The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain (Book Review)

 

Hey Everyone , welcome back!

Hope you are all doing well, today I bring you yet another book review. The book today is The Postman Always Rings twice by James M. Cain. This is a short read but still very enjoyable. 

It was written in the 1934, so was written form that time period and is James. M Cain's first novel. The book was banned in Boston because of it mix of violence and sexual content, but still manages to be considered one of the most important crime novels of the 20th century and was very successful on release. 

So we have Frank Chambers who is a drifter, a man when lift gets to heavy for him, catches the next boxcar out of town putting his thumb out to the nearest highway. He finds being comfortable or finding normality too much responsibility. He would rather bum it them have someone relay on him. 

It all starts with a sandwich in a diner in California owned by  Nick "The Greek" Papadakis and is in need of some help. So The Greek offers Frank a job and he accepts it. 

Frank then meets Cora, she is The Greeks wife. Sparkes fly between them, something desperate, something twisted, something that is so bad it's good. The first time The Greek leaves them alone Frank is all over Cora.

The pain they inflict on each other in that encounter is just the beginning of a passionate, sadomasochistic relationship with unexpected moments that could be classed as romance. 

Which would seem sweet except for the fact that they are planning on killing The Greek. Frank himself would never have the ambition to do such a thing. He is happy to with his idea of taking off, become gypsies and live off the land but Cora wants to be free and wants the diner. 

I did enjoy this short story it was a good solid crime story and was well written and keep me intrigued till the end. It was also interesting for the story to be told from Franks perspective and his thoughts and desires. This was a quick read with good characters. I would recommend you try it, if you enjoy crime novels and see what you think of it. 

This book has been made into a film in 1946 starring Lana Turner as the femme fatale and John Garfield as Frank it was directed by Tay Garnett, who decided to downplay the steamy nature of the book to appease the 1946 censors. There has been many remakes of the original film. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

All The Best

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Stacey