Galveston: A Novel [Hardcover]

Nic Pizzolatto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2010

Recalling the moody violence of the early novels of Cormac McCarthy and Denis Johnson, a dark and visceral debut set along the seedy wastelands of Galveston by a young writer with a hard edge to his potent literary style

On the same day that Roy Cady is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he senses that his boss, a dangerous loan-sharking bar-owner, wants him dead. Known “without affection” to members of the boss’s crew as “Big Country” on account of his long hair, beard, and cowboy boots, Roy is alert to the possibility that a routine assignment could be a deathtrap. Which it is. Yet what the would-be killers do to Roy Cady is not the same as what he does to them, which is to say that after a smoking spasm of violence, they are mostly dead and he is mostly alive.Before Roy makes his getaway, he realizes there are two women in the apartment, one of them still breathing, and he sees something in her frightened, defiant eyes that causes a fateful decision. He takes her with him as he goes on the run from New Orleans to Galveston, Texas—an action as ill-advised as it is inescapable. The girl’s name is Rocky, and she is too young, too tough, too sexy—and far too much trouble. Roy, Rocky, and her sister hide in the battered seascape of Galveston’s country-western bars and fleabag hotels, a world of treacherous drifters, pickup trucks, and ashed-out hopes. Any chance that they will find safety there is soon lost. Rocky is a girl with quite a story to tell, one that will pursue and damage Roy for a very long time to come in this powerful and atmospheric thriller, impossible to put down. Constructed with maximum tension and haunting aftereffect, written in darkly beautiful prose, Galveston announces the arrival of a major new literary talent.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Pizzolatto, author of the story collection Between Here and the Yellow Sea, takes a hard-edged look at the stormy life of a compassionate criminal in his impressive first novel. On the same day in 1987 he's diagnosed with lung cancer, Roy Cady flees New Orleans, taking along Raquel Rocky Arceneaux, a pretty 18-year-old with a lurid past, whom he rescues from some hoods in the wake of a bloodbath. Rocky persuades him to stop in Orange, Tex., to pick up Tiffany, her three-year-old sister, and by the time they reach refuge in a rundown Galveston motel, 40-year-old Roy finds himself an unlikely father figure even as he struggles with a romantic attraction to Rocky. Pizzolatto's insightful portrayal of the heroic Roy, who takes a beating for trying to help the two girls, is rough and tumble real. As Pizzolatto switches smoothly between past and present, he vividly captures Galveston in all its desperate vulnerability as it faces the approach of Hurricane Ike in September 2008. (June)
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From Booklist

Pizzolatto, author of the short story collection Between Here and the Yellow Sea (2006), delivers a taut first novel suffused with a strong noir sensibility. Roy Cady is working as a strong-arm man for a low-level New Orleans gangster when two events change his life: he’s diagnosed with terminal cancer, and his boss puts out a hit on him. Soon enough, Roy and a young prostitute, Rocky—thrown together after a blood-spattered encounter with the would-be hit men—are on the run, traveling from New Orleans to Galveston. “Nothing ends well,” Roy muses at one point, and, of course, we know from the start that this road trip is on a collision course with disaster. The inevitable downward arc of all noir can bring a certain dreary sameness to the proceedings, especially if the writer paints his disasters by the numbers, but Pizzolatto builds tension by moving back and forth in time: we know it all goes bad, but we don’t know how. Add to that a writer with a real feel for the special poetry of noir, and you have a fine crime-fiction debut. --Bill Ott

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (June 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439166641
• ISBN-13: 978-1439166642
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #405,096 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nic Pizzolatto's fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, The Oxford American, The Missouri Review, The Iowa Review, Best American Mystery Stories and several other publications. His work has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award, and his story collection Between Here and the Yellow Sea was named by Poets & Writer's Magazine as one of the top five fiction debuts of the year. His first novel, Galveston, was published by Scribner. It was a finalist for the Barnes and Noble 2010 Discover Award and the Edgar Award for best first novel; it won the Spur Award, and received the Prix de Premier Roman L'Etranger for best first novel (foreign) from the French Academy. He has taught at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, The University of Chicago, and DePauw University. Recently, he left academia to work in film and television, and now lives with his family in California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting noir, June 15, 2010

By 

Giddy Goody - See all my reviews

This review is from: Galveston: A Novel (Hardcover)

Galveston is exceptionally well-written, a Southern noir that takes recognizable genre types (the tough, smart mob enforcer and the spirited young woman) and plows deep, deep, deep into their psyches and souls. Roy Cady, the narrator and main character, is pretty much a triumphant creation; he knows that his strengths and his weaknesses are more acute than the typical, assimilated dude, and he is fully aware of the harm he can inflict, but he also seems to hit upon wells of compassion and bravery that are both surprising and completely earned. And his voice is an uncompromising wonder.

One reviewer here calls Galveston a redemption tale, but I think that may be putting too sunny a spin; there is no promise that the possible redemption offered has been worth the costs paid (a tour of the Inferno, with glimpses at Purgatory). It is more a novel about seemingly marginal individuals clawing tooth and nail for their humanity, and the world (and, quite often, their own instincts) fighting them at every step. There's a cinematic clarity, and an irresistibly dark pull, to the narrative, and the language often sings out with the sort of violent, seemingly off-hand vernacular poetry of a Denis Johnson or a Roberto Bolano (minus his post-Beat mannerisms).

Recommended for folks interested in noir novels that not only satisfy your itch for genre strengths like expert plotting and unceasing atmospherics, but that may also exceed your expectations in terms of characterization and depth of feeling.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The clouds of the old MGM Westerns", June 9, 2010

By 

Cardiff Giant (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Galveston: A Novel (Hardcover)

"Galveston" is a first-rate page-turner, and, thank god, not for any cheap manipulations or torn from the headlines hooks, but for characters I can relate to -- emotionally, at least -- who are yanked relentlessly and often brutally into situations I can not relate to -- physically, at least. (What a concept -- a novel with characterization worthy of a "literary hit" and a plot worthy of the crime genre's masters!) What can be said except that Roy Cady escaped Springsteen's "Nebraska" album; thankfully, he found a home in Nic Pizzolatto's first novel.

Once you've finished, Pizzolatto's craftsmanship truly hits you -- his structure renders any melodramatics moot and lets you focus on the human journey, the human costs on Roy, Rocky, and Tiffany (in other words, he makes sure that you're turning this page-turner's pages for the right reasons); his sense of place and time is annoyingly pinpoint, as my shoulders stung from sunburns I did not have and my feet itched with sand that wasn't between my toes; and his language is a miracle, romantically honest (though this won't be a surprise for fans of his short story collection).

Incredible stuff here. Don't miss out.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breath taken away by this hauntingly beautiful book, December 8, 2010

By 

Middleman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Galveston: A Novel (Hardcover)

The hero reminds me of one of Charlie Huston's heroes, but the quality of the writing takes Galveston to a whole other level. A hard-boiled noir voice leads us through some backwaters of the American South, into the big heart of Texas with its lowering skies... but the descriptions and insights along the way! What fantastic writing... I had borrowed a copy and read it, but i am going to purchase my own hardcover copy to re-read and treasure. And I'm very far from being a wealthy or even well off Middleman. A big talent is among us, and i look forward to reading more from this young author.