Thursday, June 25, 2009

Paperback 246: The Disenchanted / Budd Schulberg (Bantam A1051)

Paperback 246: Bantam A1051 (1st ptg, 1952)

Title: The Disenchanted
Author: Budd Schulberg
Cover artist: Harry Schaare

Yours for: $11


Best things about this cover:

  • Her pose! One shoe! Awesome. I think I love her.
  • Book should be called "The Dissolute," or "Yeah, I'm Drunk, Whaddya Gonna Do About It, Ya Impotent Bastard? Get Me Another Martini"
  • Harry Schaare Loves his Floating Heads — we'll see more in the future.
  • Love the little maniacal dancing / jazz club scene in the background
  • The novel may be set in the 20s, but these people are not believably from the 20s. Except for emaciated Clark Gable in a tux back there, hitting on the girl who's reclining on the hair of Floating Head. He's 20s all the way.
  • "What Makes Sammy Run" is a classic Hollywood novel. Fantastic.

Best things about this back cover:

  • LOVE the guy admiring the rack of his drunken lady friend, up-close! "Yes. These will do nicely."
  • Toga party or religious visitation? "This angel came into my candle-lit room last night ... man, she was hot."
  • I love Michener's precision — like he remembers exactly where he was, three years ago, when he read a novel better than this one.

Page 123~

When he finds out the commercial tie-up he feels like a jerk for having fallen for her. Then, in the finals of the ski-jump, he's injured.


~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

5 comments:

Frank said...

I was just going to say, those people are definitely not from the 20s. And is it just me, or the "woman" in the yellow (?) dress over the pink dress lady's right shoulder really A MAN, BABY?

Erik said...

When he finds out the commercial tie-up he feels like a jerk for having fallen for her. Then, in the finals of the ski-jump, he's injured.

Awesome (apparent) non sequitur! Next sentence: "Meanwhile, on a small farm in Kansas, a boy was
growing up." (with apologies to Charles Schulz)

Dirt Diggler said...

* With the oxymoron "Bantam Giant", is this a BIG little book or a LITTLE big book?

* If this is the 20's, with all the apparent easy and open alcohol, these "parties" must have been before January 16th, 1920 when Prohibition (the 18th Amendment) went into effect. There is nothing in these covers that suggest illegality or speakeasies of any sort.

Candida said...

"Famous, deeply-moving novel of the wild twenties"?

If you have to announce that you're famous, you're not.

And yes! on the guy on the back cover checking out the woman in yellow's breasts. He's not just looking, either; I guarantee that hand is about to move north.

JamiSings said...

I don't care about the book. I just want the pink dress. However I want it in dark purple and with 3/4-sleeves.

But I still want that dress. And I want it now.

Today's fashion's suck. That dress is awesome.