Customer Reviews

Pagan Babies

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Elmore Leonard just keeps going and going and going. I guess he never runs out of insane situations to write about, quirky protagonists, nefarious bad guys and quick-witted not-quite-so-bad guys, conniving (or totally innocent - - but rarely) beautiful women, stellar dialogue, twisted plots...

I dunno, but I'll read anything he writes cuz I know I'm going to be royally entertained.

Pagan Babies concerns Terry, a guy on the lam from the IRS, who hies himself off to Rwanda to stay with his priest/uncle, and while there he witnesses the genocide. Leonard downplays the grisly, horrific details of this, but we can tell it has changed Terry in some fundamental way. When his uncle dies, he sort of assumes the priest alb and carries on in his stead for something like 5 yrs, hearing confessions, giving penance, and occasionally even saying Mass.

He comes back to the states, still playing the priest, and meets up with Debbie Dewey, the usual lovely you'll find in Leonard's books, only this one just got out of jail for assaulting her ex with a Ford Escort and wants to be a stand-up comic focusing on prison humor. Hello? I mean, you can't make this stuff up! But Elmore Leonard does.

They team up to pull of a scam, and things of course go awry - and that's all I'm going to tell you.

Read it. It's a hoot.

Father Terry Dunn knows it is time to leave the Rwanda massacre. His church contains forty-seven corpses turning to "leather." Although Terry is hiding as a priest, he cannot take any more of the killing fields. He kills several of the culprits but flees home to Detroit. He originally fled to avoid jail time.

Debbie Dewey has just left prison after three years for trying to run over her former husband with a car. Debbie wants to become a stand-up comic until she meets Terry still masquerading as a priest. They are immediately attracted to one another and he brings her into his current con, bilking wealthy patrons in a save the Rwandan children cause which is another name for his wallet. She ups the ante by persuading him that her ex and the mob boss he is tied to is the perfect pigeon.

PAGAN BABIES is more than vintage Leonard. This novel is classic Leonard wildly destroying moral barriers. The story line is entertaining, never eases up, and contains Mr. Leonard's graphic but picturesque prose that shows he is quite a talent. The characters are typical of Mr. Leonard's novel as they run the full spectrum of sleaze, in other words likable to detestable parasites. This tale is superb reading for those fans that enjoy something different along the lines of a fabulously written crime drama heavily spiced with the absurd.

Ok, so I'm a little late in reviewing this one, it's been out awhile, and I finally gave this one attention over the other hoards of stuff I buy and eventually get too... anyways, enough of that. This started off as a really strong novel, it was quick to set things up, had some very compelling characters, great dialog, off humor, it had it all. It created a great con game and set it up well, had you hoping for the cons, stick it to the badder cons! Problem is, you're over 1/2 way through the book and things are still being set up, doesn't leave much room left for the conclusion... which was, surprise, rushed. I don't know if he was pressed for time, got fed up writing, the cab was out there waiting for him or what, but after such a great set up and things start rolling, it just flew through the last bit. Guess it was to show that it all happened quickly, but still... disappointing. It's well worth reading, maybe deserves more stars but that just a bit of a let down to me.

Well maybe 5 stars was a little strong, but I think more people should know about and appreciate Elmore Leonard.
(I guess Danny Devito must like him quite a bit because he's made at least two movies, that I know of, from Leonard's books.)
I bought the book mostly because it was on the bargain table at the bookstore, so I was pleasantly surprised at the irreverent humor and snappy, believable dialogue. The story is fun and has some interesting twists throughout the book. My favorite line was when Father Terry dispensed some "penance" to a group of local Hutu guys who smugly thought they were above the law (both moral and earthly ).
A few months after I finished Pagan Babies I read "On Writing" by Stephen King and was gratified that he confirmed my opinion of Leonard's writing. King used exerpts from Leonard's work to illustrate written dialogue at it's finest.

Pagan Babies is a great beach book. It's short, tongue-in-cheek and always entertaining. It presents us with an off-the-wall plot that never stops taking twists and turns in every which way.

What I like about Leonard is the skill with which he writes dialogue. His novels are usually 90% dialogue; he is a master at giving each character a distinct voice and feel. And his dialogue is always very sarcastic. I found myself laughing more than once at the way the characters talked and acted.

A scam plot like this one needs to be believable in order to work. Here, you have a pretend priest and a woman who wants to scam a quarter million out of a rich mob boaa. The plot is highly entertaining and very funny. The novel is very straight to the point. It is genuine Leonard and it would make a great movie! It seems to me that Leonard keeps getting better with time. I, for one, awaits his next book with great anticipation!

This is the perfect example of a good writer taking a serious misstep, but because he is so good the story still occasionally works. I am not going to review the story, that has been done here many times, but I will give my opinion of the novel.
I think the story was forced and contrived, but the humor and sheer ridiculousness of the story keeps the reader reading. Also, the story is so strange but decently written you keep thinking that it will get better eventually. Well, it doesn't. This is not to say that it is a terrible book, not at all, but it is not a great book. Hell, it is barely a good book, but it does have its moments. I would suggest anything else, unless you have read everything else.

An all right read. Fast and easy but not as entertaining as some of Leonard's earlier work. In Pagan Babies, Leonard tells the story of a criminal priest and his dealings with the mob element of Detroit. From Africa to Detroit, the priest conjures up scheme after scheme, only to have them get tripped up by the mob element he's gotten in bed with. Leonard could have written this one in his sleep as the plot twists were predictable, uncreative and out right dull. The characters could have been lifted from any of his previous novels and at times it seems they were. Perhaps a movie version (and this reads like a screenplay) of this novel would make a better showing.

This is the first work that I have read by Mr. Elmore Leonard. Prior to this the movie "Get Shorty" was the limit of my "Leonard" knowledge. The movie had some great dialogue and a menagerie of personalities.

There is no doubting the Author has a great ear for dialogue, and he creates unsavory characters that would normally be very difficult to believe, or would result in horrible clichés. Mr. Leonard manages to make his players credible, even when placed in outrageous backdrops/situations.

I would certainly read another of his works based upon his reputation if not this particular book. It may be that legitimate Authors in this genre are being hurt by all the imitators, as I found most of the "no one appears to be who they are, or are they" situations, less than surprising. Dark Humor requires an extremely delicate touch. I'm not sure any Author can pull this off with Genocide, even when the Genocide is one that was given little attention for obvious and disheartening reasons. There is a point where using an outrageous human behavior just does not work, some subjects are better left alone.

The man can write, I just feel the limits of how far you can push a given event, went beyond a point that any quality of writing could present/manage well. Dark Humor can be funny; can make you laugh while asking yourself why, but this didn't work for me.

One of the joys of Elmore Leonard's books is that one can always predict certain things about them and yet he always surprises. The surprises aren't always good and the books don't always work, but he is so dead on often enough that I automatically buy any new book he publishes. In Pagan Babies he presents what is in many ways the typical Elmore Leonard crime story of inept crooks, betrayal, misplaced affection, and unanticipated outcomes but he departs from his tradition by having part of the book set in Rawanda after the bitter period of genocide. "Father" Terry Dunn, a pretend priest half-heartedly ministering to a flock severly depleted by murder, returns to the U.S. to settle an outstanding felony charge against him. He joins forces with a bitter ex-con who served three years for trying to kill the husband who defrauded her, and they set out to try a scheme that will get her money back and provide money for the orphanage in Africa that still haunts him. Mixed into the stew is a larcinous friend of Terry's who feels that he is owed $10,000 for his part in the crime that caused Terry to have to flee the country, a simple minded Hoosier hitman named Mutt, the sleez ex-husband, and various mobsters. The plot is tight, the dialoge is vintage Leonard, and the resolution to the story, while anticipated in part, has enough surprises and ironic twists to be satisfying.

I have to say, however, that as much as I enjoyed the book, it seemed to lack the zest and energy that Leonard's best books embody. There was a certain flatness to many of the scenes, as was true in his historical novel Cuba Libre. Since the story seems to leave a number of the characters embarking on new endeavors, I expect we will see them again in future books. I hope so. I would hate to not find out what happens to Debbie Dewey and her career as a stand-up comic. And Mutt is just too good a character to dump. I'm already looking forward to the next novel, whatever Leonard chooses it to be.

If anyone ever told me you could mix personal injury law, the Mafia, genocide and stand up comedy together, I'd have told them they were crazy. Elmore Leonard manages to do just this with an enviable grace that still has me shaking my head. There are more twists to this story than a hangman's knot and yet when you're done you're wishing the story wasn't over.

For example--Leonard's not-so-good-good-guy Fr. Terry Dunn seems like a hero at first. He's a Catholic priest in Rwanda just after the Hutu genocide. Then, you learn Fr. Dunn isn't a priest and the only reason he came to Africa was to help an elderly uncle and avoid IRS problems. On the other hand, when Dunn hand delivers vengeance to a quartet of drunk Hutus bent on causing even more trouble--I had to stand up and cheer. That's the kind of ride that Leonard takes you on. You don't want to get off--but on the other hand, the quick turns can make you just a tiny bit dizzy!

Of course, like any truly gifted writer, Leonard leaves a lot for me to puzzle out. He also leaves me wanting to read more of his work.