the book series about a total sociopath

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  • Опубликовано: 13 июл 2024
  • The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/mancarryingthing02231
    0:00 intro
    0:33 what is the series?
    2:30 who is Parker?
    4:22 where i started
    4:52 evil
    5:43 IMPORTANT NOTE
    6:33 reading order
    9:20 other books i read in january
    11:15 outro
    Twitter: / mancarrying
    Our second channel: ruclips.net/channel/UC8aG...
    Patreon: / mancarryingthing
    TikTok: / mancarryingthing
    Reddit: / mancarryingt. .
    Discord: / discord
    Instagram: / mancarrying. .
    Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/ManCarrying/
    Want to send me something? Do it here:
    PO Box 7887
    Bonney Lake, WA 98391
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Комментарии • 384

  • @ManCarryingThing
    @ManCarryingThing  Год назад +74

    The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/mancarryingthing02231

    • @allaccessentertainment4755
      @allaccessentertainment4755 Год назад +1

      First reply 🥇!

    • @parsnipguy2986
      @parsnipguy2986 Год назад +1

      i wish you split your book and sketch channel apart. my brain is too sexy and smooth to bother with actual fr books

    • @davidbucky7634
      @davidbucky7634 Год назад +1

      I thought this video was about batman in the first 30 seconds 😅

    • @dustinvanderpool592
      @dustinvanderpool592 Год назад

      Payback?

    • @good5038
      @good5038 2 месяца назад

      Skillshare is a literal scam company, please avoid such sponsors.

  • @snoopywriter3643
    @snoopywriter3643 Год назад +1122

    I’m so scared of books… This was the scariest video I’ve ever watched.

    • @chillsy_pluto
      @chillsy_pluto Год назад +32

      Now replace the "k" with a "b" ... not so funny now is it

    • @snoopywriter3643
      @snoopywriter3643 Год назад +29

      @@chillsy_pluto Dude stop, you’re scaring the crap out of me.

    • @bigbluebuttonman1137
      @bigbluebuttonman1137 Год назад +3

      I like books, but it really depends on the book for me.

    • @m00k61
      @m00k61 Год назад +2

      No one tell this guy about creepy pasta channels. Literally people reading.

    • @snoopywriter3643
      @snoopywriter3643 Год назад +4

      @@m00k61 Sounds horrifying. I love it!

  • @NickCrumpets
    @NickCrumpets Год назад +604

    I dont think my short attention span brain can handle an 11 minute skit, but i'll try to enjoy it nonetheless!

    • @ExtraQuestionableContent
      @ExtraQuestionableContent Год назад +38

      Definitely could use Subway Surfers in the corner, maybe some Minecraft parkour

    • @TheSlavicWarlord415
      @TheSlavicWarlord415 Год назад +10

      @@ExtraQuestionableContent Maybe a little family guy too

    • @ExtraQuestionableContent
      @ExtraQuestionableContent Год назад +12

      @@TheSlavicWarlord415 How about we get some guy cutting some weird ass sand or something in the other corner because why the hell not

    • @TheSlavicWarlord415
      @TheSlavicWarlord415 Год назад +2

      @@ExtraQuestionableContent Oh yeah, absolutely!

    • @dashockpixle4140
      @dashockpixle4140 Год назад +6

      ​@The Ugandan Warlord @Soos Maybe add a little vine boom every 5 seconds to return my attention to the screen.

  • @nerd26373
    @nerd26373 Год назад +456

    Man Carrying Thing never fails to deliver the best content we could ask for. Seems like he only gets better each time.

    • @brothatisfunny
      @brothatisfunny Год назад +6

      Sometimes even delivering the best content we didnt ask for

    • @nerdanarcho
      @nerdanarcho Год назад +2

      @@brothatisfunny *carrying

    • @bobcratchit6431
      @bobcratchit6431 Год назад +3

      Man carrying RUclips

    • @KunjaBihariKrishna
      @KunjaBihariKrishna Год назад +1

      Plot twist: He's trying to produce the worst content imaginable, but fails spectacularly every time

  • @brothatisfunny
    @brothatisfunny Год назад +295

    Man carrying thing: come for the skits, stay for the skits, but the books reviews are nice too

  • @1966Heath
    @1966Heath Год назад +114

    Hell yes, man! The Parker series had an ENORMOUS impact on my own work. Great video.

  • @captainmidnight
    @captainmidnight Год назад +116

    I was so excited when I saw this uploaded! Great timing, I've been obsessed with the Parker books for the past few months! Really enjoyed this one.

    • @ManCarryingThing
      @ManCarryingThing  Год назад +27

      Didn't know you also loved Parker that's awesome!

    • @lewiso9060
      @lewiso9060 Год назад +8

      @@ManCarryingThing highly recommend the Darwyn Cooke graphic novel-isations

  • @S0NAL_
    @S0NAL_ Год назад +89

    keep these book videos coming, i hope you never stop carrying thing

  • @analuisarex
    @analuisarex Год назад +61

    I found you because of books. Stayed because all content was interesting/entertaining but I'm always thrilled when it's a book video!

  • @vancecunningham5032
    @vancecunningham5032 Год назад +53

    The darwyn Cooke graphic novel adaptations are some of the best comics I've ever read, especially the hunter! The martini editions are by far the most beautiful books I own

  • @peaceofcrap
    @peaceofcrap Год назад +52

    Hey Jake just wanted to say that even though I love the skits and humor on this channel, I always appreciate it when you pivot back to more traditional book tube content. I'm definitely guilty of only really engaging in book criticism in an echo chamber around the stuff I already enjoy reading. You're the exception to this, having a very different taste in literature than I do and I always find your perspectives really helpful and I've even been encouraged to read some things I don't think I would have before. This series seems really interesting and I might actually check it out!
    Thanks for providing quality content every time!

  • @aidansullivan551
    @aidansullivan551 Год назад +83

    As a big fan of Darwyn Cooke’s adaptations of Parker, I wasn’t super interested in reading the original books, but this makes me want to check them out much more! Thanks for the recommendation!

    • @jabrielmilner
      @jabrielmilner Год назад +4

      I started with the audio books, moved to paperbacks (local library ftw!) , then picked up the comics. Try em all, they're great.

    • @yourt00bz
      @yourt00bz Год назад +8

      Me Cooke was a singular genius. It would make sense to see where a man of this incredible taste drew inspiration

    • @brianmurphy250
      @brianmurphy250 Год назад +1

      I’ve been meaning to get those

  • @dumcatto9022
    @dumcatto9022 Год назад +24

    parker's character reminds me of anton chigurh from no country for old men. anton is like a strategic machine to kill without remorse or humanity, as if people are little mosquitoes. maybe parker is scarier than anton because anton shows an evil side of him that wants his victims to suffer, as well as parker lacks of.

  • @ace15Nura
    @ace15Nura Год назад +119

    I currently reading Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe. It's a 1962 japanese surrealist novel about an entomologist searching for a new type of beetle in a rare desert in Japan, where he encounter a rare village almost buried in the sand. The novel make a great comparision between the adaptability of the beetle in harsh enviroment with the human's. it's almost kafkaesque the way the author related the dunes with human societies, in which the protagonist get trap as a insect in ant farm. Great book if someone is interested.

    • @holydissolution85
      @holydissolution85 Год назад +5

      There is a movie too...also very good

    • @ace15Nura
      @ace15Nura Год назад +4

      @@holydissolution85 I need to watch it after I finish the book. Thanks.

    • @ace15Nura
      @ace15Nura Год назад +1

      @@dylanmorrison8788 I have read Kafka. The Castle is a great book if you enjoyed Abe. It's his most "human" novel. The sad part is that he was writing it when he died, so it's not complete.
      My favorite writer is Thomas Pynchon, I don't consider his novel surrealist but they sure are crazy and poignant. In the same way as Faulkner. So, you my like Bleeding Edge if you grew up during the 90s - 00s. It's about a possible cospiracy related to the 9-11 and the deep web.

    • @aliatef7203
      @aliatef7203 Год назад

      dunes is fantastic, check out face of another it's my fav abe story

    • @ryanmacfarlane1831
      @ryanmacfarlane1831 Год назад

      It was an inferior version of camus work in my opinion

  • @rarwexe
    @rarwexe Год назад +15

    I know you probably won't see this, but I initially found you through your skits before diving deeper and checking out some of your literary analysis videos. Haven't made time for reading in a while, but you helped me finally get back into reading again. I've already finished one book this year, and I've just started another! Thank you for being you and for talking about the things that interest you 💙

  • @kevintheminion2382
    @kevintheminion2382 Год назад +13

    I thought the guy in the thumbnail was Walter white and didn’t read the title so I thought this video was going to be about breaking bad 💀 but I’m not disappointed this video was great

  • @CulnamoElrond
    @CulnamoElrond Год назад +1

    Loving these reviews, I find myself looking forward to them just as much as the skits and I'm obsessed with those.

  • @thejadearcher0783
    @thejadearcher0783 Год назад +15

    11:10 is the exact response you should have to that book. Bravo for your cutting commentary, Thing Man

  • @soualexander6532
    @soualexander6532 Год назад +7

    That sounds pretty interesting! I read "Butcher's Crossing" based on your recommendation and it was one of my absolute favourite reads last year so I'll put this on my list!

  • @Air_Serpent
    @Air_Serpent Год назад +2

    I've always wanted videos with books in the same manner as comics and movies. Super glad to be recommended this.
    The series doesn't seem to be my tastes but your commentary is entertaining.

  • @journeytotheotherside
    @journeytotheotherside Год назад +11

    Anyone else read the title and expect Diary Of A Wimpy Kid?

  • @dylanthrillmour866
    @dylanthrillmour866 Год назад +9

    I've only read the Parker graphic novels by Darwin Cooke and I adore them. they captured such a great noir mood.

  • @229axb7
    @229axb7 Год назад +2

    I've never seen his other non book related videos. Best book videos on RUclips!!

  • @Qochoc
    @Qochoc Год назад +4

    Back in the 70s I was reading every Donald E Westlake novel, the stark novels are very different in tone but also entertaining glad to see you discovered him

  • @quinngorman9432
    @quinngorman9432 Год назад

    Picked these books up from this review and its just what I've been looking for recently; loved it. thanks for the highlight and recommend. Love the book content; skits are great too. Keep it up.

  • @shayneazimi7584
    @shayneazimi7584 Год назад

    Thing Carrierman, you’ve totally sold me on this series - sounds very compelling. Will pick it up for sure

  • @megalawr
    @megalawr Год назад +3

    love the book vids. Thanks dood

  • @KelleyGreenEcstasy
    @KelleyGreenEcstasy Год назад +5

    i thought you had spilled coffee on yourself right before filming and just rolled with it.

  • @darklime191
    @darklime191 Год назад

    Love this type of content!keep it up!

  • @FirionLeFleur
    @FirionLeFleur Год назад +113

    I don't know if you've already done it but you should definitely play Disco Elysium. Best book I've ever played. Really well written.

    • @funnybleepbloopthing
      @funnybleepbloopthing Год назад +8

      Only “book” i ever read lol. Also I think the game was based on a book too but it’s not translated to English yet.

    • @futurestoryteller
      @futurestoryteller Год назад +4

      I think I was smart when I was still in school, game made me finally realize I'm just dumb now. Can't follow any of it, especially the loquacious narration

    • @zxvadcsfbh
      @zxvadcsfbh Год назад +11

      @@funnybleepbloopthing it was based on a TRPG that the designers made for their own friend group which eventually became the 2013 book, Sacred and Terrible Air, and then eventually became 2019's Disco Elysium and is currently becoming a commercially-released TRPG. Or at least was before ZA/UM collapsed into infighting at the end of 2021. Seriously, the studio is currently a mess with most of the founding members and creative leads gone.

    • @zxvadcsfbh
      @zxvadcsfbh Год назад +4

      @@futurestoryteller really? It's hardly abstract. Esoteric and existential at all times, yes. But it's not exactly heady reading.

    • @futurestoryteller
      @futurestoryteller Год назад +2

      @@zxvadcsfbh Really. Do you even understand the words in your own vocabulary? You do know that esoteric means "hard to understand" right - like that is all but *the* definition of that word?
      DBAA

  • @jaimemj2
    @jaimemj2 Год назад +7

    My dad bought the spanish omnibus of the Parker comics by Darwyn Cooke and I thought of checking them out. But now that I know Stark is a pseudonym for Westlake I really have to give it a try, since I really liked The Hot Rock which I read due to your recommendation.

  • @columbosunday
    @columbosunday Год назад +1

    I read both Pronto and Nada on your recommendation, which i enjoyed very much, so I will definitely be checking these out!!

  • @melanino
    @melanino Год назад

    I like your sketches a lot, but honestly, I mostly come back for book reviews, I love them

  • @Turbo_Waitress
    @Turbo_Waitress Год назад +10

    I’ve been wanting to check out Westlake for awhile. My main familiarity with him is through the first Stepfather film, which I thought he did a good job with. I’ll have to check out one of the Parker books.

  • @pandaplays971
    @pandaplays971 Год назад

    Thanks for the entertainment you keep giving us consistently. I also hope you’re not over exerting yourself in any way, just wanted to check in regardless so take care!

  • @Seanbo88
    @Seanbo88 Год назад

    Series sounds very interesting. I love stories that remove fluff and longwindedness and focus on action. Thanks for the review. I'm gonna check it out.

  • @tysoneburns5349
    @tysoneburns5349 Год назад

    Why does your outro slap so hard? 😭 (i neeed it)

  • @garagegeek4863
    @garagegeek4863 Год назад +4

    I’m reading them in order but am only on the fourth. I’d recommend reading them because the narrative grows with each book. We learn more about The Outfit and pulling off different types of crimes. I’m really enjoying this series.

  • @julespelarski
    @julespelarski Год назад +8

    watching this as I put off sitting down to write. Love to hear you talk about fiction. you say terminator but I'm getting some james bond as well.
    I'm reading 1q84 by haruki murakami. fantastic; we have different tastes but it's hard not to love. i think you'd be enchanted by the mystery and interconnectedness and writing style. kind of like a little life not in plot but in that it's a huge book epic in scope that was a cultural phenomenon
    since you gravitate to noir i wonder how you feel about gillian flynn.

  • @mfbobyle6771
    @mfbobyle6771 Год назад +7

    I love Richard Starks Parker series. Love Darwyn Cookes adaptations. Love Point Blank starting Lee Marvin. Love everything about this universe. Also there’s a handful of spin off books written by Stark in this series. My favorite is Lemons Never Lie. About one of Parker’s sidekicks. Definitely give it a read

  • @sirkyoj1
    @sirkyoj1 Год назад

    Just found this whole series is free with an audible membership. Thanks for telling me about the series.

  • @GreayWorks
    @GreayWorks Год назад +3

    Sounds like if Cormac McCarthy wanted to make a whole series about Anton Chigurh.

  • @skababiez1520
    @skababiez1520 Год назад +2

    Very cool video thanks!

  • @Calypso694
    @Calypso694 Год назад

    glad you are bringing awarenes to Parker and Stark. Fantastic series and the base for the smooth con man. The Mourner has one of the best visual of Red and Green in a book EVER. It would make for great television.
    Time for you to check out Dortmunder.

  • @gradientO
    @gradientO Год назад +23

    As a partial sociopath, I'm gonna enjoy this series

  • @ramennoodles7328
    @ramennoodles7328 Год назад +3

    I like when man carries books

  • @noahgambriel6556
    @noahgambriel6556 3 месяца назад +1

    Darwyn cook made this into a comic and it’s awesome

  • @dominicrouse2623
    @dominicrouse2623 Год назад +2

    "Hes a totally sociopath who just goes around killing people, not because he likes it, but because hes good at it"
    later
    "hed be a great ceo"
    this

  • @alexbadila1
    @alexbadila1 Год назад

    I remember reading a book in the Parker series back in my noir/hardboiled phase. I'm pretty sure it was The Hunter. I really enjoyed it, but yeah, the main character was really brutal. I currently just finished The Icewind Dale trilogy by R.A. Salvatore. If you're interested in sword & sorcery books set in the D&D universe, these are very well-written and fun. Salvatore is the best writer I've read when it comes to writing action scenes. They're easy to follow and very engaging. I also started reading the Animorphs series by K.A. Applegate. I'm on book 2 right now. It's great so far. I love how the authors are able to express complex ideas with simple language. It's also surprisingly mature and dark for a kids' series. Keep up the good work! Love your videos!

  • @ellenh278
    @ellenh278 Год назад

    Off season amusement parks are the BEST backdrops/settings in both horror and murder mystery movies/ books. Instant chills.
    Now I'm curious if sociopaths like reading books where a sociopath is the main. I know someone (minus the murder part) that may identify heavily with Parker. Normally when I hear a series has like 30 books I shy away cos I like to do start to finish, but you sold me on these.

  • @goldenjoel8566
    @goldenjoel8566 Год назад

    I remember being fascinated with the character from the adaptation in Payback. Happy to see a lot of them are free with an Audible sub.

  • @vinny9875
    @vinny9875 Год назад +2

    Read about this series in Tarantino’s new book, been meaning to check it out. Loved John Flynn’s film The Outfit

  • @kirktanka8199
    @kirktanka8199 Год назад

    Man Carrying Thing always leaves everyone wanting more. I think the video must have been cut off. I did not get the It Ends with Us review. Looking forward to that in the next video. I will be here for that review.

  • @colmobrien9558
    @colmobrien9558 Год назад

    Love, love, love the Parker novels

  • @kevinharpermusic
    @kevinharpermusic Год назад +3

    Westlake was a genius, and Point Blank is an utter classic of cinema

    • @charlesclark3840
      @charlesclark3840 9 месяцев назад

      Payback (1999) starring Mel Gibson as "Porter" is an extremely well done cinematic adaptation of Parker.

  • @UberSchluh
    @UberSchluh Год назад +1

    For anyone who likes Westlake/Stark, I have to recommend Jim Thompson. Westlake called him "the most nihilistic writer America ever produced" -- I'm not sure I'd go that far, but he was still incredible.

  • @SplendidCoffee0
    @SplendidCoffee0 Год назад +1

    Just found this! I adore the Parker series, though I’ve only read the comics. Those comics stand above most, in my eyes.

  • @8.3.4.N
    @8.3.4.N Год назад

    subbed for the jokes, stayed for the book vids. i haven't read a book in years but i enjoy them for some reason

  • @voodsood
    @voodsood Год назад

    thank you for the content warning, i am very afraid of books but i was able to get through the video by covering my eyes as i was advised to do

  • @mattkean1128
    @mattkean1128 Год назад +3

    I'm familiar with Levi Stahl at the University of Chicago Press that put out all those matching reissues of the Parker books. I'm slowly collecting them all.

  • @timmyturner327
    @timmyturner327 8 месяцев назад

    This video reminded me of the Hitman games for some reason. Nice video.

  • @liambaillargeon3136
    @liambaillargeon3136 Год назад

    I finished reading the trial last night, just incredible. Totally recommend.

  • @TheSkaOreo
    @TheSkaOreo Год назад +2

    The Parker novels are exactly what got me into crime fiction. They do soften his character a bit in the later ones, but The Hunter is a stone cold classic.

  • @alexbadeau5027
    @alexbadeau5027 Год назад +3

    I plan to read Eight Million Ways to Die after I finish Five Decembers (checked it out based on your recommendation).
    And I can’t say I expected a Colleen Hoover reference in a video about the Parker novels 😂

  • @stews9
    @stews9 Год назад +3

    Stephen King's favorite. The Parker novels are brilliant, harsh, and vivid. I think Parker lets the reader project dark fantasies into and onto that character, as a cathartic release.

  • @dawngrrrl
    @dawngrrrl Год назад +1

    Black Wings Has My Angel just came in the mail thanks to your recommendation :)

  • @gregorydavidson2744
    @gregorydavidson2744 Год назад

    Started reading The Hunter on your recommendation -- good so far. I'm glad I checked it out. Quentin Tarantino talked about Parker a lot in his recent book, "Cinema Exploitation," so I assumed reading that and watching this vid around the same time is a sign Parker is for me. I love movies like Taxi Driver or Nightcrawler where the main character is this unstable element and you're wondering what will set them loose. Feels like that's the general vibe with Parker.

  • @johndough7710
    @johndough7710 Год назад

    just found your channel! Payback with mel gibson was based on the parker series- i think they use the name Porter though.
    Have you heard of/read the Phineas Poe trilogy? (by Will Christopher Baer) super gritty. written/published in early 2000's, but i think everythings out of print- he fell off the face of the earth while working on his next book.
    good shit, keep on keeping on!

  • @aniketsanyal5586
    @aniketsanyal5586 Год назад

    Westlake/Richard Stark got assigned to me in undergrad, intro to crime fiction for my english degree. great stuff though I might've preferred Dashiell Hammett (Red Harvest) and Manchette (Fatale) at the time. Chester Himes "The Real Cool Killers" was also quite a ride ... but I'll dive back into this series! love the booktube side quests MCT, and your particular focus on crime fiction, there's plenty of gritty novels to read in this genre

  • @kevingreene6624
    @kevingreene6624 Год назад +5

    I read Hitman by Lawrence Block because you recommended it. It was great.

  • @albion65
    @albion65 Год назад +3

    The best Parker book that I've read is "The Score" from 1964. The plot is like OCEAN'S 11 turned up to 11! The sheer audacity of the crime along with the epic fashion in which the job goes south leads to an exciting read. Plus the book introduces the character Alan Grofield who Westlake spun off into his own set of stories.

  • @yeetoburrito9972
    @yeetoburrito9972 Год назад +3

    AHHH BOOK VIDEO *HISSSS* WOE WOE

  • @FlameForgedSoul
    @FlameForgedSoul Год назад +1

    We would also recommend the Graphic Novel adaptations by Darwyn Cooke as well as the film Payback, which is probably the best big screen adaptation based on the Stark novels.

  • @teatime009
    @teatime009 Год назад

    Wish you were on good reads! Love your takes.

  • @Saitama-xm3ll
    @Saitama-xm3ll Год назад +2

    I'm here again , cos you got me addicted

  • @supaskin
    @supaskin Год назад +1

    If you close your eyes you can still hear him talking about books.

  • @johnsmith8906
    @johnsmith8906 Год назад

    On seeing the title I immediately thought it was going to be about Patricia Highsmiths "Ripley" novels.

  • @JamesHock
    @JamesHock Год назад +1

    This sounds a lot like a series I enjoyed called Victor the Assassin about a similarly minded international assassin

  • @radiak55
    @radiak55 Год назад

    The comic adaptations by Darwyn Cooke are awesome too. My favorite being Nan with the Getaway-face

  • @Beastlango
    @Beastlango Год назад +1

    Definitely going to check them out, looks like quite a few are free on audible right now

  • @Wcstin
    @Wcstin Год назад

    really well made video

  • @nicholasfalasco8539
    @nicholasfalasco8539 Год назад +1

    I've been wondering what's your reading routine, Jake? ALso, how do you pick out books you know you're gonna finish? I ask because I'm trying to get back into reading again, and I want a healthier reading practice.

  • @BenMaxVideos
    @BenMaxVideos Год назад

    I’d love your thoughts on Darwyn Cooke’s adaptations!

  • @yuppiesyoo
    @yuppiesyoo Год назад +3

    Hi man carrying thing, I was wondering what your thoughts were on Hunter S. Thompson, both as a person and on his work?

  • @maximofernandez196
    @maximofernandez196 5 месяцев назад +1

    ok you convinced me, man carrying books

  • @noisecorerap6029
    @noisecorerap6029 Год назад +2

    Read Ice by Anna Kavan lately and I have been obsessed with it since I finished it, also Of Mice and Men

  • @Yungshamgod
    @Yungshamgod Год назад

    Hello, Man. I am reading Moby Dick per your suggestion. I am loving it. Great imagery and characters. Queequeg is a boss

  • @olberon
    @olberon Год назад +1

    This is must that phenomenon that the young fellas call 'literally me frfr'

  • @henrycunningham1960
    @henrycunningham1960 Год назад +2

    This better be diary of a wimpy kids

  • @DocMarsTalesToAmaze
    @DocMarsTalesToAmaze Год назад +1

    donald westlake's dortmunder is also amazing

  • @denalinorsen6180
    @denalinorsen6180 Год назад

    I've always wanted to ready the Darwyn Cooke graphic novel

  • @WillN2Go1
    @WillN2Go1 2 месяца назад

    The Parker novels are brilliant. Many of them start out in media res with the word "When..." "When he saw that the one called Harbin was wearing a wire, Parker said, "Deal me out," and got to his feet." "When he didn't get any answer the second time he knocked, Parker kicked the door in." or "Hearing the click behind him, Parker threw his glass straight back over his right shoulder, and dove off his chair to the left. The bullet furrowed a line through the plans on the table..."
    Once you've done some writing, it's not that difficult to make a likeable character. But then what usually happens? They go off and make mistakes you'd never make. You, the reader, knows what the characters should do. With Parker, you might have a few ideas, Parker's ideas are revealed in action, they're quicker than anything you could think of, more efficient , and sometimes brutal, but only as needed.
    Take David Balducci Memory Man. The protagonist is forced into the back of a car by a skinny guy with a gun. Another criminal even smaller than the gunman, is at the wheel. The Memory Man is well over six feet. He's a retired police detective. He knows when they get to where they're going they are going to kill him. Okay. What happens:? What should happen? Ask any cop. That's not what happens. Instead he chats with them until they order him out of the car and tie him to a chair....
    Th correct answer if a person with bad intentions is within a few feet of a trained police officer or soldier, they are going to take the gun away. Parker would've beaten any information he could get out of the gunman on page 30, then killed him so there'd be no problems. On about page 70 he'd have beaten the driver, killed them, and then would have to think of something else to do for the next 150 pages. Richard Stark can write likeable characters but what he usually chooses to do instead is write characters who are driven, motivated, have a goal. They may be lying. Their character is revealed in action. He'll forgive a mistake, but never a betrayal. Brilliant writing.
    If some how you're a writer, maybe a woman writer, and because you had absolutely nothing better to do you've watched this video and you're reading this? Read Parker, but think What if he were a woman, What if that woman wasn't a criminal. What if you rewrote Pride and Prejudice with this kind of drive.... and... Elizabeth Bennet already has amazing drive. She didn't just say "No thanks" to Darcy, she took him apart to make sure he completely understood and then she shot him in the face. Well not really. Jane Eyre was a lot more like Parker than Oliver Twist, David Copperfield or Pip. (David Copperfield was Dicken's trying to do what Bronte did in Jane Eyre, tell the story from the child's point of view. David Copperfield is mostly passive. There is nothing passive about Jane Eyre. Dickens said he never read Jane Eyre, said he didn't need to. And yet, he tried to steal the core idea (smart) but without reading the book (stupid) to better understand it. So read great writing even if it's completely something you would never read. And learn how to take a gun away.

  • @DanisThoughts
    @DanisThoughts Год назад

    will try to check the parker series, they sound really cool! Also i recently finished Loop by Koji Suzuki, the third book in the ring series, really trippy and bizarre (which is why i love it), if you think you understand the ring from the movies (cursed vhs that kills you after seven days) then you know nothing, this (and the second book for that matter) are widly different

  • @rmmatsus
    @rmmatsus Год назад

    I like the idea that Parker is the flip side of Westlake’s other famous character, Dortmunder.

  • @leonardotavaresdardenne9955
    @leonardotavaresdardenne9955 Год назад +1

    Have you ever heard of Golgo 13? It's somewhat similar. A sociopathic main character that's basically a Terminator, and the more interesting aspect is the side characters and how they react to Golgo. A lot more violent though

  • @smugbowkid9919
    @smugbowkid9919 Год назад +1

    It’s like James Bond but with a surprisingly enthralling writing style, at least for me.

  • @meganefanatic9218
    @meganefanatic9218 Год назад

    damn, never noticed how comfortable that chair looks

  • @odolowa1
    @odolowa1 Год назад

    Also recommend Westlake’s Dortmunder series. A much lighter and more comedic take on the heist genre. The first actually started as a Parker novel but after the plot became a bit too silly Westlake rewrote it with a different lead. There’s even a quasi “crossover” of sorts where Dortmunder and his associates at one point try and pull a heist based on a non-existent Parker novel.

  • @TheJohnnyCalifornia
    @TheJohnnyCalifornia Год назад +1

    It is interesting you compare him to The Terminator as I believe Jon Boorman, the director of POINT BLANK compared him more to Frankenstein's monster than any typical hard-boiled anti-hero.

  • @DestinyComics
    @DestinyComics Год назад +1

    Westlake wrote a book called "somebody owes me money " I want to see it turned into a movie so bad. It's my favorite book of his.