Shoot the Piano Player

by David Goodis

Book Overview

Once upon a time Eddie played concert piano to reverent audiences at Carnegie Hall. Now he bangs out honky-tonk for drunks in a dive in Philadelphia. But then two people walk into Eddie's life--the first promising Eddie a future, the other dragging him back into a treacherous past. Shoot the Piano Player is a bittersweet and nerve-racking exploration of different kinds of loyalty- the kind a man owes his family, no matter how bad that family is; the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679732543
• ISBN13: 9780679732549
• Release Date: October 1990
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

absolutely enjoyable

For years I have avoided reading Shoot the Piano Player because the film by Truffaut is one of my favorites. It hardly seemed fair to the book to try and read it when I liked the film so very much. It was a mistake to have waited. Shoot the Piano Player is a subtle and hard-hitting novel that goes beyond many of the expectations of a Noir thriller. The writing is subtle and moody, with moments of aggression and connection that flash like heat lightning. Eddie does not need any trouble in his life. By the time trouble catches up to him at Harriet's Hut he is already a beaten man. Disengaged and detached, a single act of involvement carries him over the line and back into life. This is a dark and poor Philadelphia where the past catches up to a person and where nothing and nobody are what they seem. Recommended for fans of Noir fiction and films. Truffaut fans should not worry about being disappointed. Even if you aren't yet a noir fan, this is an excellent book for anybody with a taste for smart and well-written literature.

Moving and Poignant

Dark and melancholic? Yes. Oozing with despair? Yes. But also a wonderfully plotted and characterised story that poignantly displays a man who has done the best he could with the lot he was given.Eddie is a bar-room piano player at Harriet's Hut where he has quietly and unobtrusively played for 3 years. One night his criminal brother staggers into the bar, desperate for Eddie's help. He is being chased by a couple of gangster-types and unwillingly, Eddie is drawn into the chase.From that point on, we begin to learn all about this quiet and unassuming man. We soon realise that there is a lot more to him than is first realised and, having endeared him to us, we are snapped back to the present and the trouble that is visited upon him be his brother.There's plenty to like about the story's characters too: from the tough, overweight broad who owns the bar, to her common-law husband, an ex-wrestler who works as the bar's bouncer, and the femme fatale, a brazen waitress who plays a wonderful counterpoint to the introspective Eddie.There really is nothing left to say than to highly recommend this book as a special example of noir fiction. It's certainly well worth reading.

Goodis does good...

Shoot the Piano Player is certainly a depressing yet fascinating read. The story is about, not surprisingly, a piano player. This poor fellow has a most bizarre background, and an equally bizarre family. Nothing works for him, his prospects are bleak. Then in walks (or rather, crawls) his long absent brother who is escaping from some nasty criminals ... and our piano player's world is turned on its head. No happy ending (, or beginning or middle). The story oozes despair and loneliness. Yet this is its strength.David Goodis does an superb job in capturing the emotional turmoil of our piano player. His prose is very good, and the characterizations in general are well-drawn. The story itself, while original enough, is not outstanding. However upon reading the book I felt as if I brought into 1950s Philadelphia, living with our piano player and his low-life "friends" and family.Bottom line: definitely not a dose of sunshine. But wonderful nonetheless.

AWW, SHOOT!

This was my first Goodis book, and it absolutely blew me away. If this is any indicator of what to expect from the man, I'm in love. In this noir novel, things get messed up, then get even messier, and messier still, until it's just one big mess and Eddie has got to keep hiding and runnning and fighting for survival. And the unbearable nature of it all wakes Eddie up out of the complacency of his life. That's what this book is about. Not to mention that Goodis' writing is like reading hard-boiled poetry. The words flow together beautifully and have an air of mystery and profundity about them. The last two pages alone will stay with me forever as a fond memory. Like a previous reveiwer, _ Of Human Bondage_ is my favourite book-- and still is, but now it shares 1st place with _Shoot The Piano Player_.

A dark potboiler with characters you won't soon forget.

Set in the 40's, in the dark streets of Philadelphia, and peopled with characters like Harriet, the tough as nails proprietor of a rough and tumble bucket of blood; Wally Plyne, her ex-wrestler boyfriend and bouncer who's rather sensitive about his fist-sculpted face; Lena, the waitress with the sharp brain and sharper hatpin, and Eddie, the piano player, happy to belt out tunes and sweep the floor in the dump called Harriet's Hut. Then Eddie's brother bumps into him by chance while running from trouble, as usual, and the piano player's checkered and tragic past comes walloping back like a train wreck. Incredible, emotional, one of the most honest and believable novels of the hard-boiled genre.