Wild at Heart (Gifford, Barry) (Paperback)

by Barry Gifford (Author) "LULA AND HER FRIEND Beany Thorn sat at a table in the Raindrop Club drinking rum Co-Colas while watching and listening to a white blues..." (more)
Key Phrases: Big Tuna, Pee Dee, New Orleans (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In the visual equivalent of sound bites, novelist and poet Gifford ( Ghosts No Horse Can Carry ; Port Tropique ) cuts to the heart with sharply focused shots of young lovers on the lam. "You mark me the deepest," says 20-year-old Lula Pace to Sailor Ripley as they're reunited after Sailor's two-year stint in prison for manslaughter. Though it means breaking parole for Sailor, the two leave North Carolina to escape Lula's fiercely disapproving mother Marietta, who hires a friend, short-story writing private eye Johnnie Farragut, to track them. Innocents on the road but wise to the needs of their hearts, Lula and Sailor tool along from Louisiana to Texas in a white '75 Bonneville convertible, and, when the money runs out, land in Big Tuna, where Sailor will run afoul of the law again. Sweet and foolish, pure but ordained to be defeated, Sailor and Lula represent a bittersweet ideal. A film of the novel, directed by David Lynch, is in the works.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (April 3, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080213453X
• ISBN-13: 978-0802134530
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #494,518 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Distinctive Look at the Road, November 5, 1997

By	[e-mail] (Champaign) - See all my reviews

"Wild at Heart" was filmed by critically acclaimed director David Lynch and it is easy to see why he found this novel exciting to put on widescreen. Gifford does have distinctive look at some certain people's lifestyles in our society who are usually ignored by the makers of fiction. "Wild at Heart" is a strong book that grips you from page one. One should be noted, however, that Gifford is an author to adour or to hate, like the characters in his books he is no person of gray. Two artists' collobration continued this year with the movie "The Lost Highway."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A pleasant ride, August 20, 2001

By	"elljay" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This off-beat road novel features ex-con Sailor and his trailer-trash girlfriend, Lula, fleeing from a hitman who writes "Twilight Zone"(!) episodes for fun. Definitely not your average crime novel, it's heavy on quirky grit but surprisingly thin on plot; very little actually happens if you leave out the characters' seemingly random conversations. It's not hard to see why David Lynch found this prime material for one of his oddball cinematic experiments (he was responsible for the 1990 film adaptation), but as a novel, "Wild at Heart," though harmless fun, is just too breezy to leave much of an impression.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too fast of a read, July 13, 2000

By	Donnie L. Tucker "donniet" (usa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

One of those books you don't want to end. I feel this book is far superior to the Lynch film that came out later. Gifford definitely has a magic touch for character development. Though a VERY short book (only about 160 pages) all the characters in the book are fully developed, as is the plot. One of those great summer reads, and it'll only take you a few hours to finish.