The Neon Wilderness [Hardcover]

Nelson Algren (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Doubleday; Later printing edition (1948)
• ASIN: B0026EGFNE
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ALGREN GETS IT DONE!, December 1, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Neon Wilderness (Hardcover)

One of the most beautiful collection of short stories I've ever read. I am a devoted Nelson Algren fan, and if you read this, you'll understand why. This was a man who understood Chicago, who had the balls to plunge the murky depths of her society and find astonishing beauty. The blue imagery of his work is evocative, breathtaking, and genuine; it makes me mourn and long for a Chicago that no longer exists. The masculinity, the authority, the depth of Algren's identification with the rejects, the drug addicts, the gamblers, the hookers make WILDERNESS a superb work of art. This man tells it like it was; no glamorizing, no condescension, only the most profound understanding and a multi-layered sense of humor that, to paraphrase Hemingway (a huge Algren fan), makes you feel as if you took a punch. I haven't read the NEON WILDERNESS in a long time, but the mere mention of it makes we want to re-read it, especially the first story, "The Captain Has Bad Dreams." I also recommend BOSS by Mike Royko and just about anything by Studs Terkel.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CLASSIC IS RIGHT!, October 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Neon Wilderness (Paperback)

A true marvel. Not many writers come close. Nelson Algren is at the very top of the heap: original, compassionate, funny, insightful. You know, we read many books, and once we have finished with the book we toss it aside and forget about it. With Algren it's different. You read his stuff and can't help feeling cheated at not having known the man, not having ever had a chance to meet the guy. Wish there was a way to sit down and have a beer with the man, light up a stogie and have a good chat with the genius who created this masterful story collection. The writing is gritty and true, heartfelt. Brings to mind several other writers who had this knack of writing in this kind of honest, unflinching style: John O'Brien (Leaving Las Vegas), B. Traven (take your pick: Treasure of Sierra Madre, Cottonpickers, etc.) Knut Hamsun (Hunger), Eugene O'Neill (Long Day's Journey Into Night), Celine (Journey to the End of the Night), Kirk Alex (Working the Hard Side of the Street), Chester Himes (If He Hollers Let Him Go).
All of the above had their own style, of course, but the thing they had in common was in the balls they showed by not flinching away from the gritty, life lived by so many who weren't born with deep pockets, who didn't have it easy.

Writing from the gut. Algren lives. Read THE NEON WILDERNESS, and give some of the others a try as well.
This is writing for people who love books and love to read. Shut your TV sets off and pick up a good book--and you can start right here, with Algren's story collectiion.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Neon Wilderness, January 23, 2001

By 

Paul B Tucker (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Neon Wilderness (Paperback)

Algren's writing in this collection of short stories has very lyrical and often nightmarish quality. It is both beautiful and brutally frank. Algren paints a unapologetic picture of Chicago and it's people with his wonderful sense of humor and irony. Read this book if you want an unblinking look at people at their best and worst.