Saturday, August 30: Mississippi Mud
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
by John M. Floyd
Here’s a question for you: What has to be present in a short story (especially a crime/suspense story) to make it really good?
Different Strokes
The answer, of course, depends on the reader. An article in the current issue of The Writer lists some things folks like to see in a story—escape, social change, humor, suspense, new knowledge, conflict, philosophy, memorable characters, surprise, and several others. All of those are certainly important to different stories and to different readers.
But what, more than any one other thing, do you think makes a story good? What makes you love it, remember it, and recommend it to friends?
For me, that’s an easy question. I don’t usually judge a story—especially a mystery/suspense story—on the depth of its subject matter or the elegance of its language or its revelation of insight into the human condition. I realize the very best stories contain those ingredients, and I recognize their worth, but that’s not what I seek first. The thing I look for in a story, above all else, is entertainment value. How much tension and suspense and anticipation did I feel? How involved was I, in the plot and with the characters? How satisfied was I with the outcome? Simply stated, how much fun did I have reading it?.
Favoritism
Let me say that another way: My picks for best novels and short stories and films are not necessarily my favorite novels and short stories and films. Almost any “best” list would include To Kill a Mockingbird, The Godfather, “The Lottery”, “Casablanca”, “Rear Window”, you know the titles as well as I do. I agree with those selections. But my favorites would probably be The Silence of the Lambs, Jaws, “Die Hard”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” etc. They’re the ones I’ll read and watch over and over and over again.
I will admit that all of my favorites are not examples of great fiction. But what can I say?—I know what I like. Here are some other novels, stories, and movies in the crime/suspense genre, painfully narrowed down to a dozen in each category, that I thoroughly enjoyed:
Novels
Rose/Martin Cruz Smith
Plum Island/Nelson DeMille
The Bottoms/Joe R. Lansdale
Magic/William Goldman
The Two-Minute Rule/Robert Crais
Out of Sight/Elmore Leonard
The Long Goodbye/Raymond Chandler
The Eye of the Needle/Ken Follett
Tell No One/Harlan Coben
The Blade Itself/Marcus Sakey
Booked to Die/John Dunning
Turning Angel/Greg IlesShort stories
“Man From the South”/Roald Dahl
“The Mule Rustlers”/Joe R. Lansdale
“#8”/Jack Ritchie
“A Retrieved Reformation”/O. Henry
“A Good Man Is Hard to Find”/Flannery O’Connor
“The Door was Wide-O”/Elsin Ann Graffam
“A Sound of Thunder”/Ray Bradbury
“Voodoo”/Fredrick Brown
“The Last Rung on the Ladder”/Stephen King
“Hitting Rufus”/Victor Gischler
“The Green Heart”/Jack Ritchie
“Poachers”/Tom FranklinMovies
“L.A. Confidential” (1997)
“Blood Simple” (1984)
“Witness” (1985)
“Body Heat” (1981)
“Deliverance” (1972)
“The Spanish Prisoner” (1997)
“Cool Hand Luke” (1967)
“Pulp Fiction” (1994)
“Escape from New York” (1981)
“Fargo” (1996)
“The Thomas Crown Affair” (1968)
“In the Line of Fire” (1993)
Another question, to fellow fans of crime/mystery/suspense fiction: What are your favorites in the genre? Are your “favorite” choices also the ones you consider to be the “best,” or just the most entertaining? Either way, close your eyes, search your memory, open your eyes again, and list a few of them.
At the very least, it’ll give the rest of us something to look for at library book sales, or—come Saturday night—some possibilities for video rentals …
Interesting column. I like the distinction between best and favorite. I’m not going to try to come with a best list (maybe in my own blog entry!). But a few years ago when I was judging short stories for an award I realized that the ones I liked best had at least one of three characteristics, and preferably more than one:
1) a great concept (The Lottery, Nine Mile Walk, etc.)
2) heightened language (Borges, Faulkner, Davidson, etc.)
3. a surprise ending (too many to mention).
Do you ask your students questions as tough as this one?
I don’t think I could begin to make out a real list, but for novels I would place Erich Maria Remarque’s “Three Comrades” at or near the top. Loved the movie, too. Anything by Georges Simenon or P.D. James would satisfy me.
Movies – “Paths of Glory” because the final scene tears me up every time I see it.
“Best Years of Our Lives” has a similar effect. “Tomorrow is Forever” hits me hard when Orson Welles says, “A soldier fires a bullet. Who knows what mark it finds?”
In writing this, I realize how much being an infantry rifleman in WWII has affected me.
As for short stories, there are so many that titles fail to come to mind, but it would be hard to beat one you mentioned, Jack Ritchie’s “The Green Heart.” For sheer horror, I’d have to say Cornell Woolrich’s “For the Rest of Her Life.” He wrote dozens that could be on any list, of course, and his novel “The Black Curtain” would be hard to beat.
I’m exhauted; my mind has gone blank. Thanks a lot, professor.
And isn’t it great, Rob, when you find a story that satisfies all THREE of your requirements? (I’d venture to say “The Lottery” meets at least two of them.)
Dick, your reply came in just as I was typing my previous comment. I must tell you, you mentioned several pieces of fiction that deserve to be on everyone’s list. Maybe one of the good things about “exercises” like this is that we come to realize there are SO many fine stories out there, both those that we’ve already read and those that we are yet to encounter.
I have a lot of overlap between ‘best’ and ‘favorites’, but some books and movies give pleasure without pretending to be great literature. I enjoy Dick Francis, for example, but most people wouldn’t consider his novels up there with Christie.
There’s a third category, kind of like an old shoe– homely, sturdy, comfortable. I rarely like to read a book or watch a movie more than once, but there’s two kinds of exceptions– classics and old shoes.
Leigh makes a good point about the stories you like to reread. I think the stories I’d call the Best are the ones I admire the most, while the Favorites are the ones I like the most. The ones I reread tend to be in category 2.
I have said this before: as much as I like Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, I much prefer her The Possibility of Evil.
For about a summer, years ago, I re-read Hilton’s “Goodbye Mr. Chips” over and over again. Mushy and sentimental but so am I. And when I was younger I re-read Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” repeatedly. Plain spooky in parts.