By the author "Newsweek" calls "the best American writer of crime fiction alive", "Get Shorty" features the real-life characters, scams, surprises, gunplay, and read-aloud dialogue readers expect from Elmore Leonard.
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By the author "Newsweek" calls "the best American writer of crime fiction alive", "Get Shorty" features the real-life characters, scams, surprises, gunplay, and read-aloud dialogue readers expect from Elmore Leonard.
Read Less
Add this copy of Get Shorty to cart. $9.12, very good condition, Sold by The Maryland Book Bank rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from baltimore, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Delta.
Add this copy of Get Shorty to cart. $10.28, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Delta.
Add this copy of Get Shorty to cart. $10.28, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Delta.
Add this copy of Get Shorty to cart. $11.51, good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Delta.
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Good. Good condition. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains. Bundled media such as CDs, DVDs, floppy disks or access codes may not be included.
Add this copy of Get Shorty to cart. $20.20, very good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Delta.
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Very Good. Collectible-Very Good. From the library of American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter William Safire. (crime, mystery, humor)
Add this copy of Get Shorty to cart. $9.92, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Diamond rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Delta.
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Add this copy of Get Shorty to cart. $10.28, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Delta.
Add this copy of Get Shorty to cart. $36.08, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Delta.
Add this copy of Get Shorty to cart. $34.00, very good condition, Sold by Robinson Street Books rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Binghamton, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1995 by Delta.
Throughout his career as a writer of westerns and of crime fiction, Elmore Leonard (1925 -- 2013) showed a strong and varied sense of place. His justly famous novel "Get Shorty" (1990) is largely set in Hollywood with important tie-ins to Miami and to Las Vegas. The novel tells the story of a small-time loan shark in Miami, Chili Palmer, who finds himself in Hollywood pursuing two deadbeats. Chili, a movie lover, works to enter the film industry through a debt he is trying to collect from a high-rolling producer of schlock horror and monster films. The plot soon becomes heavily complex as a sharp satire on the film industry, a multi-layered crime story, a character study of Chili, and more.
The thing about this book -- is that it is fun to read. With all its violence, double-crossing, and profanity it has a lightness of touch that softens the greed, nastiness, and criminality of much of the story. Leonard developed an inimitable writing style that is on full display in "Get Shorty". It consists of snappy, realistic dialogue combined with sharply-etched descriptions of people and places. Leonard doesn't waste words. This novel includes backstories on several characters that add more depth to the book than I have found in some of Leonard's other works.
The story has a mirroring effect in the way it ties in events of real life with their depiction in film and with the depiction of both life and film in the novel. Chili Palmer develops a story for a film that is based on his own ongoing activity of chasing down a debtor who has fooled the airlines into paying his wife a large settlement resulting from what they think is his death in a plane crash. Chili in his turn is pursued by another Miami mobster for disagreements between the two that happened twelve years earlier. Chili pursues his mark to Las Vegas and then to Hollywood. His own idea for a film becomes entangled with a different proposed film scenario proposed by his new friend, the producer of junk horror movies. Chili also must fend off several other gangsters that make their appearance in the book. The intrepid Chili manages to interest a highly-paid actor, Martin Weir, in his film, largely by showing Weir how to act like a loan shark (or a "shylock"). It isn't a matter of breaking legs. "Look at me" says Chili throughout the book, and the debtor realizes he is owned. Chili gradually acquires a romantic interest in Hollywood in the person of a beautiful, intelligent middle-aged actress from the monster films who wants to get back into pictures. She too finds her way into Chili's proposed movie.
The book depicts shady businesses and locations in the Miami underworld, the life of high-stakes Las Vegas gambling, Hollywood and its famous and its struggling, the drug trade, and -- the Los Angeles airport. The story is told with panache. The plotting sometimes is confusing but the book moves ahead on the strength of its individual scenes and Leonard's writing.
In 1995, Leonard's novel became the film "Get Shorty" starring John Travolta as Chili. The film modifies the book and is easier to follow. The film also helps the viewer to visualize the characters and the places described in detail. The novel explores the relationship between books, film and real life and it helped me to see the interpretation of the book through the film which has become well-known in its own right.
"Get Shorty" is an entertaining, exuberant read with, I think, some thought and depth lying just below the surface.
