OT: RIP Elmore Leonard
Local author and crime fiction master Elmore Leonard died earlier this morning after a stroke. Not sure how many folks on here have read any of his work, but the guy wrote about one novel a year for 60 years and many of them were turned into well-known movies and TV shows like Get Shorty, 3:10 to Yuma, and Justified. I'm a huge fan of Justified, though I haven't read as much of his actual writing as I should have. Big loss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/books/elmore-leonard-master-of-crime-…
August 20th, 2013 at 11:46 AM ^
is fantastic! RIP Elmore.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:27 PM ^
Never read any of Elmore's stuff, for some reason.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:33 PM ^
Leonard's books are usually short and certainly not wordy. He was once asked to review a book by James Ellroy ("LA Confidential", "Black Dahlia", "American Tabloid", etc.) and he refused saying, "I don't read any book longer than 300 pages."
August 20th, 2013 at 12:42 PM ^
I hadn't heard that one before.
I love his ten rules of writing, especially the summary one: if it sounds like writing, re-write it.
August 20th, 2013 at 1:00 PM ^
although I sorta disagree with #3 and #4. But then I'm not a world-famous literary giant who probably died with more money in his pants pockets than I've got in the bank so what the hell do I know.
August 20th, 2013 at 1:51 PM ^
I definitely agree with #4. Adverbs usually suck.
Violators of #3 annoy me less, but I can see his point. A lot of writers have to dress up the dialogue with florid descriptors, but that's because their dialogue sucks. If you have to add "glumly" to "he said" to convey the tone of what preceded "he said" you haven't written very good dialogue.
August 20th, 2013 at 11:47 AM ^
Damn. RIP. Nice that he got to live to see Justified turned into a critically acclaimed TV show. 87 is pretty good. Hopefully George RR Martin can live that long.
August 20th, 2013 at 11:49 AM ^
A great writer and well-loved figure in Detroit. I've been reading his books since I was a teenager. Any writer would be thrilled with a fraction of Elmore's skill and success.
August 20th, 2013 at 11:54 AM ^
His daughter was my 2nd grade teacher. Got to meet him a few times then and since, and even back then thought he was a cool dude.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:30 PM ^
Always comes to mind when I hear the authors name. I should read more.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:05 PM ^
Sad news. I'm a huge Leonard fan.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:09 PM ^
Tough year for some true cultural icons... Gandolfini, Pat Summerall, Helen Thomas, Roger Ebert, Joyce Brothers and now Mr. Leonard.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:11 PM ^
miss his influence too. A sad day for Detroit, and all his fans.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:11 PM ^
But Out of Sight is one of my favorite movies, as well as Clooney's favorite he starred in. RIP.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:17 PM ^
Is so sad. Loved his work. He was coming to speak in Atlanta, and got sick and couldn't make it last January, so he rescheduled for this December. So sad. Prayers with his family.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:29 PM ^
I forget which book of his it was in, but I remember a rich old character (who got robbed) who would hire prostitutes to dress up as Michigan cheerleaders as he would watch the UofM games. It cracked me up when I read it. Elmore Leonard understood how fanatic Michigan fans are even in the context of a crime novel.
August 20th, 2013 at 5:38 PM ^
Mr. Paradise.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:30 PM ^
His novel "Rum Punch" was turned into "Jackie Brown" by Quentin Tarantino. The guy had an amazing career as a Western writer (at a time when that was very difficult because bookstores pretty much just carried Louis L'amour's stuff) and then transitioned into an even bigger career in crime fiction and TV/film.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:33 PM ^
Is The Hot Kid. Fans of justified would love that book.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^
He was the Commencement Speak for the Dec 2000 graduation. One of the greatest speeches anyone will ever hear.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:51 PM ^
Agreed. I was there at Crisler as a spectator, and he did a great job.
August 20th, 2013 at 12:53 PM ^
But I really liked 3:10 to Yuma. Didnt get huge but I really liked it. Almost Hemingway-ish, which is complimentary from me because EH is the king of literature in my mind.
And from the sounds of it (not reading any book over 300pgs) he agrees with EH that you say more with less words.
August 20th, 2013 at 1:11 PM ^
King of modern crime fiction dialogue. Screen writers and directors have been borrowing off Elmore for years now.
August 20th, 2013 at 1:22 PM ^
That is sad news - I have many of his books, and many of the films which were adapted from them. Even going back into the 1960s and 1970s, there was "Hombre" with Paul Newman and "The Moonshine War" (Alan Alda). I think Roy Scheider was in "52 Pick-Up", which was a rather interesting adaptation, I thought.
August 21st, 2013 at 9:41 AM ^
Sad news. He was one of my favorites.