I hardly put it down, even though it's seven books long. Better still, they are done in colloquial dialogue that is spot on. But humor is the best part of them and sharpens the violence and tragedy like etching on crystal. Maybe the director, David Lynch, didn’t want to or couldn’t convey the comedy that graces the books, or maybe I missed it. The story in the movie is the first of seven novels in this saga of Sailor and Lula. Better still, they are done in colloquial If, as I did, you liked the movie Wild at Heart (Nicholas Cage and Laura Dern) and didn’t bother to read the book, do yourself a favor and read this now. If, as I did, you liked the movie Wild at Heart (Nicholas Cage and Laura Dern) and didn’t bother to read the book, do yourself a favor and read this now. In practice, the fresher initial works, Wild at Heart and Perdita Durango, hold up best as individual novels, but there's much to be said for the lifetime-spanning megawork these together compose all the same.more A bit weirder than real life, sometimes exactly as weird as real life.
Overall impressions? Gifford created a pulp universe of the grimy American South, one of pithy conversations, surreal side stories, mysterious-yet-banal alignments, and non-sequitur digressions.
In practice, the fresher initial works, Wild at Heart and Perdita Durango, hold up best as individual novels, but there's much to be said for the lifetime-spannin Individual reviews scattered through sub-works of this endless omnibus. Individual reviews scattered through sub-works of this endless omnibus.