Caldo Largo

by Earl Thompson

Jacket Description/Back: Everyone wants a pice of Johnny Hand. But he will risk almost anything to remain independent. So when they come to him with a proposition to smuggle guns into Castro's Cuba...

Genres: Fiction, Novels

281 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1977

About the author

Earl Thompson ( May 24, 1931 – November 9, 1978 ) was a leading American writer of naturalist prose. Nominated for the National Book Award for A Garden of Sand and chosen by the Book of the Month Club for Tattoo, Thompson died suddenly at the peak of his success, having published just three novels—the fourth The Devil to Pay, was published posthumously.

Reviews

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another great book by this author. No apologies, men and women being what they are and want to be, with dreams being put aside for pleasure and taking what there is instead of what you want. It's a story of an unplanned life, sex, violence and dealing with people of whom you don't ask any questions because you don't want to know, you don't want to tell, and all are happier that way.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Earl Thompson could describe the dark hairy underbelly of American society because he was born there. Even minor characters stand out like holograms:

Hobie weighed over three hundred pounds. He weighed himself on the commercial scales on the dock. You did not want to sit next to Hobie. He sweat puddles around him even if it was cool. He also breathed as if his next breath would be his last. You could hear the air being sucked into him and down into the wet tissue of his lungs; then out it would come again. When he held a fork, it disappeared into his hand except for the tines.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as epic in scope or as emotionally powerful as Tattoo or A Garden of Sand, but still very much worth the read. It's in the pantheon of quick, minor works like Junky or late-period Philip Roth. In my opinion, Earl is just as talented as those authors though way more under the radar. This novel concerns a shrimp boat captain who courts women and controversy, making enemies on both sides of the Texas/Mexico border. This novel is not autobiographical like his first two, but Earl's unique gift is giving you the rawest, most realistic depictions of human behavior that make you THINK you are reading an account of some chapter of the author's life. Sometimes I think he is the best author I have yet read. One thing is for certain: I think his posthumous cult of fans will only grow the same way Albert Ayler or Skip Spence's has.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't decide between 2 and 3 stars, so I guess I give this book a 2.5. Reminded me a lot of To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway, but with a lot of gratuitous and explicit sex scenes. The writing wasn't bad, and I liked the bits of cynical philosophizing that were done. This book is like the epitome of the raunchy dime store novel a stay at home mom or house wife might read.

[Nathan Markham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book, it's my favourite of Earl Thompson's novels.

I really enjoyed the seafaring nature of the plot, and the drama that happens on land is even better. There's plenty of steamy sex and murder for those deviants who like that sort of thing.

[JW van der Merwe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting - great descriptions and easy reading style but with a big sexual undertone. Still the writing style is good.