Customer Reviews

Bad Boy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't think anyone could dispute that Thompson has taken many liberties in retelling his own story. Even so, the stories are well-written and wildly entertaining. The fabrications don't detract from the overall enjoyment, they enhance it. You find in these pages the roots of many Thompson characters. That is a large part of the fun. The chapters are very short, giving Bad Boy an addictive quality. You'll likely finish it quickly and wish that there was more(there is: Rough Neck). Bad Boy is funny, twisted, ugfly and occasionally tender.

Jim Thompson created an image for himself. This is merely the autobiography of that self-made image. If you want more fact than fiction you should check out one of his biographies. I wouldn't recommend this as a first Thompson book. Get familiar with him first...and then check out this wonderful book.

For the most part this Thompson book examines the menial jobs of his youth and is as colorful as his books tend to be, with characters of questionable moral focus. Besides his obvious flare for the genre this book includes a real gem in the description of the author's first encounter with a texas officier who would provide Thompson with the model for the main character in the killer inside, for this reason alone the book is well worth the read.

As others have said, definitely read other Thompson books first ("The Killer Inside Me" or "The Criminal" would be excellent choices), but this is a great book. By modern standards, it's tame. The title seems an exageration, given Thompson's self-censoring repression of anything truly ribald, profane or shocking ... though maybe this is more a reflection of where pop culture has come today than of Thompson. That said, the book is extremely funny in places & a great insight into the writer. For the truth behind Thompson's stories, try Robert Polito's excellent biography, "Savage Art," which is a must for anyone who gets really interested in Thompson anyway. If you read many Thompson books, there's a good chance you'll get seriously interested.

This is a good book, but you get more out of it if you've read a couple of his other novels before this one. It's kind of slow paced in the beginning(his childhood)but picks up with his bellhopping and bootlegging.Solid.

I have to admit, I really like this book. As others have said, its semi-autobiographical, since Thompson tends to embellish things a bit.

The book sometimes seems a little aimless with the story, but its an interesting story nevertheless. The characters that Thompson describes are in detail, and the writing is of course superb.

Bad Boy is the type of book, I first read years ago, after reading POP. 1280, The Nothing Man, The Criminal, and The Killer Inside Me. I wasn't too impressed with this book then. Years later, after rereading it, I can say I have a much better appreciation.

I would recommend this book. It is certainly a good read. But as others have already said, pick up one of the other books (Killer Inside Me, POP 1280 or The Criminal before reading this one).

Written by pulpmaster Jim Thompson, Bad Boy is a collection of autobiographical vignettes that focus on his early life. As other reviewers have pointed out, many of these stories contain obvious exaggerations and embellishments. Poetic license, if you will.
The first 25% of the book, the part that deals with his early childhood, is just plain bad. Reading it is like watching The Little Rascals. Which is to say it gets old very quickly. If the entire book were like this, it would only rate one or two stars.
However, Bad Boy becomes somewhat more interesting as Thompson reaches his teen years and begins to try his hand at different part time jobs, learning important lessons along the way. Especially engaging is his account of hotel life from a bellhop's perspective. And later, as he describes his experience as an itinerant oil field worker in West Texas, we are treated to glimpses of good insightful writing.
Overall, this book is a disappointment. Not surprisingly, the few good parts are almost always found where Thompson tells it like it is, or rather like it was. The places where he forgoes the embellishments and plays it straight. After all, though fiction is often best when it sounds like fact, the reverse is seldom the case.

Jim Thompson was a crime craftsman. His books (mainly written in the 1950's) were marked by stunning storylines that may not have been put to paper as well as they could have been but the premise that Thompson was writing about was there.

This book is a look at his life from about the age of 5 to 18-19 or so. There is considerable embellishment taken in the stories but they are entertaining. He discusses his heavy drinking in the latter stages of the book and this is something that plays a part in his books and (sadly) his life.

This auto-biography is a lot like Thompson's books - it has a great deal of interest in it but just lacks that special quality in the writing style.

It is an easy and quick read which I enjoyed even if I knew that the stories were heavily fictionalised.

'Bad Boy' by Jim Thompson is essentially his autobiography, detailing his life up until about age twenty. He had a horrible, crazy life. The reader is paraded through his dozens of menial jobs, illegal hijinx, and nasty episodes with classmates and his family. While the early part of 'Bad Boy' is indeed interesting when we don't realize the narrator is Jim Thompson himself. However soon the author gets a bit self-indulgent in describing his wasted youth. I found myself more annoyed with young Thompson than feeling any pity.


Bottom life: Jim Thompson had an absolutely rotten childhood. Do you really want to know the details??

Hard to believe he survived all he went through