Jour de chance pour Sailor

Sailor & Lula #3

by Barry Gifford, Jean-Paul Gratias (Translator)

With considerable, if uneven, success, the four novellas in this volume trace the intersecting paths of characters met in Gifford's Wild at Heart. In the best and longest, "59 and Raining: The Story of Perdita Durango," Gifford adapts real-life incidents to his fictional purpose as his "weird and dangerous" heroine with "8-ball black eyes" and a Caribbean-born, drug-dealing santeria priest whose rituals require human sacrifice team up to kidnap two American teenagers in Mexico and take them along on a crime spree in Texas and California. This story leads back to Louisiana and Lula's mother, Marietta Fortune, who announces, "There's a Devil and he don't never quit," the lietmotif of these violence-ridden tales. Amid the usually abortive and often fatal activities of crime lords and small-time losers, Sailor and Lula Ripley prosper in both love and fortune, in the final story proud of their 30-year-old son, Pace, who's been in trouble and out, now leading trekking expeditions in Nepal. Gifford's sharp characterization, of people with names like Coot Veal, Dalceda Delahoussaye, the Rev. Goodin Plenty, is generally well served by on-pitch dialogue, though Sailor and Lula, in their 50s still sounding like adolescent runaways, provide an unconvincing center for the wild careenings elsewhere on stage. This volume is part of the publisher's Literary Landscape series, promoting works of fiction that claim to bring a particular setting vividly to life.

Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Mystery

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

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

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

one sweaty afternoon in ensenada, jim thompson met flannery o'connor. the mutual attraction was immediate; they quickly retired to a local flophouse to bang it out. nine months later, a child was born: barry gifford. young barry inherited many of his parents' traits: from his prickly mom - a love of southern conversation and southern grotesquerie; from his laconic dad - a deep interest in how trashy, often deeply amoral sorts can get themselves involved with some heavy business. but the boy was also his own man, and instead of espousing the moralism of his mama or the nihilism of his daddy, he found his own path: to vividly illustrate the lives of low-lifes... but to stop just short of turning them into toxic aliens. give them healthy, sex-positive attitudes; give them amusingly quirky conversational tics! maybe even give them a happy ending. the world is scary and deadly - but it can be fun too!

the novel is a continuation of the adventures of Sailor and Lula, perhaps most famous as the protagonists of david lynch's bizarre extravaganza Wild at Heart. Sailor's Holiday is actually a collection of four interrelated novellas. despite how strong the violence and sadism can occasionally get, they are all rather lightweight and charming. they also introduce one of my new favorite characters, Sailor and Lula's sweet, fearless son - Pace Ripley. he's great. his character is central in two of the stories, once at around age 10 and then at age 15. this kid is a marvel under pressure, despite being involved in some sordid doings and being kidnapped two times by two different psychos. he keeps both his wits and his deadpan sensibility about him at all times. when we last hear of him, he is leading himalayan treks in nepal. despite his penchant for underage smoking and drinking, this is a son i'd be delighted to have.

"59° and Raining": the further adventures of scary-hot Perdita Durango and her new boyfriend Romeo Delarosa, as they embark on a bloody adventure full of kidnapping, ritual sacrifice, and placenta smuggling. this is the basis of the horrific film Dance with the Devil.

"Sailor's Holiday": Lula is busy raising little Pace and trying to find herself. Sailor finally gets out of jail. poor Pace gets kidnapped. hi-jinks ensue.

"Sultans of Africa": Pace starts hanging out with the sketchy Rattler twins. Sailor is finding his job at a gator repellent factory to be a mite challenging. Lula gets slightly involved in the revivalism of Reverend Goodin Plenty. poor Pace gets kidnapped again.

"Consuelo's Kiss": Sailor and Lula take a road trip to celebrate Sailor's 50th birthday. in a parallel plot, intrepid jailbait Consuelo Whynot takes a road trip to visit her mystic lover Venus. rumination and bloodshed follow.

it is almost unimportant to give details of the novellas themselves. the main thing about gifford's writing is that it is digressive. have you ever seen the truffaut film Shoot The Piano Player? in the beginning, the protagonist comes across a nice fellow who proceeds to tell his interesting but totally random story of love lost. random guy disappears and has nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of the movie. well, the same thing goes for this novel. there are plots and central characters, sure, but on every page we mainly read the stories, gossip, tidbits, facts, and effluvia of other characters, their lives and the way those lives ended. Sailor's Holiday is completely digressive in its storytelling. although the writing style is stripped-down, it is not tightly paced by any means. the best way i can describe the experience is to say that it is like sitting on a porch drinking beers on a hot day with old friends or interesting new acquaintances, shooting the shit and telling stories about all the crazy people we've known and the crazy stories we've heard, tales full of gallows humor, caricature, sex, blood, death, marriage, family, life. a pleasant way to spend an afternoon!

[Lizz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t write reviews.

And I’m not sure how to talk about these novellas. This story follows up Wild at Heart, ten years later, after Sailor gets out of prison. Sailor and Lula’s son, Pace Roscoe Ripley. Unlike the film, Sailor leaves Lula for a spell after his release, but fate isn’t easily thwarted. Some things are meant to be.

I like Gifford’s side stories about characters who aren’t really part of the story, yet their stories ARE the tapestry of the narrative. I fully enjoy their names as well. For example, take Guadalupe DelParaiso. She is the child of Nuncio and Blanca, and grew up with her 16 siblings (including, Parsimonia, her sister with a weak heart and brother Morboso, who committed suicide) by the Our Lady of the Holy Phantoms Church; such a great church name! The family believed Parsimonia’s heart gave out as a result of her discovering Morboso’s body. He hanged himself after murdering a nun named, Sister Panacea. Guadalupe fears that Morboso’s ghost is on the loose. But that’s neither here nor there, because that’s the end of the Delparaisos’ entry in the history books.

[Nate]

It’s not actually three hundred-something pages. It’s like 75. I’m not trying to stunt

[Nicolò Grasso · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I ain't certain there's a God, Dal, I never been convinced. But one thing I do know, there's a Devil, and he don't never quit."
_____
At this point, reading Gifford's adventures of Sailor and Lula is a form of self-care and comfort.

[Chelsea Campbino · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are so many things I like about this book. I came across it at a junk sale. I haven't read "Wild at Heart" or seen the movie; I came into this cold. While the narrative structure can at times flounder, the cinematic voice and short punchy chapters make it worth reading. It's a bit pulpy, with tense scenes and oddball characters. The reason I didn't rate this higher is because of the gender inequities present. They are there throughout, but are laid on especially thick in "Consuelo's Kiss", and that left me angry. No real spoilers here, I don't think, but near the end of the last novella, Lula can do nothing but praise Sailor for his brain and have sex with him. Yes, he says he loves her, but on what grounds? Her devotion? Her looks? He is continually educating her, and Gifford never allows her to return the favour. Sailor also hides things from her for her own protection, or because they would stress her out, or some bullshit. She raised their child for TEN YEARS on her own, I think she would know a thing or two about the world. Maybe she is more fleshed out in Wild at Heart, I don't know. I also want to mention that I don't think passive female characters can't exist out of some sort of misplaced feminist angst - they can and should, but passivity and admiration are never the only qualities that sum up a person, especially when that character is one of the protagonists. I feel there is some serious misrepresentation going on here, to the book's detriment.

[Erik Prime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 3 of the Sailor & Lula series, first published in 1991. This novella-length story takes place six months after the first book. New Orleans is the nexus that attracts all principal players. Lula Fortune is searching for her ten-year-old son Pace, who has been kidnapped. Sailor Ripley is searching for Lula. Perdita Durango is searching for Sailor to put a bullet between his eyes. And mid-level mob boss Marcello “Crazy Eyes” Santos, a minor character from the first two books, is on the hunt for his mistress, who is hiding out in Chicago.

As with the first two novels, the writing is lean and mean with an ever-present sense of foreboding lurking in the background. Gifford has a great talent for inventing realistic dialogue that remains faithful to the voices of the Southerners who populate his books. Highly recommended.

The book includes an amusing scene where Lula’s friend Beany mentions her husband’s reaction to seeing David Lynch’s film Blue Velvet in the theater: “Bob Lee told me he coulda never imagined the awful behavior went on in that movie…it made his brain shut down, like all the fuses blew.”

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is either the second or third novel in Barry Gifford's Sailor & Lula series, depending on whether you are going by publication date or chronological date of the story line. Sailor's Holiday is a rather ironic title because Sailor has been released from prison and traveled about, not connecting up with Lula until their 10-year-old son Pace is kidnapped by some freakazoid who does not believe in wearing shoes.

When Pace is kidnaped, Lula's mother's gangland connections are mobilized as well as the law, but fortunately Pace is reunited with his family in the end.

[Clint Banjo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paces along with more and more superb character names, even the Italian ones if you translate them! Reads like a chapter really of the whole series of books...better to get the collection of Sailor and Lula rather than the separate books...

[James Oxyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm just using this book as a placeholder for the four novellas following Perdita Durango in the Sailor & Lula saga since it has the closest page count:

Sailor's Holiday - 4/5

Sultans of Africa - 3/5

Consuelo's Kiss - 3/5

Bad Day for the Leopard Man - 4/5

[Guy Salvidge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nope, not so much this one. Perdita Durango was outstanding but this slim novella is far too much based on various coincidences and happenstances. The central narrative concerning the kidnapping of Sailor and Lula's son Pace didn't really inspire either. I'll be interested to see whether the rest of these very short books do better.

[Josie Boyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the whole series of novellas. The endings always make me want more.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The edition I read isn't 344 pages. But I can't find it listed here.

But the next three books in the Sailor & Lula series don't have any editions on Goodreads showing "total pages", so it all evens out just about.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four novellas that follow the intersecting lives of the characters of "Wild at Heart." Mostly fun contemporary noir, traipsing across the southern U.S. and forward in time, with the last novella taking place on Sailor's 50th birthday. I kept having problems with the descriptions of the character's appearances, because they were nothing like Laura Dern or Nicholas Cage, and that was how I continued to picture them. Perdita Durango doesn't look like Rosie Perez, either. The names of the characters are a highlight: Dalceda DeLaHoussaye and Reverend Goodin Plenty among them. The writing seems to kind of peter out toward the end, and the last story is the least engaging.

[Seth Kenlon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sequels, o sequels. I guess if you're really into the story that began with Wild At Heart then you might be interested in this but for me this was a less than compelling continuation of a story that had been told effectively and should have ended where it ended.

That said, it's a fine book, such as it is. It's not like it's poorly written. So if you like sequels, or just really like sagas, then maybe you'd love this.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Bob Lee's offered Sail a job at the alligator repellant factory, and Beany'd like me to take care of Madonna Kim and Lance when she enrolls in the St. John the Baptist College of Cosmetology in Arabi."

[Benjamin Klein · Rating 2 out of 5]

reads like a Movie

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this prior to keeping my reading journal, exact date unknown.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

violent, savage, dangerous