Sunday, October 18, 2009

Paperback 302: Behold This Woman / David Goodis (Bantam 407)

Paperback 302: Bantam 407 (1st ptg, 1948)

Title: Behold This Woman
Author: David Goodis
Cover artist: William Shoyer

Yours for: $40


Best things about this cover:

  • Only four?
  • Behold these boobs!
  • Love the guy's hand: "... must ... not ... fondle ..."
  • Notice how often woman is front and center on pb covers while man is off to side, lopped off, seen from behind, kind of in shadows, etc. Woman is meant to be a very particular dish, while man is usu. a kind of Everyman. Or Anysap, I guess.
  • Now that I look more closely at the picture, I think that the guy is an interior decorator who is having a coronary after witnessing the pink rococo orgasm that is this room.

Best things about this back cover:

  • I'm going to go with ... the knife jammed into the window sill. Yes, that's the best thing.
  • Actually, I'm loving the little blue and pink Yes / Buts.
  • Wow, the original cover girl for "Behold This Woman" was all kinds of ugly.

Page 123~

The gray-haired man was annoyed. "What do you mean, help you?" he said. "What do you take me for, an ignoramus?"


~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

10 comments:

Brian Busby said...

Yep. I've known plenty of women who weren't as blessed in looks, but still managed to destroy more than four men.

Lisa in Oz said...

Ignoramus is such an underused word. I have many fond (well...not so fond) memories of my sister calling me that when we were kids.

Unknown said...

If these boobs destroyed four men, what was the body count for the anti-grav hypno-boobs from The Winds of Fear?

Tulse said...

I think she must have impaled the men on her very pointy right boob, rather than her ginormous left boob that seems kinda smeared across her chest. Honestly, this is really bad cleavage.

Anonymous said...

David Goodis rules no matter what! BTW is a primer hell bent on eviscerating ex-wives everywhere.

Deschanel said...

I'm beholding already! Even the cherub on the mirror-frame is beholding! Meanwhile there's a horny creep advancing, pay attention, lady.

Dan said...

Goodis wrote some fine stuff and a couple works of mad genius, but I'm afraid this was neither.

justjack said...

Ecce Rrrrowwrrrrr!

She destroyed four men.
Walked two, struck out five.
Gave up three earned runs in seven and two-thirds innings.

Eunice said...

justjack, you made me laugh out loud!

Nicole "Gidget" Kalstein said...

Behold...Secret antiperspirant keeps my underarms fresh all day!

(I just commented on this over at Judge a Book, too, and my word verification over there was "cojones". For anyone who finds that kind of thing amusing.)