| Title | : | The Cocktail Waitress |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1781160325 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781781160329 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 270 |
| Publication | : | First published September 18, 2012 |
The Cocktail Waitress Reviews
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If this book actually were a cocktail you’d probably find it was pretty smooth going down, but think that it’s not all that strong while drinking. Then you’d be surprised by the twist you found at the bottom of the glass, and when you tried to stand up you’d fall over and realize that you were completely shitfaced after all.
Joan Medford is burying her husband, but since he was an abusive drunk she isn’t exactly upset that he crashed and burned in a drunk driving accident. However, he’s left her stone broke, and his sister is using Joan’s inability to provide for her small son Tad as an excuse to have the kid stay with her as the first step towards claiming custody of him. Desperate for cash Joan takes a gig as a scantily clad cocktail waitress in a lounge where her looks draw the attention of plenty of male customers including the rich but sickly Earl K. White who starts dropping huge tips on her. Joan quickly sees an opportunity to help her get her son back if she can make White fall for her, but she’s torn between working towards that goal and her attraction to a handsome rogue named Tom Barclay. She’s also got a problem with a pesky policeman who thinks that she was somehow responsible for his husband’s death.
This is one of those Hard Case Crime offerings where they’ve dug up some unpublished treasure, and this time it’s from noir master James Cain. Cain wrote and rewrote multiple versions of the novel until his death, and it’s a helluva interesting and tricky read. You can see elements of his best known books like Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Mildred Pierce, but what’s interesting here is how he’s almost subverting his previous work by heading down similar paths yet still making The Cocktail Waitress something different.
It’s a subtle thing, and a good portion of the book just seems to be this hard luck woman struggling to overcome her circumstances and people’s perceptions of her. The police and her husband’s family think she might be a killer. Many people assume that she’s willing to flirt and flash some cleavage for tips, and maybe even do more than that. When she gets into the relationship with White it seems like a classic gold digger scenario. And yet the first person narration that Joan gives us make it seem like she’s just a decent practical woman trying to do her best to improve her situation enough to make sure she gets her son back.
The great thing about the writing here is that by the end you’re still sympathizing with Joan until the point where you look back and realize that there’s a whole lot of fishy stuff in her story. Is she an unreliable narrator who has been feeding the reader a line the entire time? Are we just as big of suckers as the rubes that Joan works for tips? Or is it really just a string of bad luck that is making Joan look bad, and she is just trying to set the record straight as she claims?
Those are the kind of questions you’ll find yourself asking, and it’s the way that Cain made Joan come alive as a character so that you’re not entire sure that makes this a fresh approach to a classic noir story. -
[7/10]
The long lost final novel of James M Cain, written when the author was 83 years old, is well deserving of the atribute 'hidden gem', especially to fans of the pulp author already familiar with his style: a first person narration that throws the reader into the middle of a maelstrom of human emotion, with a strong sense of impending doom, courtesy of the opening scene at a funeral and of the confessional type of first person narration from the widow - Joan Medford.
My review borrows heavily from the afterword by Charles Ardai, the editor who put in the hard work of tracking the manuscript and of collating the several versions of the unpublished story. Adair is a big fan of Cain, yet even he feels the need to make a couple of critical observations regarding this final cap to a long and uneven career.
The first comment concerns the familiarity of the plot. After trying to branch out into several different genres and styles, Cain returned to the noir sensibilities that first got him noticed and produced at least three masterpieces, novels that in turn became memorable movies. But, in doing so, Cain cannibalizes his own recipe for success, rewriting and mixing the storylines of those same three early novels:
From Postman and Double Indemnity there's the idea of a young, attractive woman, married to an unattractive but well-heeled older man, who meets a new man, young and handsome, who's ultimately implicated in the husband's death. From Mildred Pierce he took the premise of a female protagonist in severe economic straits, just getting out of a bad marriage, who has taken a degrading job as a waitress in order to provide for her child.
The second editorial comment acknowledges the so-called 'trashy' side of life that seemes to fascinate Cain and to dominate his literary output, mostly unsavoury explorations of the darkest corners of the human psyche. Cain wasn't into pleasant, witty repartees among the upper echelon of society and least of all into happy endings. He writes mostly about bottom feeders, opportunists and selfish bastards that will eventually be brought down by their own vices.
Cain's characters sweat, and have reason to. And when you read about them, he makes you sweat alongside them. You want to know what it feels like to be trapped in a loveless marriage, yearning hopelessly for something better and grabbing desperately at a way out even if it's cruel and repellent and doomed? Read 'The Postman Always Rings Twice'. If you feel you need a shower afterwards, that's to its credit, not a criticism.
I wish I could subscribe fully to this last statement, about the merit of taking a trip into the gutter and learning some valuable lessons along the way, but the actual experience of reading Joan Medford's account of how she became notorious as a Black Widow is best described as a chore for me. It is difficult to explain why without giving away the plot, but let me say that I have read many books written from the perspective of an unreliable narrator, yet in Joan Medford I experienced the widest distance between the words and the actions of a character. Many times I was forced to put the book down and go read something else, giving myself time to cool down my own temper (Joan confesses she has fiery one herself) and to try find an explanation for her dumbest decisions.
From the same afterword by Ardai:
No femme fatale thinks she is one, or admits it if she does. Putting the story into Joan's voice means we hear only what Joan wants us to hear. And as she perceives things, or at least as she tells them, she's innocent of any wrongdoing - a hapless victim of circumstance, surrounded by deaths she neither caused nor contributed to. It's up to the reader to decide whether to believe this self-portrait or question it, and the resulting ambiguity makes 'The Cocktail Waitress' one of Cain's most unsettling, unstable books.
In an unrelated article I spotted on the wiki homepage today, Ayn Rand wrote a play that takes place in a courtroom, the case of a woman accused of murder, where members of the audience are invited onstage to play the part of the jury. The same thing happens in the Cain novel, as each reader has to decide for himself/herself if the voluptuous and fire-tempered Joan is a victim of circumstances or a scheming b_tch.
I put on a bit of an act, playing the poor, upset little girl who'd gotten charmed into putting her property at risk - which wasn't so far from the truth, of course.
Regardless of your verdict , I believe "The Cocktail Waitress" was a worthy project to save from oblivion. Thanks, Mr. Adair! Who knows, there might even be a movie version in there somewhere. I would cast Scarlett Johansson ( I probably just want to watch her in hot pants and braless, serving drinks) if she could still pull off playing a twenty years old character. -
Is this the very first book written from the point of view of an unreliable narrator? If not it's one of the first, and is definitely one of the best written from the pov of a woman who may or may not be a sociopath....
My original review is woefully inadequate at expressing how great this book actually is. Oh well.
Original review:
I finished this book and thought, "Well, that was nice." I couldn't figure out why Stephen King said the book will "...shock you with an ending you will never forget." As far as I was concerned, things were wrapped up quite nicely and it was a 3 to 4 star book.
But then I googled thalidomide.
It was then I realized that I had just read a horror novel. And it is a horror novel that is so wicked it sent chills down my spine.
Looking back, I see now that the murderer in this story is by far the cruelest, most evil and terrifyingly dangerous character that I've ever read. I say this because of the nonchalant tone in the book. Unless you know what to look for, it'll pass right by you (as is evident by all the reviews taking this book at face value like I did at first).
And now I'm thinking back to certain scenes from the book with a new understanding of WHY certain people behaved the way they did, and why they tried to do certain things.
I want to scream and shout and tell you who this person is, because I haven't had the pleasure of reading something like this before, and it's probable that you haven't either. (argh- I can't even tell you WHY and it's killing me!!) I want to read it again, but now I'm too scared. -
4.5 Stars!
THE COCKTAIL WAITRESS - SNEAKY EVIL or GRIEVING WIDOW?
Well now......meet Joan, another of Cain's voluptuous red-haired beauties with the signature long gorgeous legs who seems fated to a job of waitressing.
But Joan really is different from the hard-working MILDRED PIERCE. Both do struggle after loss, both do like to give a good slap when in tantrum mode, and my goodness, both do make some asinine mistakes.
But Joan gives off an added vibe of suspicion, greed and sexuality....with a side of honesty and sweetness.
HAHAHA...HEHEHE. Oh you trickster Cain! Don't be fooled folks. Everything is not as clean cut as it seems. What a clever, understated work of mystery-noir!. I almost went for it, and actually had to do some re-reading, but it was worth every minute of it. Do I REALLY know the truth of the matter? I think so.... Love this guy Cain and love finishing a book with a smile on my face!
From what I understand, Cain didn't publish this one bc he was unhappy with the various versions of the endings he wrote. THE COCKTAIL WAITRESS was edited and published posthumously 35 years after his death in 1977. Thought it interesting our wealthy character Earl had similar health issues as author.
3.55 average rating....not IMHO!
James M. Cain - July 1, 1892 ~ October 27, 1977.
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The Cocktail Waitress is the final novel of James M. Cain. Begun in 1975 when the 83-year-old crime fiction godfather had relocated from Los Angeles to Hyattsville, MD, Cain passed away two years later and his manuscript remained lost. Efforts by editor Charles Ardai to recover it resulted in the discovery of not only a complete manuscript but several, though undated. Unlike a lot of posthumously published fiction, there was a finished product here. How finished remains open to debate in what does at times read like a rough draft. But rough James M. Cain is better than finished product nearly every other author in his weight class.
Published in 2012 by Hard Case Crime, the story is the first-person account of Joan Medford, a newly widowed housewife in Hyattsville who finds herself in perilous financial and legal tides. Left nothing by her alcoholic and physically abusive husband but broken furniture and questions by the police over how he came to crash a car into a culvert, Joan must turn her young son Tad over to her sister-in-law Ethel, who loves the boy and plots for full custody while Joan searches for work. The more sympathetic of the two police detectives questioning her recommends Joan for an open waitressing job at the nearby Garden of Roses.
Joan's legs make such an impression on the woman who owns restaurant that she's given a job at the cocktail bar. Joan befriends a veteran cocktail waitress named Liz Baumgarten and learns the tricks of the trade, where one less button fastened and extra attention to the customer can profit a waitress. Joan's first regular is a gentleman of self-importance who identifies himself as "Earl K. White the Third." Joan has to look him up in the phone book the next day to learn he works in investment securities, but doesn't discourage his ardor and brings home a $19.15 tip that night. Soon, Joan is able to turn her telephone, electricity and gas on and begin efforts to prove herself a fit mother.
Ethel asked, her voice like ice: "Where did you get the money you're spreading around so generously to every child in sight? Working at your cocktail lounge?"
"That's right."
"I didn't realize a waitress gets tipped so well, just for waitressing. Or are you doing more now, on the side?"
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."
"I'm sure you do."
"My customers have been generous with me, and I choose to share it. I won't apologize for it."
"It's not the generosity you should apologize for, but what you have to do to make it possible."
In addition to the stress of the police wanting to exhume her ex-husband's body in a case they have not yet closed, Joan is nearly fired from her job when she beats up a trashed customer who's way too flagrant with his hands. The young man, a charismatic sort working on big ideas and a bigger score named Tom Barclay, doesn't apologize, but does insist that Joan not be fired and from that moment on, hounds her every night to go out with him. Joan is far more inclined to enter into a financial arrangement with Earl K. White the Third, who gives Joan $50,000, no strings attached, except the ones Joan can't see when she deposits the check.
Missing physical love, Joan gradually warms to Tom. Using most of her gift from Earl K. White the Third to purchase a rental property, she agrees to post bail on Tom's behalf for a senior municipal engineer arrested for bribery and who Tom believes can award him a job in the Department of Natural Resources. She then agrees to go out with him, but is taken to a strip club/ junior brothel called the Wigwam where he pounces on her at the first opportunity. Joan storms out and nearly runs Tom over with her car to get away from the creeper. Discovering that Earl K. White the Third was having her tailed, Joan finds her big tipper suddenly not so eager to finance her.
Suffering from a heart condition that would make the consummation of any marriage fatal, Earl K. White the Third nevertheless considers Joan's offer to enter into a kind of financial arrangement, where she's his wife on paper and can spend more time with him, minus world burning sex or sex of any kind. Meanwhile, the engineer she posted her property to bail out of jail skips. This puts Joan into a financial arrangement with Tom and the two of them set out to track the bail jumper down. All of Joan's worries about money and getting her son back appear answered when Earl agrees to marry her, until she realizes that she might have to perform certain duties in the bedroom after all.
When we were alone, Earl said, "Now I don't know about you, Joan, but after a wedding, a car ride, and a plane trip, I could do with a little bed rest."
"Oh, I'm quite tired too."
But once more the drawstring pulled in my stomach, as I still didn't quite know what to expect.
I found out soon enough.
Both our bedrooms opened onto the sitting room, and he stepped into his, he half-whispered, in a friendly confidential way: "I'll be getting my things off." It seemed to mean more to come, and when I went to my room, I couldn't make myself undress. I put my things away, then sat down to think, but managed only to feel numb. When there came a rap on the door I called: "Come." But I sounded muffled and strangled and queer. Then he was there in pajamas and slippers and a robe. "So!" he exclaimed, very friendly. "Thanks for waiting. Now I can see the whole show."
I've spoken of my temper, and now I wrestled with it, trying to hold it back. I couldn't. "What show?" I heard myself say, sounding ugly.
"Why, as your husband, I'd like to watch you undress. Fact of the matter, I've been looking forward to it."
I wanted to do what I did to Tom, flatten his ears with slaps, but did nothing at first but sit there, swallowing, trying to get myself under control. Then: "Are you sure that's recommended?" I asked. "After all I'm anatomically normal, and might have an anatomically normal effect."
Flawed and perhaps unfinished as it is, I had a strong rooting interest in The Cocktail Waitress. Joan Medford, like Mildred Pierce, is dropped into a pit she spends the story trying to climb out of. That's exciting. I enjoy stories about characters struggling to make ends meet especially and coming from a generation that suffered through the Great Depression, Cain plugs his characters into those straits. I liked the way Joan has to establish her moral principles in her new life, drawing boundaries at work that men constantly, continually, try to redraw for her to get what they need. And much of the prose has the allure of a classic femme fatale story.
I come now to Tom Barclay, but before I tell about him, what he did to me, and what I did to him, I have to tell about our pants, the hot pants Liz and I went out and bought, for her and me to put on, without telling Bianca we would, thereby causing a situation. It might sound frivolous, coming on the heels of such serious matters as potentially being accused of murder--but everything else stemmed from it, however trivial it might have seemed at the start.
It was the first week of July, and murderously hot in the Garden, even with air-conditioning. That was unusual in Hyattsville, because Prince George's County doesn't have it hot like Washington, or on Montgomery County in Maryland, alongside Prince George's but north of it; and vice versa, not such cold weather in winter. But we had it hot this time, and not being used to it, our clientele was feeling it more than some other clientele might. And of course all the girls were feeling it, especially Liz. During a lull one night she said to me: "Joanie, not to get personal, but are you getting damp, like? In a certain intimate place? That we don't mention in mixed company, but between girls could be called the crotch?"
I like Cain's priorities. Illustrating Joan's objectification by sporting men in the bar is one part. She also has to accept the dangers of earning tip or gift income from men who appreciate her physical allure and may or may not want something in return. "Nothing in life is free" and "everyone pays" are the messages here. Even though I wasn't very compelled by the criminal schemes Cain came up with or the many pages devoted to Joan's honeymoon and marriage--which reads like research or a rough draft that needed work--I did enjoy spending time with The Cocktail Waitress.
Word count: 78,007 words -
James M. Cain is best known for his three classic novels:
Double Indemnity,
The Postman Always Rings Twice and
Mildred Pierce. The Cocktail Waitress is his last book and was unpublished at the time of his death. Cain was still working on the book, although he had completed several drafts of it, and there is no way of knowing at this point whether he was happy with the work he had done and whether he thought it was ready for publication. The fact that he had not yet submitted it by the time he died, would suggest, though, that he was probably not yet ready to send it out into the world.
The manuscript disappeared for a number of years and was later discovered by Charles Ardai, the editor of the Hard Case Crime series. Ardai assembled from Cain's various drafts the version that now appears.
The book contains echoes of Cain's three classics, most notably Mildred Pierce. In both cases, the protagonist is a younger woman, suddenly left alone to fend for herself and her children as best she can. Thankfully, in this case the child in question is not nearly as intolerable as Mildred Pierce's daughter, Veda.
The book opens with the death of a man named Ron Medford. He leaves a widow, Joan, and a young son. Medford was a drunk and an abusive husband and Joan is not going to waste a lot of tears on his passing. She finds herself in trouble, however, because a young, ambitious detective believes that she was somehow complicit in her husband's death, even though he died, drunk, smashing a borrowed car into an abutment.
In addition to being hounded by the police, Joan has no way of supporting herself. Reluctantly, she farms her young son out to her sister and takes a job as a cocktail waitress, wearing suggestive clothing and doing what it takes to survive. Before long, two men are competing for her affections. One is an elderly rich widower; the other is a handsome but penniless schemer. This sets the stage for a great deal of mischief as Joan struggles to make the best of a bad situation and put her life back on the track to happiness. As is usually the case in a novel by James M. Cain, good luck with that.
This is a good read, though it is not nearly the equal of his three classics. But those who have enjoyed Cain's earlier books will certainly want to look for it. -
Meh. No doubt I started with the wrong Cain novel for my first read.
For a thoughtful, detailed review, read this one from my GR friend Algernon:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... -
Why, oh why, don't I read these kinds of books more often?
James Cain is a master of the crime noir novel. Not a word is wasted as he suspensfully sets the scene -- smoky, dark bar; love triangle; a voluptuous young cocktail waitress who already has one dead husband and needs to find a way to get a lot of money -- quickly. The story is told in the first person from her point of view, which works so well -- as a reader can we trust her?
This was Cain's last book and he died before it was finished. Editors painstakingly went through his notes and drafts to come up with a final version. While many say it's not his finest work, this reader was pretty darn pleased. -
“And then at last I began to realize how terrible a thing it was, the dream that you make come true.”
James M. Cain is generally considered one of the trinity of classic American noir crime novelists, including Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. His best known and most celebrated novels are The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity and Mildred Pierce, all of which were terrific, and were made into successful films, as well. I wouldn’t ordinarily go out of my way to read a book that the author did not publish in his lifetime—there are usually reasons for this, and some of those reasons apply here—but the very story of the “lost” manuscript is a great literary story in itself, about which Stephen King wrote:
"Here, long after anyone would have expected it, is the voice of James M. Cain, as fresh and as relevant as ever. The Cocktail Waitress will involve you, and then shock you with an ending you’ll never forget. This is a true rarity: a reader’s novel that’s also a literary event."
And another great noir writer, Lawrence Block, would also write: "James M. Cain was one of the founders of American hard-boiled fiction, and it’s not a stretch to say that it’s his voice one hears echoed in most of the Gold Medal novels of the 1950s. That makes Hard Case Crime the ideal publisher for The Cocktail Waitress. How considerate of the postman to ring a third time, delivering Cain’s final gift to us thirty-five years after his death."
Who gets credit for this discovery? Hard Case Crime Crime editor Charles Ardai, who took 9 years to find the manuscript Max Collins told him existed, and several more years to edit it, working with several drafts of the manuscript.
The story is narrated by Joan Medford, who as the story opens learns her alcoholic and abusive husband has died in a car crash.
“All I know to do is tell it and tell it all, including some things no woman would willingly tell. I don’t look forward to it, but if that’s how it has to be, it’s how it has to be.”
She keeps the house but she is broke and has to leave her kid for much of the day in the care of her husband’s sister, who hates her and wants custody of the child. Joan gets a job (wait for it. . .) as a cocktail waitress (!) and through that work meets two men who will change her life dramatically, Tom, a man she is attracted to but who has no money, and Earl, whom Joan is not at all attracted to but who is very rich and gives her lots of tips at the restaurant, including 50 K at one point (! And I thought the ten bucks I gave someone the other day was pretty good!).
Like Mildred Pierce and other females in Cain books, Joan is a working class woman who chooses money. . . to support her kid? Or does she just want the dough? So she marries Earl, but it is. . . complicated. Earl has angina and is told by his doctor he cannot have sex or he may die. Perfect for Joan, eh? But Lee does have sex, just not with the reluctant/protective? Joan, and (spoiler alert) old Earl dies. “Here I was with a second dead husband on my hands.” Who leaves her all his money in his will. And don't forget young hot irresponsible Tom, who does NOT have angina as an excuse to avoid sex.
Remember that Joan is the narrator of this tale. Is she reliable? Did she actually kill both of her husbands for gain, as one cop suggests? Her first husband’s sister has a reason to frame Joan, too, so whodunnit? And then there is Tom. What’s up with him and all this heavy breathing when the two of them are together? This is a seedy, greedy story with a couple twists in the end. I give it three stars to distinguish it from his best three—it’s not as good as those, and Cain knew it, but even if it is just a Cain average book, well, Camus called him America’s greatest writer, and so you can guess that this book is still very much worth a read. 4 stars compared to most crime fiction. -
There is something about Cain's writing
which makes you not want to put it down until you finish it. It is, of course, another tale of greed,love, betrayal, despair. It continues many of the same themes as Postman and Double Indemnity. It is interestingly narrated through a woman's point of view and Cain pulls that off very successfully. She is a femme fatale or is she? As Editor Ardai notes in an afterword, there is a tension in the book because you have to decide if the narrator is reporting the events accurately.
Joan Medford got married at seventeen after finding herself pregnant. He turned out to be a louse, a drunk, a loser who couldn't pay his bills, and somewhat of a wifebeater. At his funeral, there are not-so-veiled references from the husband's family that Joan arranged for the husband's death. With the house on the verge of foreclosure, Joan takes a job down the street as a cocktail waitress, wearing the skimpiest outfit imaginable and showing her assets. She meets a rich old man who she can barely stomach the idea of touching but who is madly in love with her and a young man who is involved with plans and schemes, but who drives her wild.
The book takes the reader through Joan's journey as she navigates between these two men and the suspicious young policeman who thinks she offed her husband. It is a great read. Cain has a way of developing his characters that really gives them depth.
Highly recommended for fans of old fashioned noir fiction of Cain or Woolrich. -
I really, really, really wanted to like this book when I first opened it, but the truth of the matter is that I did not. Ostensibly the story of a woman's anguish about getting her child back from relatives in whose care the boy has been left, and how she goes about doing so, what we have here is a sort of sleaze version of the Perils of Pauline, as the narrator gets stuck in bad situation after bit situation, none of it, of course, her fault.
The novel is set up as a confession, of sorts, being taped by main character Joan Medford in the hopes that it just might find its way into print, as she says, "to clear my name of the slanders against me, in connection with the job and the marriage it led to and all that came after..." The cops are certain she's killed her husband, but one of the pair sets her up with a job in a restaurant which turns into a job in a cocktail bar. It's here where the action starts, as Joan puts on a pair of "trunks," and agrees to "leave the bra off," because it brings in more tips. According to Cain's notes reprinted in the afterword, Cain meant for this book to "turn on the hot, close, sweaty, female smell of the cocktail bar," a place where soon the "trunks" are replaced by "hotpants", and where Joan soon enough has her hooks into a wealthy guy who leaves her big tips. In her mind, the more money she saves, the sooner she gets her little boy back -- and as Cain continues to ask throughout this story, what woman wouldn't do anything to have her child back with her? The problem is that Joan Medford is the most unreliable narrator on the planet here, so anything, and I do mean anything this woman says has to be taken with major grains of salt.
There is a huge difference between writing a femme fatale and writing a skanky gold-digger (which in my head are two vastly different entities), and for my money, with Joan Medford, Cain invested his writing time on the latter. The plot also tends to meander, although I'm not sure exactly how much of this is due to the fact that the editor has gone through a number of different manuscript versions to come up with the finished product. How do we know how Cain might have put this all together had he ever managed to finish his book? It certainly lacks the control and the polish of his Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce or The Postman Always Rings Twice. This novel is sleaze-o-rama on a grand scale, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Unlike Cain's big three, all of which in my opinion are works of art, The Cocktail Waitress is just pure trashy story that gets trashier as the novel goes on. Call me silly, but aside from the fact that this is a previously-unpublished Cain novel, I just don't see the point.
It certainly wins the award for sleaziest novel I've ever read by James M. Cain. -
The Cocktail Waitress was James M Cain's last work of fiction before his death in 1977, a hard case crime story that was written and lost in the final years of his life. The novel was eventually recovered nine years later by the editor of the hard case crime series, Charles Ardai. He assembled a publishable version from Cain's transcript and many notes with vital scenes played out many times.
The story is told in first person with the narrator being the young, stunningly beautiful Joan Medford, starting with the funeral of her husband and the first meeting of the young love interest Tom Barclay. Her husband was an abusive drunk who died in a car crash, circumstances place the young widow under suspicion but with no real proof the investigation peters out.
With no income Joan is forced into work as a cocktail waitress where she meets the extremely rich investor, Earl K. White, an old man suffering from angina. Mr White is smitten and tips Joan excessively. So there's the love triangle, add into the mix Joan's young son and there's a lot at stake for our young cocktail waitress.
You can't help but see Joan Medford as a victim of circumstance, her narration is on the cusp of honesty, there's only one point where she hints at what's underneath, a conversation with a lawyer who advises her on certain points as her marriage to the rich old man becomes an ever closer step to reality.
But death follows this girl round like a lost puppy, hand in hand with suspicion it seems, the author cleverly forces you to care about Joan Medford as everything teeters on disaster and then it all just falls into her lap. Her perception is one of innocence, a hapless victim surrounded by deaths she neither caused nor contributed to.
You have to question the narrator though, is she relating every last thought, well that’s entirely up to you and only on the very last page does it all click into place. A femme fatale or just a nice girl that swings the boundaries of luck incessantly. There has to be something though, you know it's going to happen and it doesn't make it any less shocking when all is revealed, definitely well worth the wait after a few stutters regarding the pace.
Also posted at
http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/... -
Decisamente migliore questa mia seconda esperienza con James M. Cain noto autore e soprattutto conosciuto per il
Il postino suona sempre due volte.
Mentre con
Mildred Pierce non ero riuscita (per mio limite) ad entrare in sintonia con le atmosfere della storia, qui è andata diversamente.
Cain cominciò a scrivere “La ragazza dei cocktail” nel 1975.
Aveva 83 anni e due anni dopo sarebbe morto.
La pubblicazione di questo libro è, pertanto, postuma e frutto del lavoro di editing dello scrittore/editore Charles Ardai che ha ricomposto il romanzo lavorando su diversi manoscritti ed altrettante versioni della storia.
La protagonista, Joan Medford, fa un racconto in prima persona.
A 21 anni rimane vedova con un bambino.
Non è tanto disperata per la perdita del marito alcolizzato e violento quanto per il fatto che trovandosi senza soldi è costretta ad affidare il figlio di tre anni alla cognata Ethel.
Quest'ultima ci mette del suo a rendere inquietante la storia dimostrandosi esageratamente smaniosa di tenersi il bambino per sempre.
Con un colpo di inaspettata fortuna, Joan, trova lavoro al Garden of Roses, un ristorante con annesso bar dove in short e camicetta scollata la ragazza si mette a servire ai tavoli.
Le sue splendide gambe e il suo generoso décolleté fanno presto colpo.
Proprio nel locale, infatti, si deciderà il suo destino quando farà conoscenza prima con un ricco ed anziano spasimante, poi con un giovane bello ma squattrinato.
La sua scelta deciderà le sorti di tutti: Joan è una femme fatale conscia del suo potere sugli uomini e disposta a tutto pur di riavere suo figlio…
Romanzo scorrevole ed intrigante e, come scrive in postfazione il curatore Charles Ardai, la scelta di far raccontare alla protagonista stessa la sua storia è quanto mai azzeccata.
Il dubbio su quale sia la verità è un filo sotteso in tutta la narrazione che lascia spazio a chi legge di farsi una propria idea e l’aria di mistero che si respira è la forza di questo scabroso romanzo. -
'The Cocktail Waitress' reaffirms James M Cain as a true master of noir. An intelligent and emotionally satisfying portrayal of a middle class beauty living below the poverty line who only wants the best for her son. A victim of domestic abuse and punished for her curvaceous body and move star looks, Joan Medford faces adversity in every mirror. Public perception immediately ridicules and downgrades her intellect and ambition, yet through a strong reserve and perhaps a muddled sense of justice, she strives to improve her family's quality of life.
A widow with little by way of job prospects, Joan lands a job as a cocktail waitress at the Garden Bar. Using her assets to advantage she quickly collects admirers, one a handsome young man with an eye for future wealth, the other, an old man suffering from angina whose wealth is a temptation beyond Joan's will. Both suitors are not without drama and before long Joan's world is once again turned upside down - murder, cash, and her very home all thrown at her or threatened to be taken away.
'The Cocktail Waitress' is a fast paced read lead by a linear plot that's as crafty as it is enjoyable. The first person perspective storytelling clouds Joan's intentions and honesty, keeping the reader guessing the whole way through. Viewed through eyes hidden behind a veil to eyes wide open with opportunity and sass, Joan's complexity is a joy to read. The victimised persona wavers just enough to show a sinister side threatening to bubble to the surface. The subtle and obstructed truth haunts each page turn and amounts to a captivating telling of a femme fatale whose unseen actions dominate the readers perception.
Full the full review and extras on my blog 'Just A Guy That Likes To Read:
http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo... -
Fun noir novel, with all the ingredients: leggy, none-too-good dame, a 'wallet' (monied older man), a handsome stud. Could have been a formula until the very end. Only those familiar with the effects of the medication mentioned will get it, and I wonder if younger readers will understand. No more, spoilers.
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Cain is apparently known for being lurid. And this is pretty ridiculous. At first I thought I loved it. It has a lot in common with his Mildred Pierce, which I enjoyed. But then I saw it was a sex soap opera on a Jacqueline Susann level. With dull characters. Lurid.
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Όπως λένε οι άγγλοι φίλοι μας αυτό το βιβλίο δυστυχώς για μένα πάει στη κατηγορία: it's not my cup of tea!
Φλύαρο, με θεματολογία που δεν μου αρέσει αν και μπορώ να εκτιμήσω το κομμάτι εκείνο της πρωταγωνίστριας για τις θυσίες που μπορεί να κάνει μία μητέρα για το παιδί της!
Τα σημεία που είχαν για μένα ενδιαφέρον ήταν ελάχιστα και μικρής διάρκειας! -
Posthumously published novel, assembled by an editor from various drafts Cain wrote before his death. Not bad, especially for the way it was put together, but not his best.
The story is told by Joan, who has to take a job as a cocktail waitress after the death of her husband, to support herself and her young son. We are shown her struggle to become financially stable, in order to keep custody of her child. The way she achieves this isn't always above board. She gets into some situations that put her in trouble, including becoming a murder suspect. The ending of the story is a little weak - which Cain also thought and kept him from publishing it himself. An entertaining read, especially if you are a fan of the author. -
So far the story reminds me of an old song, 'Come On-A My House':
Come on-a my house, my house, I'm gonna give you candy
Come on-a my house, my house, I'm gonna give a you
Apple a plum and apricot-a too eh
Come on-a my house, my house a come on
Come on-a my house, my house a come on
Come on-a my house, my house I'm gonna give a you
Figs and dates and grapes and cakes eh
Come on-a my house, my house a come on
Come on-a my house, my house a come on
Come on-a my house, my house, I'm gonna give you candy
Come on-a my house, my house, I'm gonna give you everything
More to come. -
Τέταρτο βιβλίο του Τζέιμς Μ. Κέιν που διαβάζω, μετά το "Ο ταχυδρόμος χτυπάει πάντα δυο φορές" που διάβασα το 2010 (για κάποιον άγνωστο λόγο του έβαλα τρία αστεράκια, είμαι σίγουρος ότι θα μου αρέσει περισσότερο όταν το ξαναδιαβάσω) και τα "Το διπλό άλλοθι" (φοβερό!) και "Η πεταλούδα" (μέτριο) που διάβασα το 2013. Ο Κέιν έγραψε το "Φονικό κοκτέιλ" λίγο πριν τον θάνατό του, όμως το βιβλίο κυκλοφόρησε για πρώτη φορά στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες πολλά χρόνια αργότερα, το 2012, από την υπέροχη σειρά Hard Case Crime.
Περίληψη: "Femme fatale ή μαύρη χήρα; Μετά τον θάνατο του συζύγου της, η όμορφη νεαρή χήρα Τζόουν Μέντφορντ αναγκάζεται να εργαστεί ως σερβιτόρα σε ένα κοκτέιλ μπαρ για να επιβιώσει. Σύντομα η Τζόουν βρίσκεται παγιδευμένη ανάμεσα σε έναν ωραίο νεαρό τυχοδιώκτη, που το άγγιγμά του την αναστατώνει, και έναν εύπορο, μεγαλύτερο σε ηλικία άντρα, που το άγγιγμά του την απωθεί... αλλά μπορεί να την οδηγήσει σε έναν γάμο και στην οικονομική της εξασφάλιση. Ένα κλασικό ερωτικό τρίγωνο σε μια συναρπαστική νουάρ ιστορία που μόνο στην καταστροφή μπορεί να καταλήξει. Για κάποιον από τους πρωταγωνιστές ή για όλους; Για τον ένοχο ή τον αθώο;"
Ουσιαστικά έχουμε να κάνουμε περισσότερο μ'ένα μελόδραμα με στοιχεία εγκλήματος και νουάρ ατμόσφαιρα, παρά με κάποιο κλασικό σκληροτράχηλο νουάρ. Αφηγήτρια της ιστορίας είναι η νεαρή χήρα Τζόουν Μέντφορντ, οπότε το όλο ύφος της αφήγησης είναι και ανάλογο της ηλικίας και του τρόπου σκέψης της. Η γραφή είναι απλή, χωρίς ενδοσκοπήσεις ή ιδιαίτερη οξυδέρκεια, απλώς έχουμε τη νεαρή πρωταγωνίστρια να αφηγείται με τον τρόπο της όλα όσα τράβηξε. Επίσης σαν βιβλίο πληροί όλες τις προϋποθέσεις για να χαρακτηριστεί ως ένα καλό παλπ μυθιστόρημα, με ό,τι συνεπάγεται αυτό για πολλούς αναγνώστες. Προσωπικά έμεινα ικανοποιημένος, η όλη ιστορία μου κράτησε το ενδιαφέρον μέχρι το (ανοιχτό) τέλος και διαβάστηκε εν ριπή οφθαλμού, απλά έτσι όπως είναι δομημένη και γραμμένη, ίσως να μην αρέσει σε όλους. Σίγουρα δεν προτείνεται για πρώτη επαφή με τον συγγραφέα. -
Scandalous stuff indeed, with some killer plot-twists. Unusually for crime-noir, the story is told from the P.O.V. of the femme fatale. ('The Cocktail Waitress' was published posthumously after years of determined sleuthing by Charles Ardai, founder of Hard Case Crime, to find the lost manuscript. Thank you, Charles, from the bottom of my heart!)
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James Cain's Last Novel
James M. Cain (1892 -- 1977) is best-known for his early novels including "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "Double Indemnity" and "Mildred Pierce" and for the many movies based on his writing. After these successes, written while working as a Hollywood screenwriter, Cain had mixed success and for a time was largely forgotten. He returned to his home in Hyattsville, Maryland (a suburb of Washington, D.C.) in 1948 and continued to write. Written just before his death, Cain's final novel, "The Cocktail Waitress" consisted of various partially edited manuscripts. Edited meticulously by Charles Ardai,the novel is being published in 2012 for the first time.
Cain's novel is largely set in Hyattsville and other Washington D.C. suburbia during the 1950s. The use of the drug Thalidomide during this time, which resulted in many severe birth defects, forms an important backdrop to the book. The book's primary character, a highly sexual femme fatale in her early 20's, Joan White, narrates the story. The daughter of a prosperous Pittsburgh family, Joan ran off to Washington D.C. when she rejected a suitor urged by her parents. She becomes pregnant by and marries an abusive young man, Ron who dies under the influence in a single-car accident under suspicious circumstances. Her sister-in-law takes custody of the couple's young child. In order to make ends meet, Joan takes a position as a cocktail waitress in a bar called Garden of Roses, where the services of the waitresses sometimes are for sale.
Joan tells the history of her relationship with two men. One of the patrons of the Garden of Roses is Earl White, a wealthy and elderly widower with a severe heart condition. Joan's physical and emotional response to Earl borders on repulsion; but she marries him to secure a future for her son and, of course, for money. The other male character is a young, impulsive Tom Barclay, who is physically aggressive and demanding. Joan is strongly attracted to him almost in spite of herself. The tension-filled relationships between Joan and Earl and Tom build through the course of the book.
The book shares a theme common to most of Cain's writing. As her schemes unravel, Joan says to herself: "And then at last I began to realize how terrible a thing it was, the dream that you make come true." The book also shares many plot elements with Cain's famous books. In particular, "The Cocktail Waitress" reminds me of "Mildred Pierce" in that in tells the story of a young, highly sexual, single mother with a strong determination to better her condition in life, with little thought of the cost. Restaurants,food,and alcohol are integral to both books. Both books center upon an enigmatic female character; and, as in the portrayal of Mildred in "Mildred Pierce", Cain shows great insight into Joan's heart and mind in "The Cocktail Waitress".
The strongest scenes in the novel are those which capture Joan's deep disgust at the prospect of a physical relationship with Earl. The descriptions of the life of cocktail waitresses and other employees of bars and establishments also has a strong naturalistic tone. I enjoyed reading Cain's descriptions of the sexual underworld of the Washington, D.C. area in the 1950's at a time well before I knew the city. A contemporary noir writer, George Pelecanos, has taken this part of Washington, D.C. life as his subject.
This novel is not on the level of Cain's best writing. The story tends to wander, and it lacks tension. The dialogue is wordy and too extensive in places rather than pithy and terse. Some of the secondary scenes and characters receive too much attention and detract from the flow of the story. Although Charles Ardai did excellent work in piecing together Cain's various manuscripts (as he describes in an Afterword), there are inconsistencies in the final text and places where the joints creak and show.
It is valuable to have this, the final novel of James Cain, available at last. I have enjoyed reading further in Cain after getting to know his masterworks. Readers of noir and admirers of Cain will be interested in reading "The Cocktail Waitress."
Robin Friedman -
Joan Medford is a young beautiful woman in an unhealthy marriage, but when her husband dies in a suspicious car accident, does that mean her life will improve? No, she now has to take a job as a cocktail waitress to make ends meet and somehow make enough money to finally be able to take her son back from her mother in law. On the job, two men take a special interest in her, one really gets Joan’s blood racing and the other is a very wealthy older man who tips very generously if she gives him her attention.
It’s no secret that I’m a huge James M. Cain fan; The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity are two classic noir novels that I highly recommend but there is another side to this author. Cain wrote a very emotionally charged noir novel called Mildred Pierce which makes up the top three essential Cain novels. The Cocktail Waitress really reminds me of Mildred Pierce, you have all the noir elements plus the female protagonist not to mention the emotionally charged plot. This is a previously unfinished novel by Cain but don’t let that worry you, he did finish the novel but he had not finished the revisions before he died, but it took over thirty years for this book to finally come out. The editor, Charles Ardai used Cain’s notes to finish the revisions of this book and it still reads and feels very much what you expect from a book by this Noir master. He was even quoted in saying; “Together with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain is universally considered one of the three greatest writers of noir crime fiction who ever lived, and for fans of the genre, The Cocktail Waitress is the Holy Grail. It’s like finding a lost manuscript by Hemingway or a lost score by Gershwin – that’s how big a deal this is.”
Joan is everything you want from the protagonist; strong, witty and beautiful. She knows what she want (her son back) and she is determined to make her life better on her own. But the drama of working in a cocktail lounge might be a little too much for her. Her mother in law is now convinced that cocktail waitress is just code from something more. Joan’s on a mission and won’t let anyone or anything stand in her way; which makes her a great femme fatale.
The Cocktail Waitress is a fast paced, hard hitting novel with complexity; a well-crafted book that was just a joy to read. I loved the sinister elements that transported this from just an emotional journey to a classic James M. Cain style noir novel. I’m so glad that Charles Ardai took the time and effort in finishing this book so we can all enjoy it. If you liked Mildred Piece then you are going to love reading The Cocktail Waitress.
The review originally appeared on my blog;
http://literary-exploration.com/2012/... -
This book is not as advertised. It is from Hard Case so one would assume a degree of noir, and it has some buried deep in it's pedigree. However in it's reassembled final persona it would appear to be pages of pure Stella Dallas except this kid is a boy named Tad - but again this is only slightly correct. This is all going to a very different place; way though and beyond the world of Helen Trent and on to a dark plane of dread. What we have here, buried under yards of soap opera text is a true horror story.
Perchance one must be of a certain age to know, or remember, what exactly the terror is that is traveling with the protagonist. Acquired on her "honeymoon" in London and brought back to the United States, it is to be both the agent and the answer to the slight mysteries posed; but wait - the resolution is just the beginning of the real nightmare hinted at all along - or to be more precise - the portent is given, strongly implied, but the actuality, like any future, is yet to come and always dealt in cosmic cards face down. "Happy forever", is very relative in a Cain novel.
Not trying to be too cryptic, but one has to be able to remember picking up issues of "Life", "Look", Newsweek" or any of the other national news magazines of the era and gasping at the photographs of the carnage caused by the nightmare of this book. To some degree, the horror is increased with the knowledge that it was not, and now is - the snake in the garden that promises both hope and relief of pain but carries death and destruction as it's essence.
This book reads like an under-the-counter spicy pulp, but it's ending will chill you to the marrow of your bones. I guess the postman is still ringing.
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Joan Medford is a widow; her husband died on a drunken binge and crashed a borrowed car. Mrs. Medford is being watched by the suspicious eye of the law, but a friendly officer takes one look at her womanly body and recommends she wait tables at a restaurant and bar called The Garden. She gets the job and makes good immediately, which is good since she has a young son to care for.
But men always get in the way. A young, handsome man name Tom with grabby hands sets his sights on Joan, and in spite of a bad first impression, she is undeniably drawn to him. And then there is a Earl White III, a harmless old man with bundles of money and a strong attraction to the young cocktail waitress.
This book is very easy to read with short chapters and straightforward storytelling. There are a lot of standards of pulp writing here, from a femme fatal to a suspicion of murder and some steamy scenes. There aren't too many surprises, but it is a fun read. -
I know we're all supposed to hate Ethel here, but come on, at least someone is watching Tad. I ended this book still unclear on why Joan had to marry the old guy instead of the young guy - if you basically just need a husband so you can stop cocktailing & get your kid back from your horrid sister-in-law, who cares if he has tons & tons of money as opposed to some money? We'd all like our kids to frolic on giant lawns & have maids & cooks & all that, but really, wouldn't we rather give up that big house so we can marry men who don't repulse us? Although this book is shockingly dated to the point where Joan takes Thalidomide as a tranquilizer (and during her second pregnancy, gasp!), it also illustrates that when you're waiting tables some things never change: $19.15 is still a good tip.
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If you have read many of his novels you will know of his characters, his femme fatales and women stuck in situations where their other half could do with a killing off for a hefty sum of insurance.
His storytelling is about ordinary people mostly men and women, where the women go to extraordinary lengths to win and get what they want, they wish to get that much more out of the plan of things, manipulation of love and deceit their modus operandi.
He writes with a dynamic plot and narrative drive that has a potent voice. -
Stylish dialogues and an attractive woman with history．
James.M.Cain is a genius!
I'm JAPANESE,and don't fully understand subtle nuances but this is worth rereading. -
I heard of this book by James M. Cain by accident. Truthfully, Amazon's algorithms recommended it, and the rest was history. I usually never follow these AI recommendations but the blurb did catch my attention. I own a few of the hard case crime books, which I hope to read and review soon. It's a great collection of books about crime. The Cocktail Waitress was so good I will prioritise these over my unending 'to be read' list.
Let's start by describing the cover. It is a very eloquent and steamy poster of a woman serving cocktails- a critical plot point of the 300-page book (sorry, it's 30-pages short). It also reflects the novel's noir tone and past vibe, a different time from the one we live in today. The title is simple but effective and described better in the book.
The story has a whopping dialogue of professionalism and double meaning. It is about a pledge to reveal the absolute truth of one woman, the so-called Cocktail Waitress, slandered by journalists and her sister-in-law, Ethel. But after reading this, and as promised by Joan (our protagonist), I still am not sure whether the defamations against her (Joan Medford) were true or not. Was Joan Medford the perpetrator, or was she the victim? If she wasn't the killer, then who did it? Was it any of the characters: minor or secondary? I mean, it's only the testimony of one woman, the first point of perspective, and it's not always the truth that comes out of our mouths at the end of the day. And it's difficult to believe that a strong female-lead such as Joan is as innocent as she makes us feel. It's not in her character to be so naive. But it would be so cool if it was one other character who I think had a motive and is much more revolting if it was.
There's a lot to like about this book. The characters are handled professionally by Cain, and each character behaves quite fluently, as expected in society, and all the mannerisms speak volumes about them.
Please read it. Have fun!
It's a five for me. -
3.5 ⭐
Good Read, I was hoping for more. It just missed to mark for me.
