A Stone for Danny Fisher

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I cheated and read the ending first, and it is not as happy as in "King Creole", where Danny continues his success. Instead he gets a stone in a cemetery, so to speak. But a little before that, he also becomes a father, if I understand it correctly. Guess I have to start from the beginning.

PDF / EPUB File Name: A_Stone_for_Danny_Fisher_1952_-_Harold_Robbins.pdf, A_Stone_for_Danny_Fisher_1952_-_Harold_Robbins.epub I love a good character-driven novel, but I just couldn't connect with any of them in this book! Author Harold Robbins introduces his main character, Danny Fisher, who stole my heart as a youngster, but as he grew into his later teenage years as well as into manhood, he really annoyed me with his disrespectful attitude, selfishness and arrogance. He lost any redeeming qualities he had as a boy for me; King Creole DVD (2000)". Allrovie. Rovi. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012 . Retrieved June 20, 2011. A Stone For Danny Fisher is a serious early novel by Harold Robbins that looks at the effect of the Great Depression on a lower-middle class Jewish family. Written in 1952, it is set in the period up to 1944.I confess that I had trouble relating to or caring about Danny much. Perhaps 20-something men would have an easier time of it. Violence, brutality, Organized Crime.... sex, and death....surrounded Danny, the main character. Elvis brought some light to this brutal story with his on screen performance....riveting for it's time.

Mom wasn't privy to the audiobook, but I found that the narrator's enactment of a woman crying, especially Nellie, really grated on my nerves! stars. This is a good coming-of-age-and-beyond story. In the right hands, the story could become a movie that eclipses the book. (I think there might already be a movie, but I don't know how good it is.) Although ASFDF was easy to read, I wouldn't classify it as a beach book. The story line is too dark, and Danny's predicaments and behavior are too frustrating. After leaving the club, Danny meets up with the Shark gang for his share of the nightly take. He then makes his way to the five and dime at closing time to see Nellie. Danny invites Nellie to a fictitious party in a hotel room. Finding nobody else there, Nellie starts crying in fear and leaves after admitting that she still wants to see Danny again, but not under those conditions.

The characters are well drawn and vivid. Danny spends his short adult life dreaming of returning to the little Brooklyn house where he knew happiness, and he does. Almost. That quest, and its consequences, brings the novel very close to the "tragedy of a common man" that Miller attempted in "Death of a Salesman." I think Robbins was more successful. To use Phyllis Bentley's terms, A Stone for Danny Fisher is almost all scene and no summary; that is to say, numerous episodes from Danny's life are presented to the reader, but there are no narrative links connecting these episodes. This technique gives a graphic urgency to the story and allows a long book to move very rapidly. The character Danny is also able to give the impression that he is neither self-centered nor self-justifying (although he is both) because he never comments on what he was doing but merely describes what he said and did. Thus the book avoids a possible sentimentality, and the technique helps the reader to focus on the theme that the evils of urban life and of the Depression have conspired to destroy what chance there might have been for happiness in the lower middle class.

Nineteen-year-old high school student Danny Fisher works before and after school to support his father and sister Mimi. After Danny's mother died in an accident three years earlier, his grieving father lost his job as a pharmacist and moved his impoverished family to the French Quarter in New Orleans. Danny's family anxiously awaits his graduation from high school, which did not occur the previous year due to Danny having to repeat the school year because of his bad conduct. the fellow isn't a bad actor. Of course, he's nothing at all sensational and the Academy Award isn't in danger, but there are Hollywood habitues who've gotten by for years with less ability. In fact, given the normal amount of the more painstaking type of direction, it is entirely possible that Mr. Wiggle-hips could develop into a really competent actor. As long, however, as he can continue to attract audiences in present proportions there's little need in worrying with drama schools. [29] Elvis has had to go to work because his father has been unable to hold down a job ever since the death of his wife. So's Elvis's sister, Jan Shepard, also had to work. He gets a break in Walter Matthau's club with an impromptu audition, but it's rival owner Paul Stewart who hires Elvis. That sets the stage for a lot of the action to come. Maybe 'King Creole' is a touch overlong, and the female characters are not as interestingly written as the male ones, somewhat lazy and it's the performances that stop them from being completely vapid. Otherwise there is very little to dislike. Have commented a couple of times on the writing and stories not being strong suits in Elvis' films, but 'King Creole' is a pleasant exception. The writing is surprisingly gritty and suspenseful, with few soap-operatic or corn elements, and the story is darker and meatier than the usual story for an Elvis film, thus one of the most absorbing.Variety declared that the film "Shows the young star [Presley] as a better than fair actor". [21] Howard Thompson of The New York Times also gave a favorable review: The first part is a typical coming of age story about a kid in a new neighborhood, about a first kiss, about finding a stray dog, about watching the neighbor girl through the window. The story doesn't really get moving until the family has to move to the lower east side tenements and Danny becomes a neighborhood tough. From there, the story just explodes. The boxing sequences are terrific. You feel as if you are right there ringside watching the action. Zolov, Eric (1999). Refried Elvis: The Rise of the Mexican Counterculture. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-21514-6.