friend doesn't, he fires a shot, "originally intended for playground use," missing his friend but hitting a little girl in the side and killing her. The mourners are "blinded silent" by the tragedy. (pp. 93-94) And later a man chasing Paula is "blindsided" by her friend Daniel. (p. 101)
Daniel is Paula's first "realreal lover." (p. 96)
A van is "looking for a spot where the iron law of parking says that none can be." (p. 104)
A fruit bowl shaped like an airplane is "a fruited plane." (p. 131)
Dr. Judith Sills has a voice that is "liquid velvet decorated with bugle beads." She has "she-class" and "sounds like sex in high places, like wisdom all dressed up for a party." (p. 157)
Clearly there can be no question of the brilliance of Hoffman's prose. Every sentence is the result of deep consideration or clear inspiration. He makes the words dance as they caress our skin, invade our nostrils or perhaps offend or delight our eyes and ears. We can sense his desire to hook the reader up to a virtual reality machine so that our entire sensual experience can become as immediate as the computer screen in front of my eyes. And he is a sharp social critic, witness "The Nick Blaylock Show" (pp. 90-91) in which he uses a Brit talk show host to make his observations, or the satirical excerpt from the "New York Review of Literature" on page 152.
There are a couple of things however that detract from this novel as a work of art. One, it is relentlessly didactic in the sense that Hoffman has a message, a message that the National Rifle Association will not like. In the novel there is no NRA--were the publishers afraid of being sued? But there is a UGA--United Gun Association. It will do just as well. Paula Sherman, Hoffman's 24-year-old, red-haired heroine, is a waitperson at a Philadelphia restaurant who sees her best friend Tom shot to death before her eyes. It is a particularly traumatic experience for her since she loved him dearly and was roughed up herself, and because something bizarre happens afterward. Paula is quoted out of context so that it appears that she said in an interview, "It wasn't the gun, it was that man." This misstatement is taken up by gun advertisers and used in ads in gun magazines. It even makes the six o'clock news. Paula is horrified that the intent of her words should be so twisted and the death of her friend used to sell more guns and that her name should be associated with the travesty.
Two, the story unfolds as a fantasy of wish fulfillment. The easy way the citizens of these United States rally to the support of Paula's crusade and the lack of effective counterattack by the UGA defies credulity. In the real world, alas, most Americans are too massaged by Big Macs and TV screens to get up and do anything, while the NRA would rally the troops and flood the media and the halls of Congress with enough propaganda to delight the ghost of Goebbels. And the idea that most cops would side with Paula and not the UGA is dubious. Hoffman "explains" this notion by telling us that the UGA favored the legalization of an armor-piercing, cop-killing bullet. I still don't buy it. Cops love their guns, believe me. If you Google the words "police and the NRA" up will come many links that make it clear that the NRA and the police are part of a mutual admiration society. True, the police opposed the NRA's support of the infamous Teflon-coated bullet that could pierce police armor, but that is practically the only major bone of contention between them.
Nevertheless, I hope this book is made into a movie and seen by millions. And I hope Paula Sherman becomes an American heroine, and I hope Lynn Hoffman gets to write the screenplay.
--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri”
July 7, 2013
In a crazy, very contemporary style of writing, Lynn Hoffman tells the story of a woman transformed into illegal action by the random gun death of her best friend. What ensues after that, no one could predict. The writing style and oddly frank characters set this story apart. The style of the writing is as unique as the plot, which includes Clint Eastwood, Oprah, and political agenda mixed with gourmet food. I would definitely seek out another book by this unusually surprising novelist.
December 1, 2007
I applaud the concept but somehow this book just seemed very predictable and trite, at times. It's hard for me to put into words, but something wasn't entirely impressive about the way this was crafted. Even so, it's an interesting read.
November 1, 2011
Awesome and thought provoking.
March 23, 2016
Don't read this, it is really that bad.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews