A Review Of Jesse James By The Blogger Scott Pack

Gather. Gather. Try not to gush.

Because I know I am bound to go off on a Winsletian ramble I shall offer you two reviews of this book. Take your pick.

THE RESTRAINED VERSION

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a masterpiece. I don't use the word often to describe a book and I use it here with all due consideration. Ron Hansen's remarkable novel had me hypnotised from the opening sentence. I cannot recommend it highly enough. If you have any faith in my reading suggestions then I urge you to seek this out. I am confident you won't be disappointed. Trust me.

THE GUSHING VERSION

One of the ten commandments of reading, if such a list existed, would be this:

THOU MUST ALWAYS READ THE BOOK BEFORE WATCHING THE FILM

Or something like that. I stick to the rule religiously, which is about as religious as I get. Quite apart from the fact that I want to form my own images of the characters, places and scenes without the Hollywood version getting in the way I just think it is the correct way to go about things. If there are exceptions they are usually films where I have no desire to read the book in the first place. I laughed a couple of times during Legally Blonde but feel no desire to relive the experience on the page, thank you very much.

I accidentally broke the commandment with The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford . To be perfectly honest, I didn't know there was a book when I sat down to watch the DVD.

[An aside on the subject of the movie. Regular visitors will know how much I enjoyed it. It was my film of the year last year. I cannot believe it didn't receive more Oscar nominations. Well I can, but I don't like the fact, especially in a year when art house was so well represented. Even with my most objective head on it is at the very least the equal of No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood (although I actually think it is miles better). Brad Pitt, about whom I am usually ambivalent, is spellbinding. Casey Affleck (who did get an Oscar nod) is creepy and slimy and mesmerising. It is slow, yes, but with a film that you don't want to end what is the problem with that?]

When the film ended I was straight online to look up the source material and find out as much as I could about Jesse James and Robert Ford. I believe I was up well into the early house digging out details and staring at pictures of the two men and their acquaintances. I also added the novel by Ron Hansen to my Amazon wishlist.

Fast forward to Christmas. MOTC, angel that she is, has placed a copy of the book under the tree for me. Actually she put loads of books under the tree and I duly started making my way through them.

Fast forward a tad further to last week when I finally got round to reading the thing. If you have seen the film you will almost certainly remember the opening voiceover describing how Jesse James has settled into smalltown life and listing all his quirks, foibles and mannerisms. It is taken almost word for word from the first few pages of the novel. And if, like me, you were struck with the poetry of those spoken lines on screen then you are going to be captivated by 300 pages worth of them in this book.

I hesitate to say this as it may put some of you off but this is a novel that reads like non-fiction. This is all down to the style of Hansen's narration. He is relaying a sequence of events. He is telling the story of Jesse James and Robert Ford with, as far as I can tell, remarkable historical accuracy. But he is also telling it with beautiful and evocative prose.

When I read a biography or history book that attempts to put thoughts and feelings into the heads of its subject I get a bit annoyed. How can the author possibly know what was going through Napoleon's head on day such and such? Or how Shakespeare felt when he wrote some sonnet or other? They are just guessing and I don't like it.

Write it as a novel though, a novel as impressive as this, and I am putty in your hands. Poetic license is a wonderful thing. This book is a wonderful thing. I would go so far as to say it is the best book I have read this millennium. The best book I have read since starting this blog without a doubt. Straight into my all time top ten.

[A further aside, this time on book sales. The Assassination (forgive the abbreviation, but I am sure you understand) is published Souvenir Press, a long established independent publisher. Although the film was hardly a huge box office success it was a reasonably high profile release and it did have Brad Pitt in it. So you would reasonably expect the book to sell quite well on the back of it but I have checked out the book charts and can find no data on it. The Bookscan archive keeps the sales of any book that has ever made it into the top 5000 sellers. To get into the top 5000 you need to sell about 100 copies in any given week. That would suggest that this book has never done that. If that is the case it is a fucking travesty. I don't know the publisher - although they have been kind enough to send me a copy of Hansen's other western Desperadoes - so am unaware of any issues they may have had with retailers but I can assure you that it is very unusual for a book with a film connection such as this not to sell at least a few hundred and often a lot more, even with only limited release and exposure.]

The book itself tells of the final days of American outlaw Jesse James - the title gives you the essential plotline. Settling into family life, James is coming to the end of his career of crime. Most of his cohorts are dead or in jail and he finds himself working with young whippersnappers, one of whom is Robert Ford. Only just 20, Ford has idolised Jesse since he was a child, devouring all the pulp novels and newspaper stories about the James gang he can get his hands on. Now that he is working with Jesse James himself he is starstruck but is also determined to make the most of it.

But as Jesse grows older he becomes less and less trusting of his companions. He is wary, always on the lookout for the double cross. A jittery James isn't particularly good news for his gang, as some of them find out to their cost, but for some reason he confides in Robert and his brother Charley.

This proves to be a rather poor judgement call.

Another impressive aspect to Hansen's novel is how he spins his yarn and maintains the suspense even though you know exactly what is going to happen from the moment you pick up the book.

The Assassination is a work of subtle genius. If you only ever read one book I recommend then please make it this one.

Pretty please.

Comments

[RosyB]

I really liked the film. I didn't find it too long or slow either, and it was almost excruciatingly tense. It was also a very beautiful film and I thought Casey Affleck was incredible. So I'm interested in this book. But what I found so absorbing about the film was the psychology of Robert Ford. His mindset and the decision he had to make and the way he wavered in his empathy and loyalty towards James (with that idea almost of the stalker - the idoliser who turns against the thing he loves). I am wondering how that can be depicted in a book that reads like non-fiction. Is it very different from the film?

[Adam]

The film was very beautiful to look at but I thought the director had spent a little too long watching movies from the 70's and early 80's. Compared to films like Days of Heaven, Outlaw Josey Wales, Bad Company, Little Big Man, Heaven's Gate, McCabe and Mrs Miller, Assassination has borrowed a little from each and is a bit of a pale imitation. That's what made There Will Be Blood so startling; it's originality.

[Scott Pack]

I had heard lots about the originality of Blood but must confess it pretty much passed me by. It impressed me as a movie but it didn't look or feel that much different to me.

[James Doyle]

I work for Souvenir Press and it's great that Scott enjoyed the book so much. I thought that his readers might like a brief response to his comments about the book's sales. Waterstone's and Borders were supportive of the book and it sold quite well at both chains. However, it sold considerably more copies in Ireland for Easons (who only have 25 or so branches, compared to Waterstone's 300 plus), we have sold more copies in Australia than the UK and Amazon have sold more copies than any of the bookshop chains. The book got some good review coverage but the brief review, before Scott's, that got people to hurry online or down to their local bookshop to actually buy the book was a one line comment made by Dermot O'Leary in 'Heat' magazine (being a book of the year in the TLS made no such impact).

[Jon Evans]

I'll pick it up sometime. Have you read Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang? It sounds similar, and it too is terrific.

[Ben]

Agree with Jon - it sounds, in effect, like True History of the Kelly Gang, which had you, despite knowing how the story ends, riding a wave of anticipation the whole way. I doubt the two books feel the same as a reading experience, but I'm looking forward to reading TAOJJBTCRF.

[William Rycroft]

You asked nicely so I went for it. Great book. Review here:
http://justwilliamsluck.blogspot.com/2009/02/that-much-closer-to-me.html

thanks
Will