I'm thirty-four years late arriving at the Hap and Leonard party but I'm glad finally to be here.

For me, the most surprising thing about this energetic, dryly amusing novella is the date that it was first published. Apart from the absence of smartphones, this feels as fresh as if it was written yesterday in terms of style and pace. The only thing that told me that it was published in 1990 was that Hap and Leonard lived through the 1960s and came out the other end as changed men.

When it was published this book must have been far outside the political mainstream, especially for East Texas, and yet it manages to come across as apolitical, as opting out of the bullshit and into taking care of the things that make a difference to you and yours.

From the beginning I could see why this series is so popular: the dialogue sparkles without feeling cute or staged, Hap and Leonard have an unlikely but completely believable friendship. Hap is a straight white man who dropped out of college so he could protest the Vietnam war by declingin the draft and Leonard is a gay, black man who is a decorated Vietnam veteran. What they have in common is that they've both arrived at a bullshit-free place in their lives where they do what needs to be done and have one another's backs while they're doing it. Until Trudy, Hap's ex-wife, turns up. Trudy is... well... trouble on two legs but two very nice legs and Leonard knows that whatever she wants from Hap, it is not going to end well.

Add in an East Texas treasure hunt, some burnt-out (and in one case, burnt-up) 1960s Hippy domestic terrorists and a bad guy who loves to kill and you have one hell of a party.

The plot is simple but effective and still has a surprise or two along the way. The body count is high and the action is vividly described. The violence was like a thunderstorm that I could feel coming for a long time before it arrived. That still didn't prepare me for the explosion of pain and death that announced its arrival.

The story is told entirely from Hap's point of view, which keeps the focus tight while still allowing some time for introspection and some rumination on the path that brought Hap from a fired-up true believer to the plateau of passion-free pragmatism he currently inhabits.

I enjoyed 'Savage Season' as a short, fast, thriller but what I liked most was the relationship between Hap and Leonard. The dialogue between them is wonderful and yet never seems contrived. They share a sense of humour that they both use to cope with all the crap that people throw at them. I'll be back to visit with them again soon. ( )

The first novel starring Hap and Leonard, unlikely friends who apparently become involved in a number of criminal endeavors. In this one, Trudy, Hap's former girlfriend (who encouraged him to go to jail to protest the Vietnam war), returns to his life to get him involved in another scheme. Her current boyfriend was also in prison, and met someone who knew about a large cash of stolen money sunken into a river. Hap and Leonard join a very unpleasant group of 'revolutionaries' who are after this money and have various plans as to what to do with it. Along the way their plans are hijacked by some other violent, very unpleasant people. Lansdale's characters are well-drawn, even some of the less-interesting villains. The violence is harsh and explicit, Hap's decision at the end is difficult. I have a couple more around in this series. ( )

A short satisfying read. Hap and Leonard are friends down on their luck in Eastern Texas. The witty banter between them was entertaining. I see why people like the series. I almost always like to read the books before watching the film version. I think I will watch the series and not bother with reading the rest of the books. Other good books to read folks. The show looks like it gets the best part... Hap and Leonard as friends in a screwed up world of hard times. ( )

Savage Season is a crime novel by American author Joe R. Lansdale, published in 1990. It is the first in a series of books and stories written by Lansdale featuring the characters Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. The novel was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel of 1990. Joe R. Lansdale has written some of the most funny, vulgar, and horrific stories ever written and I can see why he is lauded as an American original by many critics and fellow authors (including Stephen Graham Jones).

SAVAGE SEASON is book one in the Hap & Leonard series and introduces us to three, main, colorful characters: Hap Collins, Leonard Pine, and Hap’s ex-wife Trudy. The dialog that transpires between these three characters is seriously laugh-out-loud funny.

Hap & Leonard’s friendship consists mostly of busting each other’s balls but it’s easy to get a sense of that strong brotherhood bond that rests just under the surface of all that banter.

Savage Season came out in 1990 and is slightly different to the subsequent books in that it is greed – and it must be said Collins’ libido – which gets them into trouble. The men are working low paid jobs so money is tight. When Trudy arrives in town the men are out in the fields shooting skeet for the pot. Trudy and Collins were lovers at university, and it was she who encouraged him to become a conscientious objector. Separation can hurt any relationship though, and Collins found her visits to the state prison where he was incarcerated less and less frequent, until they stopped completely. When she tells Collins, after sex, that she knows how he can earn a cool $200,000 tax free, he is self-aware enough to know he’s being played but not quite enough to stop himself from taking the bait.

Trudy’s left wing politics have never left her. Her most recent husband, Howard, did time in prison for an anti-nuclear demonstration that got out of hand. During his sentence, Howard learned from another inmate about $1 million haul, the fruits of a bank robbery, which was lost in the maze-like creek system around LaBorde before the robbers could get away. Tragedy befell this other inmate before his release, and now the money will belong to whomever gets their hands on it. Trudy wants her share to fund a protest group she’s involved with.

Nothing is ever so simple, and Trudy is not so peaceful as she appears. Other criminals get wind of the haul, and there is plenty of twists and double crosses.

The book ends on a bittersweet but also hopeful note. The men escape with their lives, though Pine is left seriously injured, and part of their money goes to pay for his hospital care. Collins donates his share to Greenpeace, and though his faith in others takes a battering, his own ideals are reinforced. The book ends, strangely, in some beautiful prose meditating on the nature of idealism:

"Idealism was a little like Venus in the daytime. There'd been a time when I could see it."

I found Savage Season to be a fast-paced, funny, heist thriller. It is a really entertaining novel and I can see why folks love Lansdale's work. In fact, I have become a fan. In just under two hundred pages this is a great first book in a series there’s just enough there to get invested in Hap & Leonard’s lives as well as get acquainted with what seems to be the main selling points: absolute mayhem & comedy.



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Puoi parlarne anche in negativo, caro Lansdale, (delle idee del sessantotto), ma sempre di cose sorpassate si tratta. ( )