Drive (novel)

Last updated
Drive
Drive (James Sallis).png
Cover of first edition
Author James Sallis
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Noir fiction
Set in
Publisher Poisoned Pen Press
Publication date
September 1, 2005
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages158
ISBN 978-1-59058-181-0
OCLC 61363261
813/.54
LC Class PS3569.A462 D75
Followed by Driven  

Drive is a 2005 noir novel by Amerian author James Sallis. The book was first published on September 1, 2005, through Poisoned Pen Press. In 2011, it was adapted into a feature film of the same name starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn with a screenplay by Hossein Amini. A sequel novel, Driven , was published in 2012. [1]

Contents

Plot

Set mostly in Arizona and Los Angeles, Drive is about a man who does stunt driving for movies by day and drives for criminals at night.

Publication

Drive is an expansion of a story of the same name that Sallis originally wrote for the noir anthology Measures of Poison (2002), published by Dennis McMillan Publications. [2] The novel was published by Poisoned Pen Press on September 1, 2005. [3]

Reception

Publishers Weekly called it Sallis' "most tightly written mystery to date, worthy of comparison to the compact, exciting oeuvre of French noir giant Jean-Patrick Manchette." [3]

Marilyn Stasio, writing for The New York Times , called the novel "a perfect piece of noir fiction." [4]

Paul Skenazy of The Washington Post praised the author's "refreshing, even startling" prose and called it "a lovely piece of work that makes you wish some other writers would take lessons from him." [5]

Entertainment Weekly wrote that the novel "reads the way a Tarantino or Soderbergh neo-noir plays, artfully weaving through Driver's haunted memory and fueled by confident storytelling and keen observations about moviemaking, low-life living, and, yes, driving." [6]

Film adaptation

Drive was adapted by screenwriter Hossein Amini into a 2011 film of the same name, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling as the protagonist. [7] Refn won the Best Director Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival for his direction of the film. [8]

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References

  1. Wilwol, John (April 25, 2012). "In Sequel To 'Drive,' Sallis Delivers A Thrill Ride". NPR . Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  2. Montgomery, David J. (December 27, 2005). "Gripping 'Drive' gives crime fiction a distinctive turn". Boston.com . Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Fiction Book Review: Drive by James Sallis". Publishers Weekly . August 1, 2005. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  4. Taylor, Ihsan (October 15, 2006). "Paperback Row". The New York Times . Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  5. Skenazy, Paul (September 25, 2005). "Seeing murder through the killer's eyes, not just those of the cops". The Washington Post . Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  6. "Drive". Entertainment Weekly . September 16, 2005. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  7. Phillips, Michael (September 15, 2011). "'Drive': Noir lives, dies by its look". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  8. "Cannes Film Festival 2011: Glamour and controversy". BBC News . May 23, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2020.