Customer Reviews

A Swell-Looking Babe (CRIME MASTERWORKS)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've read quite a few of Jim Thompson's potboiler books, and A SWELL-LOOKING BABE is one of the most enjoyable. The protagonist is Bill "Dusty" Rhoades, a bellboy in a second-rate hotel. Dusty is a good-looking intelligent guy. He had to drop his plans for med school to care for his adoptive father, who lost his job in the school district for alleged Communist activities. Dusty resents his father and misses his mother, who died a few years earlier. Into the picture walks Marcia Hillis, the eponymous 'swell-looking babe,' who becomes a guest at the hotel. Dusty figures that Marcia is on the make, but he can't help falling for her anyway. Mix in a crazy mob figure (Tug Towbridge) and assorted other characters, and you have a rollicking good story.

Unlike many other of Thompson's protagonists (e.g., THE KILLER INSIDE ME, POP. 1280), Dusty is not crazy. He's just a normal, but angry guy who is looking for a way out of his unpleasant life circumstances. Of course, he does things that the average person would not do. Making one sympathetic for such characters is one of Thompson's gifts and part of makes him such a great writer. Highly recommended.

I just read this book for the second time. The first time was fifteen years ago. I've read most of Thompson's books, and in my opinion, this book is his best, slightly edging out A Hell of a Woman and Cropper's Cabin. For the most part, I read literary fiction and the "classics." Make no mistake, I consider Thompsen to be one of the finest writers of the 20th century. That said, this novel, like his others, is not without flaws, plot holes, and underdeveloped characters. What this has going for it is that it starts out so innocently. Thompson sets up the reader for the harshest fall, a descent into the most tortuous psychological hell imaginable. Things are not what they seem, and by the time you, the reader, figure this out, you will be too hooked to put it down. I have never experienced a book that so successfully pulls the rug out from under the reader. The graphic details of contemporary fiction are missing, but the genius of Thompson is that even without these details, the underlying anger will shake you to the core. If you are looking for a mystery whodunit in the Agasta Christie vein, don't read this. If you're looking for psychological horror crafted by a genius, this is your book.

No one could ever accuse Jim Thompson of playing it safe. A Swell-Looking Babe contains material that many readers will find to be outside their comfort zone. To be more specific, the book has an underlying theme of Oedipal love which, in places, gets a bit graphic.

Much of the narrative takes place in the Manton Hotel. Bill "Dusty" Rhodes is the lone bellboy on the graveyard shift. His dream of pursuing higher education has been put on hold because he has to work to support himself and his disabled father. Dusty's mother is deceased but her memory lives on in a very unhealthy way in his mind.

One night a stunning woman, the swell-looking babe of the book's title, checks into the Manton. Her name is Marcia Hillis and she reminds Dusty of dear old Mom. Or could it be that it's not Marcia herself but rather it's the sensual response that Marcia arouses that makes Dusty think of his mother?

Rounding out the cast of characters are Bascom, the night desk clerk who may have a checkered past, and Tug Trowbridge, a crude racketeer who makes the Manton his home.

The plot is a cleverly crafted one with a number of unexpected twists. Suffice it to say that a serious crime takes place with young Mr. Rhodes unwillingly playing a central role.

A Swell-Looking Babe is worthy of a 5 star rating for a number of reasons. It has great dialogue. Thompson has his characters speak in ways that are well nuanced and authentic sounding. The narrative unfolds smoothly even though it is at times difficult to determine whether something is actually happening or merely being imagined by the main character, Dusty Rhodes. Rather than detracting from the novel's effectiveness, this blurring of the border between the real and the surreal serves to enhance reader involvement. Moreover, Thompson does a great job of describing what it's like at night in a hotel whose best days are behind it.

Few writers would have dared to pursue the Oedipal theme to the extent that Jim Thompson did in this book. In doing so, he took a risky path which will undoubtedly turn off some readers.
A Swell-Looking Babe is a fine example of Thompson at his iconoclastic best. Well worth reading.

A Swell Looking Babe ranks with Thompson's best, but it is much different than many of the novels for which he is famous. The narrator is a bellboy who hates his father. Unlike many other Thompson 1st-person barrages, he is not crazy, however. He can't hold a candle to Lou Ford, in other words. What makes this novel interesting, however, is the character of the hotel; it has a personality of its own.

Of all of Jim Thompson's twisted protagonists, Dusty Rhodes might just be the sickest and most cold-blooded. Outwardly, he appears the most normal - a humorless, but intelligent kid who dropped out of college to work as a bellhop and take care of his invalid father. The thing of it is, Dusty was adopted, taken from a foundling asylum, and there was that unnatural attraction to his mother ... and maybe he's responsible for his father's current state. All this is the backdrop as Dusty gets involved with a swell-looking babe who's ready to frame him for rape, a double-crossing gangster, and a deadly as hell lawyer.
This is one of Thompson's best - right up there with Hell of a Woman, Savage Night, Pop. 1280 and Killer Inside Me.

Dave Zeltserman, author of In His Shadow

The best one of Thompson's I've read. More true to life than some of the others, since much of it is based on his own adolescent experience. A real killer ending, too. Packs a real punch.

'A Swell-Looking Babe' is typical of so many Jim Thompson books. Its lead character is, to some extent, psychotic and finds himself involved with a big crime. There is a woman involved who complicates matter. And all the characters seem to fall into some forgotten sub-culture of the 1950s: the deadbeats, the boozers, and those who have forgotten even how to hope for a better life. Ozzie & Harriet don't exist in Jim Thompson novels. But will all this promise 'A Swell-Looking Babe' didn't quite engage this reader. Why? Well...

Without mentioning any spoilers, the reader is introduced to this "swell-looking babe" and gradually understands who she and why she means so much to the leading character (a young kid working as a bellhop). Our leading character has a dark history with ... *unwholeshome* thoughts of women. Yet just as the author begins to shock the reader he sort of pulls backs and tones down the book. So any "oomph!" was quietly squelched. A shame really since most of the book is crafted very cleverly, and Jim Thompson captures wonderfully the malaise of small-town American losers of the 1950s.

Bottom line: not a great example of Jim Thompson material but still intriquing. Fans of this genre will probably get enjoyment out of it.

2-1/2 stars for a book I was not overwhelmed by, but the pages of this short noir novel raced by quickly enough. Thompson's prose, at least in this particular book which is the first by him that I've read, didn't resonate as powerfully as say Raymond Chandler or Walter Mosley or Chester Himes. But he did a fine job putting the reader into the confused mind of a lead character trying to figure out the constantly shifting whirlwind going on around him, and slowly revealing the young man's true character and motivations.

The item was just as described and it got here even
faster than I thought it would!

4.5/5

Although the plot of A Swell-Looking Babe is weaker and less dynamic than the plots of his best books, it still contains some of his most powerful writing. It's a tragic, Oedipal tale that totally immerses you in the bleak lives of its characters. They're people who remain sympathetic not despite their personal evils, but because they recognize the evil within them and hope to change. Because it's a Jim Thompson novel, change either comes too late or in the form of bullet to the head. If you haven't read any Jim Thompson, pick up Savage Night or The Killer Inside Me first. If you're already familiar with his work, there's no reason to hold out on A Swell-Looking Babe.