The Wild Life Of Sailor And Lula

by Barry Gifford

Featuring the Wild at Heart, Perdita Durango, Sailor's Holiday, Sultans of Africa, Consuelo's Kiss and Bad Day for the Leopard Man The Wild Life of Sailor and Lula presents Gifford's best prose work as he originally conceived six inter-locking novels which chart the riotous and stormy lives of Sailor Ripley and Lula Pace Fortune - the horribly likeable, sex-driven, star-crossed lovers immortalised in David Lynch's movie Wild at Heart.
Masterful with dialogue, and always full of vitality and humour, these novels show a writer at the height of his - considerable - talent. As Elmore Leonard said of him, "Gifford cuts right through to the heart of what makes a good novel readable and entertaining . . . the way Barry Gifford does it, it's high art."

Genres: Fiction, Crime

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Barry Gifford is an American author, poet, and screenwriter known for his distinctive mix of American landscapes and film noir- and Beat Generation-influenced literary madness.

He is described by Patrick Beach as being "like if John Updike had an evil twin that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and wrote funny..."He is best known for his series of novels about Sailor and Lula, two sex-driven, star-crossed protagonists on the road. The first of the series, Wild at Heart, was adapted by director David Lynch for the 1990 film of the same title. Gifford went on to write the screenplay for Lost Highway with Lynch. Much of Gifford's work is nonfiction.

Reviews

[Nate D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm actually reading this all in Sailor & Lula: The Complete Novels, but it makes the most sense to parse these out this way -- Wild at Heart and the more-or-less autonomous Perdita Durango as the excellent antecedent novels, the four novellas contained here as a kind of world expansion and water treading around characters and singular Americana that Gifford clearly loves writing and can't let go of, and the much much later The Imagination of the Heart as series swan song. In that way, nothing here is essential in any way. Similarly little of it is a waste either. Gifford is very compact in his storytelling, even as digressions fill out the main content of any 'plot'. Enjoyed, even as it starts to feel comfortably familiar.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barry Gifford's Sailor's Holiday is the third of the author's Sailor & Lula novels, and unfortunately the weakest one I have read to date. In it, Sailor & Lula's son Pace is kidnapped by a murderous freak -- which prompts Sailor & Lula to get together again. Perdita Durango shows up and tries to kill Sailor for having witnessed her committing a crime ten years ago. And Crazy Eyes Santos is arrested in Chicago for ordering the murder of her ex-girlfriend.

[Philip Horspool · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute fabulous set of novels/short stories. Great stories, great writing but above all else possibly the greatest love story in literature. I can't believe I haven't read this before as it is writing up there with Cormac Mccarthy, James Cain and John Steinbeck. Stories that focus on the underbelly of American society, the have not, the desperados, the without. Read it - you won't regret it.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed these stories taking Lula and Sailor through their life together. I first met these characters in David Lynch's film "Wild At Heart". I knew it came from Barry Gifford's novel, but I did not know that Gifford continued to write about these two through a series of novels and stories. The evolution of their love through time, the wild adventures they become involved in, and the cast of characters (Barry Gifford has a prodigious gift for character names, including quite possibly one of the all time best, Coot Veal)make for excellent reading.

[Sam Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much much bigger story than Wild At Heart, and a really good read. But, sadly, no snakeskin jacket.

[Clint Banjo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth delving into just for the Wild character names! So bonkers it could just be true...superbly written with beautiful metaphors and similes like tasty peanuts(!).

[Jon Bloom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ongoing misadventures of Sailor and Lula of Wild at Heart fame. Gritty, tragic, and funny, It is jam packed with absurd characters and unexpected turns. I guess you would call this Southern noir, but it doesn't fit neatly into that category like Charles Willeford. Happy I read it.

[Raúl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A la altura del primero de la trilogía:"Corazón Salvaje "
Grandes diálogos. Ligero, divertido y sencillo. Ideal para noches d calor sofocantes.

[Audry Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What David Lynch wants to be.

[Animal · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-4 stars. Love the characters. The stories started to dip in quality by the last two. But overall fun.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, love to read these books by Barry Gifford. This is the sequel to Wild at Heart, and there's mention of characters from other books written by Gifford. The chapters are short and lively, electric like. There's hints of black magic, southern style gangsters and occult references. It's a really hot love story and a lot of fun to read.

[Derek Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this off the back of Wild At Heart, which it differs from in some important ways - but that's hardly the point. Very entertaining stories of low-life America, which fill in the rest of the life-story of these two memorable characters. Doesn't seem to feature quite as much cigarette-smoking as Wild At Heart, but few films do.

[Father · Rating 5 out of 5]

READ the book. Barry Gifford has a unique talent for writing strange, disturbing stories, even if they don't turn out the way you want them. This isn't Hollywood.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars might seem a little harsh...but if we're going by what it says when you hover over the little review stars, that's what this gets. "It was OK."