Second time I read this. Saw the movie recently felt the urge. A clean story about the hard road of a chain gang in Florida in the 1950's. This country is filled with hard violent men and the up bringing of these folks in the Old pre-civil rights south show why. A well written story from a well weathered author. He didn't write many but this captured a true slice of life telling of the harsh humanity in a southern chain gang and an unwitting Christ figure that wandered among them. ( )

Donn Pearce's description of life on a Florida chain gang is spot on. But then, that should serve as no surprise. He spent two years on a chain gang and is the inspiration for the character Sailor. He once appeared on the TV game show To Tell the Truth back before the movie starring Paul Newman was made. Google it. See if you can pick him out. ( )

I never thought to read this novel because I know the story too well from watching the movie countless times. It is one of my favorites…that Luke smile that Paul Newman perfected, that vivid depiction of the cruelties of the chain gang, the proof that unmitigated power, even over criminals, is a bad thing. In fact, there is very little to separate the criminals from the guards in this book, which put me in mind of The Shawshank Redemption (another movie I have watched too, too many times.

Ah, but this is not a movie review, it is a book review, and this book is stupendous. The descriptions are riveting, you can hear those chains rattling, you can feel the sweat trickling off the brows of these men, and you can feel the stifling air in the box. I think the reason there is a great movie adaptation of this book is that Donn Pearce wrote a great book in the first place.

Luke is a petty criminal, sentenced to two years for decapitating a street full of parking meters while intoxicated. He is also a war hero. But the line between hero and criminal is very thin, and it may be that Luke deserves punishment for crimes other than those he is charged with. The crime he is not guilty of is thinking of himself as a hero. He knows he is flawed, but he also knows no one can take who he is away from him unless he lets them, and that sense of individuality is the source of all his troubles. You just know from the beginning that he is not going to do an easy two years and wave goodbye.

The characters here are strongly delineated and the plot line is tight and perfect. The descriptions of the environment are completely realistic, and you know Donn Pearce did not come to his understanding of this world through library research. He’s got some experience with incarceration, the nature of prison life, and the conventions that helped the men make it through days that must have seemed both endless and repetitive.

If you are one of the few people on this planet who has never seen the movie, I cannot recommend it highly enough. If you want a glimpse inside a 1950s power trip, read this book. If you don’t mind gritty and realistic looks at the underbelly of society, and how it beats down the human spirit, you couldn’t do better than this.


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Surprisingly well written and transportive. Better than the movie as I vaguely recall a sort of psychological battle of wills as in The Sea Wolf. Pearce actually served on a Florida chain gang making it an anthropological study of the mid-century American southern red neck. The mirrored sunglasses worn by the boss (devil) is quite the trick. Pearce deserves more critical attention then he received (he died in 2017), ironically the film buried the book but it continues to be rediscovered. On release it sold 1,100 copies and was never a best seller but has become a slow burning cult-classic, recently adapted to a major West End theater production. Mark Hammer's 1991 audiobook performance is amazing. ( )

Very vivid. Perfect length. Easy to see why it was picked up for making a film. I liked the introduction, learning about Donn Pearce (who actually was on a chain gang). ( )