No Beast So Fierce
Written by Edward Bunker
Narrated by Ray Chase
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Edward Bunker
Edward Bunker (1933–2005) spent many years in prison before he found success as a novelist. Born in Los Angeles, he accumulated enough terms in juvenile hall that he was finally jailed, becoming at seventeen the youngest-ever inmate at San Quentin State Prison. He began writing during that period, inspired by his proximity to the famous death-row inmate and author Caryl Chessman. Incarcerated off and on throughout the next two decades, Bunker was still in jail when his first book, No Beast So Fierce, was published in 1973. Paroled eighteen months later, he gave up crime permanently, and spent the rest of his life writing novels, many of which drew on his experiences in prison. Also an actor, his most well-known role was Mr. Blue, one of the bank robbers in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. Bunker died in 2005.
Related to No Beast So Fierce
Related audiobooks
Dopeworld: Adventures in the Global Drug Trade Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the ’80s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Friends of Eddie Coyle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brown's Requiem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Tabloid Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Movie-Tie In: An Unauthorized Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perfume Burned His Eyes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Can't Win: The Classic American Underworld Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Raylan Goes to Detroit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Running the Light Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Clandestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wiseguy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5God's Pocket Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Exile on Front Street: My Life as a Hells Angel . . . and Beyond Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Soul Circus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where the Bodies Were Buried: Whitey Bulger and the World That Made Him Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heat 2: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Arms and the Dudes: How Three Stoners from Miami Beach Became the Most Unlikely Gunrunners in History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sinatra Club: My Life Inside the New York Mafia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone: The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Donnybrook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kid Stays in the Picture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Suspense For You
The Perfect Marriage: a completely gripping psychological suspense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silent Patient Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Teacher Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5None of This is True: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Mrs. Parrish: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Housemaid Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Flicker in the Dark: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bright Young Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Guest List: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Know You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Misery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Terminal List: A Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Then She Was Gone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fool Me Once Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stillwater Girls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Holly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wrong Place Wrong Time: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When No One Is Watching: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deception Point Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Hunting Party: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Missing Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr. Mercedes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5If It Bleeds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for No Beast So Fierce
93 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In my quest to escape from the safe little box the books I read normally fall within, I've challenged myself to pick up things that aren't usually me. Edward Bunker's No Beast So Fierce was my first attempt to do that. This is an autobiographical crime novel. It's written as the memoir of Max Dembo, a parolee from Folsom Prison who has just completed an eight-year term. Trust me when I say that this isn't the type of book I'd normally choose to read. Keep that in mind too, while you read this review. It's just the opinion of one reader who is exploring new territory.
Let's start with what I liked about this. Max Dembo is a pretty fascinating case. Imagine emerging from prison, only to find that you no longer fit in with the world as it is today. Max faces not only the issue of being a former convict, but also of being someone who hasn't been part of mainstream society for almost a decade. His clothes are wrong. His demeanor makes him stand out in a crowd. Even the way he talks isn't necessarily in style anymore. Here is a man who is finally free, and yet now has so much standing in the way of the new life he wants to build.
I can't tell you enough how riveting it was to watch Max face all this. Edward Bunker puts the life of a parolee in vivid black and white. It's no wonder that Max hates mainstream society. They treat him like a leper without even knowing him, simply because of where he's been. It took a lot for me to read through the parts of this where his simmering rage was directed at, well, people like me. People who don't know a thing about the system and how it creates people like him. If nothing else, this book opened my eyes to the huge divide between the former convicts and everyone else.
What I didn't like, and trust me I know it's just my own biases working against me, was that this was a really heavy book. It's obvious that it will be the instance you realize that Max isn't going to make it. Still, as he started the downhill slide, the thoughts and words that came onto the page were tough to swallow. Racism, sexism, it's all on the pages. I think what made it harder for me was that much of this book is very wordy. Bunker doesn't cut down Max's stream on consciousness for our benefit. It's all there, and sometimes it's a little overwhelming.
I'm not sure how much of this review actually makes sense, to be honest. I'm not even certain how I really feel about this book. I've given it three stars mainly because I liked it, but not enough to keep following Max. It's distinctly possible that it's because I never liked him in the least. The fact is, this is a well written book. It's true, and it's gritty. If that's for you? You'll probably enjoy it. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The extra long denouement was not to my liking, that prevented a 4 star rating. On the whole though, very entertaining.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Excellent first person crime novel written by an ex-convict. Usually not my "cup of tea", but after reading the very good reviews of this book, I read it and agree.