Customer Reviews

The Brave

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This gut-wrenching novel by the author of the "Fletch" mysteries opens with a poverty-stricken young father applying for the starring role in a seedy snuff flick. After a horrifying description of what will happen to him during the course of the filming (a chapter so intense that the author himself advises you to skip it if you're timid), the filmmaker's nephew takes our hero out to open the checking account into which $30,000 will be deposited for the benefit of his wife and children. Our naive hero never suspects that the filmmakers might be feeding him a line, which makes the balance of the novel all the more poignant, as he spends a final weekend with his wife and children and extended family in the squalid trailer park (situated behind a municipal dump) where they live marginal lives in virtual exile from the rest of society. Mcdonald's trademark spare prose serves this story even better than it does his lighter mysteries, letting the fill the spaces between the sentences with his own senses of dread and heartbreak. This novel is not for the faint of heart, but the brave reader will find a rich vein of love and compassion pulsing between the covers of this slim volume

I am not a fan of Gregory McDonald's lighter fiction. I always thought it was trivial and not entertaining enough to bother with. This book, however, touched such a nerve that I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks after I read it. It is a HARD book, in the sense that the feelings it evokes are deep and visceral. I found that I wanted to put the book down frequently, just as when watching something terrible about to happen to an unsuspecting victim one might want to avert the eyes to avoid seeing the ugliness that is sure to come.

This is a powerful and heartfelt book. I can only speculate at what would make an author whose fiction is usually fluff attempt a book with such a potent and tragic theme, but he has carried it out with great skill. No one who reads this can come away unscathed.

The usually fast-paced, light-on-his-feet, full of sarcasm McDonald undergoes a complete transformation here. After FLETCH, FLYNN and their offspring, I would never have expected such a wrenching and UNHAPPY book to come from this writer. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy McDonald's work. I stumbled across this book in a remainder bin and snapped it up. Read it basically in one sitting at an airport...it's a slight book, like all his others.

It is indeed wrenching. As others have said, the chapter running down the horror's our hero will endure prior to being "snuffed" on film is horrific. McDonald succeeds in making us see the world through the eyes of this EXTREMELY simple man...a man for whom life has not held any pleasure in a long, long time. We realize, even as our protagonist does not, that his family isn't going to get all the money they've been promised. His tiny glimmers of hope for a better life WILL NOT COME TO PASS, and that's the real tragedy of the story. We can almost understand how he could lay down his life for his family, with the hope of providing them something better. But to understand that this hope will be in vain and that his family will be WORSE off after he's gone makes the story almost unbearable.

There's another scene that sticks with you. The producers of the film give the Brave (he's got Indian blood...hence he's a "brave"), a little bit of money in advance, and he takes the family on a painful shopping trip to a bargain department store (like a Wal-Mart). For them, it's like giving us $10,000 bucks to spend at the Mall of the Americas. But imagine spending that money knowing you will be tortured to death soon!!!

This is not an easy book. But I can pretty much guarantee you won't have read anything like it before. I can't imagine what inspired McDonald to write a book with such a wretched world view (the life of poverty he describes for The Brave and his cohorts is squalid beyond belief), but for a few hours, we're sucked into it nonetheless. Give the book a try, if you can find it, but keep it away from the kids!!

(By the way, Johnny Depp made his directorial debut with the film version of THE BRAVE. Apparently the movie was awful...not worth a release, even. It goes for very high prices on ebay now. I'd love to see it!)

After seeing the movie written by Johnny Depp and his brother Daniel, I couldn't wait to read the book. Although I did enjoy the book, I can see Johnny's talent once again as he brought so much more to the story in his film..and of course his acting is unbeatable by anyone.

Only recently watched the DVD and saw it was based on this book. The film was overall so sad and disturbing, I wanted to know more about Rafael. So, I bought the book on amazon. The book was a page turner, except for the times I had to set it down for a minute, in order to go on reading.

The film- directed, written by and starring Johnny Depp is great. Many details were changed, but the main characters, location and circumstances are left intact. I appreciate and applaude the fact that he took on the difficult task of turning this book into a movie.

The book is a heart breaking story, I hope,(and pray) totally fictional. A very young man, alcoholic since childhood, is married and the father of three. He has realized that he can't beat the disease of alcoholism or the extreme poverty he has known all of his life. He thinks he has found a way to get his family, and the other residents of Morgantown, out of the desperate, hopeless situation. But, he is willing to make the greatest sacrifice to do so.

The character of Rafael in the book is so innocent and naive. He loves his wife and children so much. He is an honorable, decent soul. So tragic those he ends up dealing with are not.

I haven't read any other books by Gregory McDonald. I understand this a total departure from his usual style.

I do recommend this book. And of course, the movie.

I lent my copy out and it wasn't returned, so am buying a replacement. I am not a collector of books normally, but this book is an exception. I don't necessarily go back and re-read it, I simply have to glance at the title on the bookshelf and six years later it floods memories. I need that reminder. I also need a copy to lend out to others!

I do not live the lifestyle portrayed in the book but I do know that adject poverty exists. It exists while I live comfortably and really don't want for much.

This book had a strong impact on me. Assume you have read the synopsis, and maybe some of the other reviews, and I don't need to repeat the premise of the book. One point I don't see mentioned is that of a man being his word. The reader understands that the contract is worthless, his family will get nothing upon his death, but Raphael doesn't even suspect that, he trusts. Raphael took the $200 and then two days later took the bus to the end of life. He could have taken the $200 and never have gone to the bus. Was it because he was naive? Did he think that they would pursue him and his family if he didn't show up? Is it because he believed them, and the contract, and the need to pursue a better life for his children was strongest? Some people say the book is depressing; it is at times but it is also an insight into a person whose word was his honor--about the only thing he had going.

I was first introduced to The Brave through Johnny Depp's film adaptation of the same title. I thought that the idea of somebody making the "ultimate sacrifice" for his family by more or less selling himself to be used in a snuff film was a very interesting one. I ended up loving the movie and decided that I needed to read the book, so I did. And it was very good.

The book isn't particularly long, but it manages to tell a very touching story. I won't write a full synopsis because there are plenty of them online. What I will say is that The Brave is a great reminder of the fact that there are people all over the world who literally live in utter filth while the rest of the world just goes on its merry way. The Brave is based around the despair and desperation of such a horrible living situation and the effects it can have on people.

One of the things that most intrigued me about The Brave was the infamous third chapter in which our protagonist, Rafael, is told in gory detail, precisely what will happen to him during the making of the snuff film. While this chapter certainly contained some nasty descriptions, it ended up not really being as bad as a lot of people have made it out to be. The only way I can imagine somebody being really disturbed by the chapter's contents were if this person had lived in a cardboard box all his/her life. Seriously, you can see worse stuff on TV nowadays.

Although the "intense third chapter was ultimately a bit of a let down, the book itself was fantastic. It tells a great story and has some great characters who I actually sympathized with. If the story's premise interests you in the slightest and you're not a squeamish pansy who can't even take the sight of a stubbed toe, you should definitely consider picking this one up.

I believe this is the same book as "The Last Day's of Rapheal." It's really a shame that this book which can only be described as a horror story, actually happens from time to time among people who see no real hope of future. By whatever name, its a tremendous heads-up to people who don't like to think poverty on the reservations still exists. Very nice job of the movie version to - congrats Johnny Depp. You felt the whip!

This is one of the most compelling, heart-wrenching yet poignant books that I have read in a long time. It was very good at telling a story about the conditions some people live under day after day and what one of them chose to do to help his family out of their situation. Could not put it down!! There is one chapter that I had to take some time to read because it was so graphic in describing what was going to happen to the main character, Rafael. However, there are some sweet loving moments as well and I like the way the ritual Rafael goes through to prepare himself for the ordeal he is to go through is presented and allows one to have some insight into his people's beliefs and customs. All in all, this is the best book I have read in a long time. I would also recommend the film based on this book starring Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando. The story differs from book but is just as good.

I thought the book was good and didn't follow the normal formulate. Very dark and depressing. The only fault I found was that it was badly written. There were places where there was no period to mark the end of a sentence so that it seemed two sentences were one. This required me to go back and reread it as two sentences. I noticed these strange punctuation problems throughout and found it suprising since I've heard of other works by this author (Like FLETCH). There was one part where (I think) it was PICK spelled as PIKC. The story is good one but I was wondering while I was reading this if there was an editor for the book or if some company just took the author's first draft as is and printed it as a book.