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Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal
Newly edited by D.J. Natelson, Israel Rank is the black comedy that inspired the 1946 film "Kind Hearts and Coronets" and the award-winning Broadway show, "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder."
Israel Rank has loving parents, a comfortable home, and the charm, brains, attractiveness, and ambition to get him through life with ease. But he's not satisfied. He's an heir th ...more
Israel Rank has loving parents, a comfortable home, and the charm, brains, attractiveness, and ambition to get him through life with ease. But he's not satisfied. He's an heir th ...more
Kindle Edition
,
419 pages
Published
August 26th 2014
by D.J. Natelson
(first published 1907)
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Este libro no aparecerá en los “blogs especializados” de novela negra y policíaca, ni aparecerá en ninguno de los múltiples festivales de novela negra… pero cualquier buen lector no debería perdérselo por: una premisa inmejorable, un desarrollo colosal, fina ironía y un final cargado de mala leche. Debe aparecer en mi selección del año.
Roy Horniman's 1907 novel
Israel Rank
is better known as the inspiration for the 1949 Alec Guinness film
Kind Hearts & Coronets
, as well as the 2013 Best Musical
A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
. All three entertainments share the similar high concept, in which a low-ranking aspirant to a high-profile estate and title faces the gallows after concocting a series of comic murders designed to make him the sole inheritor.
Black comedy, indeed. What might be interesting to modern readers, ...more
Black comedy, indeed. What might be interesting to modern readers, ...more
The book on which Kind Hearts & Coronets was based. It's nicely written, with a beguiling narrator - he's no Humbert Humbert, but we can't helping rooting for him as he bumps off the aristocrats standing in the way of his title. The author has put a lot of work into the way a murderer might think, creates some vivid characters and set-piece moments, and shakes a mean cocktail of sex and death. My quibble, which stops the book from getting 4 stars, is that Israel doesn't have to try very hard
...more
The book was a compelling read, and under other circumstances, I would go with a 4-5 Stars rating because it keeps you reading and it's hard to put down.
However, and neglecting that its probably a product of its time, the thing that put me off more than once is the anti-Semitism. The main character's story is known through the film and musical, and while it's portrayed quite charmingly in the film and musical without the problematic parts (where Bryce Pinkham does his best to assure that you fal ...more
However, and neglecting that its probably a product of its time, the thing that put me off more than once is the anti-Semitism. The main character's story is known through the film and musical, and while it's portrayed quite charmingly in the film and musical without the problematic parts (where Bryce Pinkham does his best to assure that you fal ...more
The film Kind Hearts and Coronets is better in humour but this is the same basic plot and characters. It is a little darker than the film - which is inevitable as it would have been unable to keep up the lighter touch of the film throughout the length of the book - and some of the deaths are a little more gruesome than in the film, such as the death of a toddler - and also no bombs or arrows shooting down hot-air balloons. However, there is a different ending, which means the tension was still k
...more
This is an interesting book ... if nothing else because it is the basis for the classic Ealing black comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets.
The book is sufficently different to make it an enjoyable read in its own right.
The book is sufficently different to make it an enjoyable read in its own right.
I read this book because I first fell in love with the Tony-Award-winning musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, which is based on this novel. The premise is essentially the same, but several of the characters names have been changed (Israel=Monty; Edith=Phoebe, etc), as well as the manners of death. There is also one additional female character that plays an important role that the musical removed/combined into Monty's (Israel's) other lover. Overall, the book is not quite a comical as
...more
A witty little novel, though not as humorous, or even as amusing, as I had anticipated.
Well, its pretty good. Interesting in a lot of ways, almost a forerunner of Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels in its depiction of a murderer. Some good satire along the way, despite a rather colorless finale. It seems destined to remain in the shadow of the infinitely superior film based upon it, the brilliant KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS.
Witty but can be a bit drawn out at some points. I cannot wait to see the play that inspired me to read this book: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. I saw a scene from the play last year during the Macy's Day Parade.
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Roy Horniman (1874–1930) was a British writer.
He was the owner of The Ladies Review for some years and was a member of the British Committee of The Indian National Congress. As well as acting he became tenant and manager of the Criterion Theatre and wrote many plays as well as adaptations of his own and others’ novels. In his later years he wrote and adapted for the screen. Amongst his notable wor ...more
More about Roy Horniman...
He was the owner of The Ladies Review for some years and was a member of the British Committee of The Indian National Congress. As well as acting he became tenant and manager of the Criterion Theatre and wrote many plays as well as adaptations of his own and others’ novels. In his later years he wrote and adapted for the screen. Amongst his notable wor ...more
