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On The Run with Bonnie & Clyde
Decades in the making, On the Run With Bonnie & Clyde is a fast moving and gut-wrenching, highly original exploration into the personalities of the star-crossed lovers and "public enemies” Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. A thoroughly researched, in-depth study of the true natures of these notorious outlaws, by an acclaimed author well versed in the dark fields of violence, On the Run With Bonnie & Clyde breaks away from the usual police-blotter procedurals on these outlaw lovers. Delving deep into their character in his unique and uncompromising style, Gilmore places the reader squarely inside a stolen 1932 V-8 with the desperadoes on a dusty, two-year, devil-take-the-high-road spree of robberies, shoot-outs and murder. Through the dark windshield of legend, the short lives of these outlaw desperadoes on a relentless ride to an infamous end-in a torrent of blood and bullets-emerges as an essential and compelling narrative of these undying icons of American crime lore. On the Run With Bonnie & Clyde includes a controversial critical perspective of the unlawful ambush murder of Bonnie Parker, who was never officially accused of a violent crime. Heavily illustrated with rare photos from the author's collection.
368 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2009
About the author
John Gilmore
63 books38 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.
John Gilmore was born in the Charity Ward of the Los Angeles County General Hospital and was raised in Hollywood. His mother had been a studio contract-player for MGM while his step-grandfather worked as head carpenter for RKO Pictures. Gilmore's parents separated when he was six months old and he was subsequently raised by his grandmother. Gilmore's father became a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer, and also wrote and acted on radio shows, a police public service (the shows featured promising movie starlets as well as established performers like Bonita Granville, Ann Rutherford, the "jungle girl" Aquanetta, Joan Davis, Hillary Brooke, Ann Jeffreys, Brenda Marshall and other players young John Gilmore became acquainted with. As a child actor, he appeared in a Gene Autry movie and bit parts at Republic Studios. He worked in LAPD safety films and did stints on radio. Eventually he appeared in commercial films. Actors Ida Lupino and John Hodiak were mentors to Gilmore, who worked in numerous television shows and feature films at Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Universal International studios. During the 1950s, through John Hodiak, Gilmore sustained an acquaintanceship with Marilyn Monroe in Hollywood, then in New York, where Gilmore was involved with the Actors Studio, transcribing the lectures of Lee Strasberg into book form. Gilmore performed on stage and in live TV, wrote poetry and screenplays, directed two experimental plays, one by Jean Genet. He wrote and directed a low-budget film entitled "Expressions", later changed to "Blues for Benny." The film did not get general release but was shown independently. Gilmore eventually settled into a writing career; journalist, true crime writer and novelist. He served as head of the writing program at Antioch University and has taught and lectured at length.
John Gilmore was born in the Charity Ward of the Los Angeles County General Hospital and was raised in Hollywood. His mother had been a studio contract-player for MGM while his step-grandfather worked as head carpenter for RKO Pictures. Gilmore's parents separated when he was six months old and he was subsequently raised by his grandmother. Gilmore's father became a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer, and also wrote and acted on radio shows, a police public service (the shows featured promising movie starlets as well as established performers like Bonita Granville, Ann Rutherford, the "jungle girl" Aquanetta, Joan Davis, Hillary Brooke, Ann Jeffreys, Brenda Marshall and other players young John Gilmore became acquainted with. As a child actor, he appeared in a Gene Autry movie and bit parts at Republic Studios. He worked in LAPD safety films and did stints on radio. Eventually he appeared in commercial films. Actors Ida Lupino and John Hodiak were mentors to Gilmore, who worked in numerous television shows and feature films at Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Universal International studios. During the 1950s, through John Hodiak, Gilmore sustained an acquaintanceship with Marilyn Monroe in Hollywood, then in New York, where Gilmore was involved with the Actors Studio, transcribing the lectures of Lee Strasberg into book form. Gilmore performed on stage and in live TV, wrote poetry and screenplays, directed two experimental plays, one by Jean Genet. He wrote and directed a low-budget film entitled "Expressions", later changed to "Blues for Benny." The film did not get general release but was shown independently. Gilmore eventually settled into a writing career; journalist, true crime writer and novelist. He served as head of the writing program at Antioch University and has taught and lectured at length.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 21, 2013
Few outlaws, with the possible exception of one Robin of Locksley, have fascinated dreamers and historians like Bonnie and Clyde have. Unlike the legendary Saxon, this couple of star-crossed American lovers did not rob from the rich to give to the poor, although John Gilmore’s mesmerizing account of their lives sometimes alludes to this possibility. One has to consider, after all, some gifts no doubt bestowed upon their families of modest means, and the bills they gave to innocent bystanders and “laws” they took along for relatively short drives after stealing their cars.
A gritty blend of documentary, memoir, reportage, and personal account, Gilmore’s richly textured book achieves a fine-tuned character analysis. It transcends folk tale auras, goes past the thick gun smoke, to unveil a vivid and multilayered portrait of Bonnie, Clyde, and “Bonnie and Clyde”, on the tormented background of the Great Depression. The era that witnessed this tragically famous couple’s feats - and those of other notorious bank robbers- juxtaposed the deepening, bitter poverty of the simple folks, and the defiant power of banks, in a way that must have sparked a wish to rebel or rob in many young hearts. What made two diminutive, in many ways child-like lovers (one born in a slum and abused in jail at a young age, the other a budding poet fascinated with rebellious heroes) act upon this impulse? In a subtle interplay of lights and shadows, Gilmore’s well- documented account tells the truth about their upbringing, their early struggles and loves, the absolute Hell at Eastham, the relative Hell of being on the run together, all with restrained compassion and abundant, unexpected details. Rare primary sources (such as WD, once a very young partner in running and robbing; surviving relatives; farmers and landlords encountered during brief respites from running) make the read alert and unforgettable. The author fills the gaps in everyone’s knowledge with seamless, often brutal skill, and an uncanny understanding of his heroes.
“I’m not jokin’. I’ll free as many as I can ’cause they’re livin’ in a graveyard—just haven’t had the dirt tossed over ’em yet.” He stared at her and said, “Sugar, I’ve never seen it so clear in my
mind—bustin’ into Eastham and gettin’ them guys free.” After a moment, Bonnie said, “As long as I’m with you, I’ll do whatever you want to do. That will be my life. My life bein’ with you.”
A strange take on self-fulfillment and a sense of foreboding underlie every chapter of the young lovers’ lives. Gilmore uses these undercurrents masterfully, streams them with a tender and powerful hand, to counterpoint most actions, motivations and affects.
The photographic and medical evidence included in “On the Run with Bonnie & Clyde” is poignant, often terrifying, even to one accustomed to postmortem images and forensic reports. Bonnie’s poems, the “judge, jury and executioners” staring victorious at her bare bullet-ridden body, her destroyed face before funeral “reconstruction”, stay with the reader and impart a chilling perspective upon the frenzy of running from “laws”, and the ensuing absence of choice. Somewhere between their humble, anonymous beginnings, and the violent end they had been expecting all along (bloodied bodies in a car pierced by bullets and mobbed by curious multitudes), young Bonnie and Clyde became casualties of their times and personality traits. Because Gilmore’s invaluable sources are encouraged to speak their minds and their memories in an unprecedented way, it becomes obvious that Clyde did not fire a bullet unless a gun was pointed at him, with the clear intention to shoot. The way many events unfolded, in truth, seems to have been dictated by playful-vengeful gods and their immutable laws, from whom one had to run for a human lifetime. In Bonnie’s words:
“If a policeman is killed in Dallas,
and they have no clue or guide,
if they can’t find a fiend,
they just wipe their slate clean
and hang it on Bonnie and Clyde.”
The word “justice”, albeit overused and vague enough, comes to mind when thinking about the mission this gem of a book has undertaken. Do not watch Beatty and Dunaway; good actors as they might be, they’re but extensions of the sensational publicity that plagued the outlaws’ final days. The only ones who can accurately portray Bonnie & Clyde are Bonnie and her Clyde. Read this book instead. It’s penned by a merciless myth disintegrator, a nonconformist who knows the world of outlaws too well, hears their voices, but never acts as a moralist. Thanks to the light John Gilmore sheds on their short lives (indeed, they had been fugitives from the beginning), you’ll have the raw film of Bonnie and Clyde’s brief existence in front of your eyes. You’ll see them, finally, as they were: tortured, co-dependent, generous, affectionate, outrageous, criminal, and above all, eternally lovable.
A gritty blend of documentary, memoir, reportage, and personal account, Gilmore’s richly textured book achieves a fine-tuned character analysis. It transcends folk tale auras, goes past the thick gun smoke, to unveil a vivid and multilayered portrait of Bonnie, Clyde, and “Bonnie and Clyde”, on the tormented background of the Great Depression. The era that witnessed this tragically famous couple’s feats - and those of other notorious bank robbers- juxtaposed the deepening, bitter poverty of the simple folks, and the defiant power of banks, in a way that must have sparked a wish to rebel or rob in many young hearts. What made two diminutive, in many ways child-like lovers (one born in a slum and abused in jail at a young age, the other a budding poet fascinated with rebellious heroes) act upon this impulse? In a subtle interplay of lights and shadows, Gilmore’s well- documented account tells the truth about their upbringing, their early struggles and loves, the absolute Hell at Eastham, the relative Hell of being on the run together, all with restrained compassion and abundant, unexpected details. Rare primary sources (such as WD, once a very young partner in running and robbing; surviving relatives; farmers and landlords encountered during brief respites from running) make the read alert and unforgettable. The author fills the gaps in everyone’s knowledge with seamless, often brutal skill, and an uncanny understanding of his heroes.
“I’m not jokin’. I’ll free as many as I can ’cause they’re livin’ in a graveyard—just haven’t had the dirt tossed over ’em yet.” He stared at her and said, “Sugar, I’ve never seen it so clear in my
mind—bustin’ into Eastham and gettin’ them guys free.” After a moment, Bonnie said, “As long as I’m with you, I’ll do whatever you want to do. That will be my life. My life bein’ with you.”
A strange take on self-fulfillment and a sense of foreboding underlie every chapter of the young lovers’ lives. Gilmore uses these undercurrents masterfully, streams them with a tender and powerful hand, to counterpoint most actions, motivations and affects.
The photographic and medical evidence included in “On the Run with Bonnie & Clyde” is poignant, often terrifying, even to one accustomed to postmortem images and forensic reports. Bonnie’s poems, the “judge, jury and executioners” staring victorious at her bare bullet-ridden body, her destroyed face before funeral “reconstruction”, stay with the reader and impart a chilling perspective upon the frenzy of running from “laws”, and the ensuing absence of choice. Somewhere between their humble, anonymous beginnings, and the violent end they had been expecting all along (bloodied bodies in a car pierced by bullets and mobbed by curious multitudes), young Bonnie and Clyde became casualties of their times and personality traits. Because Gilmore’s invaluable sources are encouraged to speak their minds and their memories in an unprecedented way, it becomes obvious that Clyde did not fire a bullet unless a gun was pointed at him, with the clear intention to shoot. The way many events unfolded, in truth, seems to have been dictated by playful-vengeful gods and their immutable laws, from whom one had to run for a human lifetime. In Bonnie’s words:
“If a policeman is killed in Dallas,
and they have no clue or guide,
if they can’t find a fiend,
they just wipe their slate clean
and hang it on Bonnie and Clyde.”
The word “justice”, albeit overused and vague enough, comes to mind when thinking about the mission this gem of a book has undertaken. Do not watch Beatty and Dunaway; good actors as they might be, they’re but extensions of the sensational publicity that plagued the outlaws’ final days. The only ones who can accurately portray Bonnie & Clyde are Bonnie and her Clyde. Read this book instead. It’s penned by a merciless myth disintegrator, a nonconformist who knows the world of outlaws too well, hears their voices, but never acts as a moralist. Thanks to the light John Gilmore sheds on their short lives (indeed, they had been fugitives from the beginning), you’ll have the raw film of Bonnie and Clyde’s brief existence in front of your eyes. You’ll see them, finally, as they were: tortured, co-dependent, generous, affectionate, outrageous, criminal, and above all, eternally lovable.
November 21, 2013
The Inside Story of Bonnie & Clyde
There were 167 shots fired in ambush, with a total of 48 hitting their mark. It’s America’s Romeo and Juliet story, with a lot of bullets. That is, if Romeo and Juliet had robbed banks and grocery stores, and died in a hail of gunfire.
For nearly a century the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow have fascinated generations of readers, and have inspired countless songs, stories, novels, television shows, documentaries and movies. They may also have been the first tabloid stars, and are certainly the among the first modern crime superstars, right up there with Billy the Kid. There are lots and lots of books written from the side of law enforcement, family members, fellow gang members, and run of the mill crime reporters. None so thoroughly as John Gilmore in his new book, On the Run with Bonnie & Clyde.
Gilmore’s pedigree in the underground is infallible, with the likes of James Dean, William Burroughs, listed among his friends, he even once met the tragic Sharon Tate, when he was an actor in Hollywood. His oeuvre has been the underbelly, the lives spent in dark corners and back alleys. He writes and tells stories with the voice of an insider, usually because he is one. The author of several books on true crime, Severed, the True Story of the Black Dahlia, Manson, the Unholy Trail of Charlie and the Family, and LA Despair, A Landscape of Crimes & Bad Times, among others, Gilmore is a raw, unvarnished voice of American crime of which Barrow and Parker are noted members.
Gilmore tells the familiar story of Parker and Barrow in a most personal way, through the use of vernacular. Having spent time in Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, New Mexico and many of the other states that the Barrow Gang sped through, Gilmore was able to do what few others have: put us not just in their shoes, but in their cars, riding alongside them.
In part it’s due to his extraordinary source material, with personal interviews with bank robbers of the time, law enforcement, as well as notorious Barker-Karpis gang leader, Alvin Karpis. Incredibly, the research includes interviews and conversations with W. D. Jones, a long time Barrow Gang member. Jones spent a year on the run with the pair, breaking free after the Platte City shoot out. Wounded, broken, sick and terrified of what he knew would be the inevitable end for Bonnie and Clyde, and whoever had the misfortune to be with them at the time.
“I didn’t want to be an outlaw, and be dyin’. I didn’t want to get shot up no more and sleepin’ on the ground … It got me hard an sad to run off, but I was doin’ that or dyn’ a lot sooner than I had any rights to,” says W. D. Jones, a mere teenager when he rode with B & C. Jones was interviewed by Gilmore in the ‘70s.
It was perhaps through these interviews that Gilmore was able to capture the voices of the gang members with such clarity and realism. This was no mean feat considering that there are no known recordings and few quotes from Barrow and Parker. There are Bonnie’s famous poems, confiscated from items left behind at Joplin, Missouri, and a unverified fan letter supposedly written by Clyde extolling the virtues of the Ford car company’s unmatched V8 engine. Still Gilmore manages to make the dialogue believable, and their characters shine through truthfully. Clyde Barrow comes across as self-serving and efficient, and poor Bonnie as deluded and in denial; both come across as being very much in love.
By the time Barrow had met Parker, he’d already done time at the notorious Eastham prison, and had been at least a petty thief, and probably an armed one at least once. Parker herself had been married, her husband in jail at the time of their meeting. While the mythology suggests that the two of them were born of each other and their love, in fact they’d each grown up in poverty and had likely been surrounded by criminals and criminal activity from the cradle. When the 30s hit the central United States, crime was not only rampant, but often the only “employment” possible for the uneducated, underprivileged, poverty stricken society from which they came. They weren’t the only two kids holding up grocery stores and gas stations—they were just the most photogenic.
The two-year crime spree of the surprisingly young couple (Parker was 24, Barrow 25, when they died) was uninspiring, mostly a string of low-yield robberies made on the run and out of desperation, their largest haul being about $1300, then split four ways among the various associates that joined and deserted the gang over the four years of their run.
Gilmore captures the couples’ life on the lam perfectly, without the varnish of mythological glamour. The facts of their last two years on the road were the very opposite of glamorous, as they jumped from stolen car to stolen car, sleeping on the ground in empty parks and fields, eating take out from small town diners—most notably a meal of soda pop, chocolate bars and hot dogs eaten by the bullet-riddled gang after a shoot out in Platte City, Iowa. It was not long after that, another gun battle ended with Barrow’s brother Buck, and his sister-in-law Blanche being left behind, Buck mortally wounded, Blanche half-blinded from flying glass, and were then apprehended by ragtag, local authorities. Insult to injury.
It has been widely said of Clyde that he didn’t shoot anyone who wasn’t shooting at him first (or planning to), or cornering him when he was trying to get away. It’s also believed that Bonnie not only never shot anyone, but never held a gun except in the playful photos printed over and over in newspapers and magazines that fed their fame and probably sealed their fate. Their fame and notoriety made a change of life impossible and they were hounded to their graves.
Their murderous reputation is unwavering, and well-earned. Under Gilmore’s careful hand, it also becomes, like their end, inevitable. A story of accidental happenstance of the most deadly sort, Bonnie and Clyde probably would have stayed small-time criminals at best if not for the accidental murder of their first victim, a man at a dance. Clyde didn’t even pull the trigger at the second murder, but by then it was all just too late. The ‘laws’ were on him, and the shooting match that criss-crossed the south-central United States had begun, the final death toll reaching 14.
On the Run with Bonnie & Clyde is a deeply personal, intimate and inside story of a time and of places long forgotten, and of course, of ill-fated romance of the sort usually reserved for fiction.
Susie Moloney is the award-winning author of four novels of horror fiction including BA Dry Spell, The Dwelling and The Thirteen. Her collection of short stories, Things Withered, stories will be available December 2013 from ChiZine Publications.
There were 167 shots fired in ambush, with a total of 48 hitting their mark. It’s America’s Romeo and Juliet story, with a lot of bullets. That is, if Romeo and Juliet had robbed banks and grocery stores, and died in a hail of gunfire.
For nearly a century the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow have fascinated generations of readers, and have inspired countless songs, stories, novels, television shows, documentaries and movies. They may also have been the first tabloid stars, and are certainly the among the first modern crime superstars, right up there with Billy the Kid. There are lots and lots of books written from the side of law enforcement, family members, fellow gang members, and run of the mill crime reporters. None so thoroughly as John Gilmore in his new book, On the Run with Bonnie & Clyde.
Gilmore’s pedigree in the underground is infallible, with the likes of James Dean, William Burroughs, listed among his friends, he even once met the tragic Sharon Tate, when he was an actor in Hollywood. His oeuvre has been the underbelly, the lives spent in dark corners and back alleys. He writes and tells stories with the voice of an insider, usually because he is one. The author of several books on true crime, Severed, the True Story of the Black Dahlia, Manson, the Unholy Trail of Charlie and the Family, and LA Despair, A Landscape of Crimes & Bad Times, among others, Gilmore is a raw, unvarnished voice of American crime of which Barrow and Parker are noted members.
Gilmore tells the familiar story of Parker and Barrow in a most personal way, through the use of vernacular. Having spent time in Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, New Mexico and many of the other states that the Barrow Gang sped through, Gilmore was able to do what few others have: put us not just in their shoes, but in their cars, riding alongside them.
In part it’s due to his extraordinary source material, with personal interviews with bank robbers of the time, law enforcement, as well as notorious Barker-Karpis gang leader, Alvin Karpis. Incredibly, the research includes interviews and conversations with W. D. Jones, a long time Barrow Gang member. Jones spent a year on the run with the pair, breaking free after the Platte City shoot out. Wounded, broken, sick and terrified of what he knew would be the inevitable end for Bonnie and Clyde, and whoever had the misfortune to be with them at the time.
“I didn’t want to be an outlaw, and be dyin’. I didn’t want to get shot up no more and sleepin’ on the ground … It got me hard an sad to run off, but I was doin’ that or dyn’ a lot sooner than I had any rights to,” says W. D. Jones, a mere teenager when he rode with B & C. Jones was interviewed by Gilmore in the ‘70s.
It was perhaps through these interviews that Gilmore was able to capture the voices of the gang members with such clarity and realism. This was no mean feat considering that there are no known recordings and few quotes from Barrow and Parker. There are Bonnie’s famous poems, confiscated from items left behind at Joplin, Missouri, and a unverified fan letter supposedly written by Clyde extolling the virtues of the Ford car company’s unmatched V8 engine. Still Gilmore manages to make the dialogue believable, and their characters shine through truthfully. Clyde Barrow comes across as self-serving and efficient, and poor Bonnie as deluded and in denial; both come across as being very much in love.
By the time Barrow had met Parker, he’d already done time at the notorious Eastham prison, and had been at least a petty thief, and probably an armed one at least once. Parker herself had been married, her husband in jail at the time of their meeting. While the mythology suggests that the two of them were born of each other and their love, in fact they’d each grown up in poverty and had likely been surrounded by criminals and criminal activity from the cradle. When the 30s hit the central United States, crime was not only rampant, but often the only “employment” possible for the uneducated, underprivileged, poverty stricken society from which they came. They weren’t the only two kids holding up grocery stores and gas stations—they were just the most photogenic.
The two-year crime spree of the surprisingly young couple (Parker was 24, Barrow 25, when they died) was uninspiring, mostly a string of low-yield robberies made on the run and out of desperation, their largest haul being about $1300, then split four ways among the various associates that joined and deserted the gang over the four years of their run.
Gilmore captures the couples’ life on the lam perfectly, without the varnish of mythological glamour. The facts of their last two years on the road were the very opposite of glamorous, as they jumped from stolen car to stolen car, sleeping on the ground in empty parks and fields, eating take out from small town diners—most notably a meal of soda pop, chocolate bars and hot dogs eaten by the bullet-riddled gang after a shoot out in Platte City, Iowa. It was not long after that, another gun battle ended with Barrow’s brother Buck, and his sister-in-law Blanche being left behind, Buck mortally wounded, Blanche half-blinded from flying glass, and were then apprehended by ragtag, local authorities. Insult to injury.
It has been widely said of Clyde that he didn’t shoot anyone who wasn’t shooting at him first (or planning to), or cornering him when he was trying to get away. It’s also believed that Bonnie not only never shot anyone, but never held a gun except in the playful photos printed over and over in newspapers and magazines that fed their fame and probably sealed their fate. Their fame and notoriety made a change of life impossible and they were hounded to their graves.
Their murderous reputation is unwavering, and well-earned. Under Gilmore’s careful hand, it also becomes, like their end, inevitable. A story of accidental happenstance of the most deadly sort, Bonnie and Clyde probably would have stayed small-time criminals at best if not for the accidental murder of their first victim, a man at a dance. Clyde didn’t even pull the trigger at the second murder, but by then it was all just too late. The ‘laws’ were on him, and the shooting match that criss-crossed the south-central United States had begun, the final death toll reaching 14.
On the Run with Bonnie & Clyde is a deeply personal, intimate and inside story of a time and of places long forgotten, and of course, of ill-fated romance of the sort usually reserved for fiction.
Susie Moloney is the award-winning author of four novels of horror fiction including BA Dry Spell, The Dwelling and The Thirteen. Her collection of short stories, Things Withered, stories will be available December 2013 from ChiZine Publications.
July 12, 2017
Book was good. Great detail as to the crimes the duo committed.
As far as I could tell it is historically accurate.
The author unfortunately did paint them in a romantic light.
There is no doubt that Bonnie and Clyde were in love but I think the novel should have been less romanticized and it should have concentrated more on the crimes they committed.
As far as I could tell the details were about right as far as their crime spree goes.
Book was interesting but didn't tell me anything new about the Barrow gang or the life they led on the run.
I was detailed more that the previous book on them that I read. It was a fast read and for the amateur follower of Bonnie and Clyde I highly recommend it.
As far as I could tell it is historically accurate.
The author unfortunately did paint them in a romantic light.
There is no doubt that Bonnie and Clyde were in love but I think the novel should have been less romanticized and it should have concentrated more on the crimes they committed.
As far as I could tell the details were about right as far as their crime spree goes.
Book was interesting but didn't tell me anything new about the Barrow gang or the life they led on the run.
I was detailed more that the previous book on them that I read. It was a fast read and for the amateur follower of Bonnie and Clyde I highly recommend it.
September 23, 2014
Did not care for this book and do not recommend. Maybe it's ok as a "LA Noir" or "crime Noir" genre? Don't know haven't read many in those genres. At worst it is a horrible recounting of Bonnie and Clyde events and at best its a very poor novel based upon historical events.
The book went from first-person dialog and re-telling of events to the author's conversation with another person about a given event. Again, maybe it fits the genre but did not like this book. At all.
Then there is the language. There is no indication - anywhere - from those who knew Bonnie and Clyde and the Barrow gang that they used the type of language used in this book. On the contrary, most folks who knew and/or associated with Bonnie and Clyde found them personable and engaging; well spoken with good manners. I just cannot imagine the son of Cumie Barrow, a devoted fire and brimstone Baptist, sounding like a two-bit street hustler rapper - f-this and g-d-that, and f-,f-,f-, etc. The language, IMHO, was contrived and cheesy. Yes, Bonnie called Clyde "Daddy" and he called her "Baby" but can't imagine some of the conversations being this cheesy. By anyone. Again, maybe it fits the genre.
It really bothers me that so much is left out and/or presumed about Bonnie and Clyde while the book is portrayed as a historical narrative. Sure the author did some research and had some basic events recounted but there are other facets of the Bonnie and Clyde story that are left out - what happened to Buck Barrow? Blanche? Ray Hamilton and Ralph Fults? Clyde's time at Eastham and why he wouldn't be taken alive? The role Bonnie's sister, Billie Jean Parker Mace played after the crash, and the aftermath of the ambush?
Also, it appeared to me the author got tired of writing this book as he was nearing the end. A lot was glossed over and it moved really quickly leading up to the ambush. Not a complaint, just an observation.
If you're going to read one book on Bonnie and Clyde this is not the book. There are much, much better books available on Bonnie and Clyde that are historically accurate and stand on their own as the story of Bonnie and Clyde does not have to be sensationalized.
The book went from first-person dialog and re-telling of events to the author's conversation with another person about a given event. Again, maybe it fits the genre but did not like this book. At all.
Then there is the language. There is no indication - anywhere - from those who knew Bonnie and Clyde and the Barrow gang that they used the type of language used in this book. On the contrary, most folks who knew and/or associated with Bonnie and Clyde found them personable and engaging; well spoken with good manners. I just cannot imagine the son of Cumie Barrow, a devoted fire and brimstone Baptist, sounding like a two-bit street hustler rapper - f-this and g-d-that, and f-,f-,f-, etc. The language, IMHO, was contrived and cheesy. Yes, Bonnie called Clyde "Daddy" and he called her "Baby" but can't imagine some of the conversations being this cheesy. By anyone. Again, maybe it fits the genre.
It really bothers me that so much is left out and/or presumed about Bonnie and Clyde while the book is portrayed as a historical narrative. Sure the author did some research and had some basic events recounted but there are other facets of the Bonnie and Clyde story that are left out - what happened to Buck Barrow? Blanche? Ray Hamilton and Ralph Fults? Clyde's time at Eastham and why he wouldn't be taken alive? The role Bonnie's sister, Billie Jean Parker Mace played after the crash, and the aftermath of the ambush?
Also, it appeared to me the author got tired of writing this book as he was nearing the end. A lot was glossed over and it moved really quickly leading up to the ambush. Not a complaint, just an observation.
If you're going to read one book on Bonnie and Clyde this is not the book. There are much, much better books available on Bonnie and Clyde that are historically accurate and stand on their own as the story of Bonnie and Clyde does not have to be sensationalized.
February 5, 2019
Geeft goed de sfeer weer, maar de schrijfstijl is hectisch en leunt te veel op erbij verzonnen details.
March 14, 2016
This is a stark, compelling combination of narrative that the author employs in getting into the heads of Clyde Barrow, and Bonnie Parker, and accounts, many first hand from the Barrow and Parker families, as well as those who ran with Bonnie and Clyde. Its very disjointed nature demystifies the folklore, and the romance that has come to be attributed to their lives and times. The "Hollywood Treatment" is entirely removed here. We don't encounter anti-heroes or the sensationalized and romantic figures of urban legend and folklore. What we get is brutal, unforgiving, and unsettling. There is no absolution for Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker here. Even what would otherwise seem redemptive within the obvious love and bond they shared, is immersed within the blood, bullets, and mayhem of the life they lived and the crimes they committed. The dialogue constructed here emerges from the twisted internal landscape of lost souls and minds, not the glossed over figures of the attendant myths and folklore. These are not people the reader will have any empathy for; the inevitability of their ultimate fate, acknowledged even by themselves, comes just and due to two people on a crash course with oblivion. Their saga could end only one way. I recommend this book highly to anyone who wants the real story of Bonnie and Clyde. John Gilmore has been constructing this work for the better part of his life, and his affinity with the tale's stark reality is evident. It feels more like a trip back in time, with the reader transported back to accompany Clyde Barrow, and Bonnie Parker, along with the figures that occupied their lives and journey, than a detached or distant recounting of their story. John Gilmore inhabits this space and brings the reader along, and author and reader are right there, unable to depart before the journey is through. This is not a comfortable read. It's not paced to be entertaining or sensational. It's visceral, dirty, gritty, and spares no one involved, and it shouldn't. Outlaws die the way they lived, one way or another. No rides off into the sunset. Just a blood washed fade to black. John Gilmore has hit all the marks here, and this book is a dark triumph.
January 15, 2014
Awesome book
I give this book a 5 star rating. The author really gave truth to who Bonnie and Clyde were. I recommend this book for all who love Bonnie and Clyde.
I give this book a 5 star rating. The author really gave truth to who Bonnie and Clyde were. I recommend this book for all who love Bonnie and Clyde.
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