Ralph the loser
I first stumbled across David Goodis quite by accident. The newspaper was running an article about the local fan club and the book show/sale they were having. I was totally
fascinated by this author. He was a native of Philadelphia and began writing back
in the 30's. He also wrote Dark Passage which became the well known
Bogey and Bacall flick. Goodis' main character in The Blonde on the Street Corner is
Ralph. His last name doesn't really matter because the guy doesn?t stand a chance
of succeeding. He's down on his luck and remains so until the end. Goodis
has the pulp fiction genre down to a fine art. Ralph is 24 years old and still
lives with his parent and his 2 sisters. He is unemployed and by all accounts
likely to remain so. He spends some time taking long walks at night at a nearby lake.
He does take an interest in a young woman but walks away from that too just
as he walks away from a steady job or anything that?s too difficult. We can almost
smell the cigarette smoke in the pool halls and the blonde floozy?s cheap dime store
perfume. We can almost feel the chilling cold of the dark streets and the stale musty
air of dilapidated apartments. The floozy is easy so of course Ralph falls for her and can?t walk away.
Goodis spins a tale of a guy who was born to be a loser. He can?t pull himself
out of the hole he?s in and just keeps kidding himself that things will get better.
But the reader knows only too well that nothing will change. In this respect
the novel can be depressing because you know this guy is doomed to fail.
But you can?t help getting caught up in the atmosphere of cheap bars and
the hair brained schemes of Ralph and his likewise down-on-their luck
compatriots. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in entering
into the world of pulp fiction. David Goodis knows his stuff.