Customer Reviews

Dark Passage

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

 

 

What makes this novel unique in the Goodis canon is that, while as dark, detailed, layered and sad as Goodis' later work, "Dark Passage" manages to project a sense of hope absent in his post-Hollywood novels. Where the later material, as impressionistic and wonderful as it is, presents characters with no future, a grim past, and a long-shot at momentary, hollow gain (missed, of course), Parry has a tangible, worthwhile goal: freedom. Because he believes he can achieve that goal, meets people who believe he can achieve it and, without question, deserves to achieve it, we ache for him at every obstruction in the road.

Still, Parry is one of Goodis' saddest creations -- a perpetual victim who, in spite of good intentions, finds himself in a vicious, dark vortex -- mostly through his own passiveness. The scenes flashing back to his relationship with his ex-wife are as depressing and heart-wrenching as any Goodis ever wrote. Unlike later Goodis characters, Parry realizes that he must re-make himself both inside and out to have any chance of escaping either of his former incarcerations. Therein lies the balancing act in this novel: the story of his attempt to escape San Quentin (an imprisonment for which is he not to blame) is supplemental to his attempt to escape the real-life traps brought on by his past behavior/demeanor. An exciting & often funny novel (people don't often mention how funny even the darkest Goodis novels can be).

After reading about Goodis and reading his hard to find "The Burglar"-and really liking it, I went out and bought all of the David Goodis books I could get my hands on. "Dark Passage" is the second of his books I've read and after the intensity and surrealness of "The Burglar" I have to say that I found "Dark Passage" a little disappointing.Still a good read but somewhat frustrating in its pacing. Goodis is one of the greats of noir and anything by him is worth reading ....I'd just start with a different one than "Dark Passage" and work my way back to it.

'Dark Passage' by David Goodis, perhaps best known by the film adaptation (starring Bogart and Bacall), is the best of several David Goodis novels I've read and yet, most puzzling, it is the only one presently out of print. I can certainly recommend searching far and wide for a used copy because it is an excellent example of 1940s crime 'noir' writing, as good as anything Chandler, Cain or Thompson have dished out (and these authors have all written great stuff).

In 'Dark Passage' we have an escaped con in San Francisco. He gets involved with a mysterious young woman who helps him in both staying on the run and finding out who indeed did the crime (the murder of his no good wife) for which he was falsely accused of. The book is written in the first person (..in typical Goodis fashion), and so we get "under the skin" of our leading man. Perhaps in this book (compared to the others I've read) Goodis does the best job of interweaving strange characters into a plausible story, with the end result being an ending which is both surprising and gratifying.

Bottom line: a must read if you can find a copy. Brilliant.

A fairly straightforward story of crime and betrayal with romance added in for good measure, Dark Passage is a bit unusual for a David Goodis novel in that it ends on a decidedly happy note. Goodis did not believe in happy endings and the majority of his work reflects that belief.

I think it's fair to say that most people reading Dark Passage at this particular point in time will have already seen the film. I say that because copies of the book are difficult to obtain whereas the movie is far more readily accessible. Therefore, for most readers, escaped prisoner Vincent Parry will necessarily be visualized as Humphrey Bogart and by the same token, Irene, his rich girl savior, will take the form of Lauren Bacall. Moreover, film and novel are very much equivalent in terms of both quality and plotting. It's rather apparent that Goodis identified with (the pre-Irene) Parry and Parry's hapless friend Felsinger. Both characters are depicted as pathetic underdogs, unlucky in love and in everything else. From all accounts, the same way Goodis saw himself.

Dark Passage is an interesting and fast paced read which successfully sustains a mood of claustrophobic desperation. At the same time it does not rise to the standard of David Goodis' best work. The dialogue frequently comes off as stilted and there is an over abundance of repetitive descriptions which contribute little to enhancing the narrative. A worthwhile read from an author capable of much better.