Pop. 1280

Pop. 1280
by jim THOMPSON
1964

Vintage Crime / Black Lizard
October 1990

Thoughts Going In

It's a reprint of a classic... or at least, that is what they are selling it as. I like the cover, the size, the look, the feel... and I like the Black Lizard Logo.

In the cover illustration (probably, more formally a photo), the gun is not smoking. But hopefully, that will change before long.

I want grisly death.

And if I don't get it, I might just start writing it on my own.

Also (and finally), I'm looking for some light reading, to let my mind go. It's a major reason for this selection. It looks light. I hope it is easy, as well. After all, that's just the way I like my gun-play.

I'm smart enough not to say my women.

After all, there's only one woman for me.

A Solid Quote

Starting at the second paragraph in the book:

And yet I was worried. I had so many troubles that I was worried plumb sick.

I'd sit down to a meal of maybe half a dozen pork chops and a few fried eggs and a pan of hot biscuits with grits and gravy, and I couldn't eat it. Not all of it. I'd start worrying about those problems of mine, and the next thing you knew I was getting up from the table with food still left on my plate.

I wasn't planning on including a second quote. But I can't help myself.

You can't fault a jug for bein' twisted because the hand of the potter slipped.

Running Thoughts

• Subtle Humour!
• County Sheriff Problems!
• An unlikely hero.
• But then, that might be the best kind.
• I wax and wane on liking this guy.
• It's proving to be a good reading experience.
• But who knows when the novelty wears off?
• After all, I can see this wearing thin.
• The book seems sort of childish...
• Like it's written for idiots.
• Nobody is dead yet.
• Neither a gun drawn.
• On the other hand, The Three Stooges may have met their match.
• I won't say it is funny.
• But it sure is passing the time...
  • And the pages keep turning.
• So stupid (and I mean, stupid-stupid) it's funny.
• We're talking laugh out loud funny.
• I, really, did not see that coming...
  • Because like I said, it's painfully stupid.
• But laughter is King and Trumps all.
• It's a fine bit of storytelling, that is.
• Old Jim Thompson likes to tell a joke now and then.
  • And he tells a good one.
• It could be an almost full story right there.
• We need another twist.
• We need another turn.
• We need this thing to go completely off the rails.
• Slick!
• He's a crafty devil.
• You got to have a catch phrase.
• It's building up.
• Oh, to have such problems.
• I'm likely not commenting as much as I otherwise would.
• I don't want to ruin the book.
• And it's odd, but there's not that much thinking going on.
  • It's already thought out.
• If every book I ever read was as good as this, I'd never have become a writer.
• I would have been too humbled.
• Their is incredible mastery, here.
• I don't know about the plot.
  • Probably pretty simple.
    • But the way it weaves together.
    • And the yarn he uses.
• Wow!
  • Just, Wow!
• Pulled out of that recession!
• Ain't no humour in that scene.
• Just some hard solid truth.
• Sort of surprising.
• More effective for being surrounded by flippant jokes.
• Murder, Moonshine, & Sowing Those Wild Oats!
• Yowza!
• Boring Chapter!
• But a nice twist at the end.
• Maybe, I'm just tired.
• I'm just not as into the book.
• I'm dead tired.
• It's more like pushing on than savouring the words, at the moment.
• Yeah, I need to put this book on the back burner, for awhile.
• It feels like pieces are being laid in place.
• But that's not really how a great novel is supposed to feel.
• Then again, I'm tired.
  • So, it may be unfair to blame the book.
• Repeat it enough...
• And it is funny.
• That half a week break did me good...
• Allowed me to come back to the book fresh and appreciate it for what it is.
• No book should be a race to the finish line.
  • Or the gig is up.
• The pages are getting thin.
• Is it wise to be adding plot points this late in the game?
• Then again, I'm all for stirring the pot until it comes to a boil.
• The Sheriff has played this game before.
• And I can guess to what end.
• Was I raised to be a sage?
• Or at least, a man of letters?
• In other words, it's philosophy time.
• Good stuff.
• You got to be smart to be funny.
• And he's smart.
• For why?
• I mean, now I want to know.
• It's Past Tense Time.
• Was that the plan?
• It's hard to imagine that it was.
• The Lord works in mysterious ways.
• As do writers.

The Debriefing

I take the final paragraph (those last forty-five words) as being directed square-on at the reader with good old Jim Thompson doing the talking. I do not find it to be a Satisfying Sayonara.

You know, I could kick the book... in that the entire premise is faulty. It's like the writer stepped into an existing situation... and then, changed said existing situation around beyond all recognition. Which is, likely, not clear... or overly fair, either. So, let me say, very near the beginning, I started to think how certain aspects of the story didn't make sense. It was as if one were playing a computer game and had selected a pre-generated character; but then, preceeded to play that character in a way that was altogether inconsistent with their back story. Well, so, there was that. And then, here at the end, I'm wondering if we couldn't improve the cohesiveness of the story by simply hitting the eject button and dropping out of the game.

And that's when I dropped out and let the screen fade to black. I mean, I could have played it through further. But any fool could see I wasn't going to be getting a High Score. And at that point, one Game Over is just as good as the next.

They made it into a movie (Coup de Torchon), so opinions (obviously differ) on the quality of the story and the cohesiveness of the plot.

In other regards, Jim tells a good story, wraps a joke up nicely, and the killing is clean, and the sex... abundantly off-screen.


In short, word for word, Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson was a delightful read. And then, the words stopped, without any meaningful resolution.