What do you think?
Rate this book
Contrary Pleasure
For years the Delevan family image reflected only the best of everything - wealth, position, influence, and the kind of expensive good looks that take generations to cultivate. No one dared suspect that their glittering façade, their cherished privacy masked hidden lusts, furtive pleasures and twisted dreams that would soon erupt into a pattern of strange violence that threatened to destroy them all.
254 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1954
104 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
About the author
John D. MacDonald
568 books1,377 followersJohn D. MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, and educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Syracuse and Harvard, where he took an MBA in 1939. During WW2, he rose to the rank of Colonel, and while serving in the Army and in the Far East, sent a short story to his wife for sale, successfully. He served in the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. After the war, he decided to try writing for a year, to see if he could make a living. Over 500 short stories and 70 novels resulted, including 21 Travis McGee novels.
Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 22, 2025
From 1954
This is very sad, because I've had this 1950s paperback for years, and I so wanted it to be wonderful. It wasn't. I mean, splendidly written of course. About a close knit but unhappy family struggling with their business and whether to sell it.
This is very sad, because I've had this 1950s paperback for years, and I so wanted it to be wonderful. It wasn't. I mean, splendidly written of course. About a close knit but unhappy family struggling with their business and whether to sell it.
December 21, 2022
None of the various book covers seem to capture the essence of MacDonald’s 1954 novel, Contrary Pleasure. It’s not about “trading honor for desire” or “beautiful people hiding secrets.” If you are looking fir a crime thriller such as MacDonald became known for, you are in for something completely different. Contrary Pleasure has some hints of crime here and there with a petty theft, adultery, a beating, a drunken brawl, but it’s really little more than a taste. There are nevertheless hints of violence in thoughts such as plowing the family car across the well-groomed lawn and into the family gathered there. The main portion of the book is a grand sweeping novel about a family and its generations weathering the slings and arrows of life and coming to terms (or not) with how things have worked out for them.
While MacDonald didn’t fill this one with fast-paced action, he created full-dimensional people who we see through each of their own eyes and thoughts. At once we get MacDonald’s critique of suburban life and the sameness of it and the idea that many find their slots in such a safe and burdenless life and don’t push themselves to do anything that special. The critique is that nothing extreme can happen anymore. Everything is taken care of with the safety net of government. Risk is gone. But, we also get the idea that there is a power in obtaining safety and comfort – that the flip side is precarious. Without long lasting marriages, there is little stability. Without a steady corporate job, the ability to support a family is precarious.
The novel centers around the Delavan family whose patriarch founded a textile mill in Stockton, New York, somewhere between Erie, PA, and Buffalo, NY. He also bought acreage deeded to his children who now as our novel begins have taken over the mill as the textile industry founders in that part of the country and the kids are now grown with families of their own in the adjoining plots set up by the family patriarch.
Ben, the eldest, runs the plant, but feels the years as he turns fifty and a bit aged and flabby. The responsibility of running the company weighs heavily on him. He muses about the thousand choices in life and the way that there are a thousand paths one might take. One of those paths though is a buyout offer and it’s an offer he seriously considers throughout the book.
Quinn though, one of the twins, is described as one of the weak ones, the brave little men in parades who carry big banners, but are so unsteady the banner begins to fall. He has an executive job as a result of his birthright, but has done nothing to earn it. Quinn is rather unsatisfied and seeks solace in an affair with a mill worker.
Alice is the other twin and she married George, who went into the construction business, and she muses that from the first day he went into business for himself, she lost him and he became a stranger. George accepted her as part of the home, part of the machinery.
Robbie is the youngest sibling and his story centers around meeting Susan in Mexico City, thinking they would return married to this big family and Robbie would go to work in the family business.
The younger generation also appears with Ben’s kids, Brock, thrown out of college after stealing from classmates to support a woman he met in a bar one day while ditching class. Ellen is his sister and she’s finishing high school and dealing with boyfriends and country clubs.
Each family member seems to get their own chapter, although some get more attention than others.
There isn’t necessarily one overarching plot line so much as the tension between living the safe suburban life and doing the totally unexpected rebellion and that theme pops up over and over for both the older generation and the younger one.
While MacDonald didn’t fill this one with fast-paced action, he created full-dimensional people who we see through each of their own eyes and thoughts. At once we get MacDonald’s critique of suburban life and the sameness of it and the idea that many find their slots in such a safe and burdenless life and don’t push themselves to do anything that special. The critique is that nothing extreme can happen anymore. Everything is taken care of with the safety net of government. Risk is gone. But, we also get the idea that there is a power in obtaining safety and comfort – that the flip side is precarious. Without long lasting marriages, there is little stability. Without a steady corporate job, the ability to support a family is precarious.
The novel centers around the Delavan family whose patriarch founded a textile mill in Stockton, New York, somewhere between Erie, PA, and Buffalo, NY. He also bought acreage deeded to his children who now as our novel begins have taken over the mill as the textile industry founders in that part of the country and the kids are now grown with families of their own in the adjoining plots set up by the family patriarch.
Ben, the eldest, runs the plant, but feels the years as he turns fifty and a bit aged and flabby. The responsibility of running the company weighs heavily on him. He muses about the thousand choices in life and the way that there are a thousand paths one might take. One of those paths though is a buyout offer and it’s an offer he seriously considers throughout the book.
Quinn though, one of the twins, is described as one of the weak ones, the brave little men in parades who carry big banners, but are so unsteady the banner begins to fall. He has an executive job as a result of his birthright, but has done nothing to earn it. Quinn is rather unsatisfied and seeks solace in an affair with a mill worker.
Alice is the other twin and she married George, who went into the construction business, and she muses that from the first day he went into business for himself, she lost him and he became a stranger. George accepted her as part of the home, part of the machinery.
Robbie is the youngest sibling and his story centers around meeting Susan in Mexico City, thinking they would return married to this big family and Robbie would go to work in the family business.
The younger generation also appears with Ben’s kids, Brock, thrown out of college after stealing from classmates to support a woman he met in a bar one day while ditching class. Ellen is his sister and she’s finishing high school and dealing with boyfriends and country clubs.
Each family member seems to get their own chapter, although some get more attention than others.
There isn’t necessarily one overarching plot line so much as the tension between living the safe suburban life and doing the totally unexpected rebellion and that theme pops up over and over for both the older generation and the younger one.
December 31, 2019
are we all pretenders fighting a battle w reality ?we think we have it and then it all explodes. The ending of this one will knock your socks off...invest the time read it carefully...JDM is an incredible story teller!
July 19, 2022
This is at least the second time I’ve read this book, probably the third, written 10 years before the first Travis McGee books.
It’s not a crime book, it’s a book about a family, three brothers and their wives and kids, the oldest of whom runs the family textile mill in Pennsylvania, the mill has been in the family for three generations, scarcer and scarcer profits leaking out of this old ship with new leaks every day. Very early in the book an offer is made to buy the mill, this would set the family up for life as long as they remained frugal, would solve a lot of problems, but there is a nagging thought/sense of obligation that the business should stay in the family.
John D is so great at letting the reader see inside the hearts and minds of the characters, the very human emotions and insecurities that are part of the human condition. Here’s one line from the book: “It seemed these days that he had to imitate the person he used to be, and that he had forgotten exactly how to do it.”
So, take yourself back to 1954, mix a stinger or a gimlet, light up your pipe, and settle in for a good read.
It’s not a crime book, it’s a book about a family, three brothers and their wives and kids, the oldest of whom runs the family textile mill in Pennsylvania, the mill has been in the family for three generations, scarcer and scarcer profits leaking out of this old ship with new leaks every day. Very early in the book an offer is made to buy the mill, this would set the family up for life as long as they remained frugal, would solve a lot of problems, but there is a nagging thought/sense of obligation that the business should stay in the family.
John D is so great at letting the reader see inside the hearts and minds of the characters, the very human emotions and insecurities that are part of the human condition. Here’s one line from the book: “It seemed these days that he had to imitate the person he used to be, and that he had forgotten exactly how to do it.”
So, take yourself back to 1954, mix a stinger or a gimlet, light up your pipe, and settle in for a good read.
January 19, 2015
12 jan 15, monday afternoon, 4:26 p.m. e.s.t.
#24 from macdonald for me. just finished Murder in the Wind, not the "mystery" that some say it is although still a good story
(1954)contrary pleasure, john d macdonald
there is a quote from...? the princess nakayah...rasselas, by dr. samuel johnson, before story starts...explains the title
story begins:
this was a time of day he was most apt to like. a june evening, and a silence along the office halls after the twittering departures of the secretaries, young tamping of heels on the steel stair treads worn to silver, the last typewriter tilted back into its desk with decisive thump, the whirl and rattle and subsonic resonances of the mill itself stilled, the last cars leaving the lot.
okee dokee then, as the good doctor said (heikki lunta snow dance song, 1973) onward and upward.
time place scene setting
*new york: city of stockton, clayton village, amity park where three properties of the children now adults of michael delevan exist
*the stockton knitting company, inc. a business that is floundering though only ben, the eldest delevan and his bro-in-law george furman, know that to be the case
*a frat house, a beer joint, restaurant, officeof dean, the cardinal hotel
*60 lefferts avenue...bonny's place...later, she takes another apartment with easy access for quinn
*commodore vanderbilt train, car 801, roomette 8
*doyle's pinetop restaurant (bonny)
characters major minor peripheral name-only famous-real
*benjamin delevan, eldest of the delevan clan, 50-year-old, married to wilma, two children. he is president and chairman of the board of the stockton knitting company, inc.
*wilma delevan, ben's wife
*brock & ellen: their teenaged children
*miss daley, secretary to ben...perhaps a kind of temp as the regular secretary is away on vacation
*miss meyer: efficient secretary of ben....with company 25 years
*shoe salesman...ben saw tending to miss meyer
*quinn delevan: younger brother of ben, vice president. title only sounds like, the family company providing a family position and pay and barely doing so. alice is his twin sister
*bess delevan: quinn's wife
*david...bess's son from a previous engagement who is now deceased
*carney: the man bess was first married to...who died
*bess's father: a suicide
*alice furman (delevan)...wife of george furman, the builder. they have three children
*sandy: alice's youngest
*robbie delevan: in mexico city, recently married, moving/heading back to the delevan spread in amity park
*susan walton: robbie's bride
*sam coward: takes care of the grounds for the three houses of the develan family
*ben's mother, deceased, when ben was ten
*elaine: lady that michael delevan married after his 1st passed
*mrs bailey...cleaning girls
*the yankees, mantle, cleopatra
*the schermer boy...ellen dates...another couple
*tv: a grave man sat behind a big desk...the president as he boarded a plane...a crowd of dark people (calcutta)
*elise: 25-year-old that brock becomes involved with, is the reason he fails at school. elise lewis, called herself mrs. archie berris, said hubby died overseas, not true, hubby on a boat to cuba
*a pretty polish girl...his friends...a friend of elise's...coal heavers, gorillas...a boyfriend...frat roommate...faculty advisor
*marty greenshine...from whom brock steals $70
*a boy st at a desk...will later be witness against brock
*wife of the building superintendent...a man came in...dean of men, hardy...one of the freshman pledges...a squat brutal man, taxi driver diddling elise
*vanderbilt...jay gould, jack of beanstalk fame...gargantua...eros...dagwoods
*a doctor...the man in the station
*bonita "bonny" doyle: one of the girl laborers in the mill with whom quinn has an affair. twenty-year-old from the hills of new york, a brother in california
*larue doyle, bonny's father, gone. a logger from a family of loggers
*deskman at the club, two policemen
*thomas marin griffin: facilitates mergers, buy-outs of companies, an efficiency expert
*porter, conductor, bellhop, mr henry parks, mr tomlinson, dr garsh, gary...names associated with thomas griffin
*the man with griffin
*jim fiske? real? imagined?
*ben's grandfather of the same name
a note on the narration
through two chapters the telling is not confined to a single character, the telling is depressive, truth be told at least for the first chapter. chapter two follows brock, one of ben's & wilma's children who is at a college, unnamed. why? why not name the school? a flaw i think. a new england, new york, textile family, brock away at school, a girl...an "older lady" really, elise is twenty-fiveand although the telling of chapter two is 'depressive' it is a conflict with more feeling than the previous.
and neither is the narrative confined to a single larger than life conflict...although the fate of the family-owned textile business seems to be at the forefront. chapter 3, quinn is the focus, and an affair he develops and engages in is the conflict. chapter 4 finds a newcomer, thomas griffin, one of the new kinds of businessmen, who looks for failing businesses, bringing about mergers or sales
time passages
they come out of nowhere. as this one does, in chapter two, brock's chapter at college, his downward spiral to expulsion. when the end comes he is alone in a hotel room--the frat won't allow him to stay until his father arrives to bail him out--and he engages in what i've come to shelves stories under time passages...cue al stewart.
and true to stewart's song, brock imagines himself a pitcher against the yankees...mantle...followed by a number of other shorter scenarios and ending with the time he turned away from the lab door, cut class instead of continuing. nice, how it works and it does enliven the story after a depressing start.
two other characters engage their imagination. quinn, vie president of the company...does so, imagining a life for one of the girls to whom he is attracted. and that girl, bonny, recalls times in the woods, not as sleeping beauty or little red riding hood, but other kinds of pretend.
update, finished! 14 jan 15, wednesday afternoon 1:30 p.m. e.s.t.
finished and i almost did not. this is not a typical john d macdonald story. and i'm glad he didn't write many like it. i know in a previous review or two i said something like this story doesn't fit under any of the labels we like to use. i despise labels so i try to refrain from using them. this one does fit under that ubiquitous heading literature and as such it is the story of a new england textile family on the decline...read depressing. each character has a story minor or major conflict and there wasn't a one that i wanted to get on their side of the bleachers and cheer. not a one. so it was a plod. maybe your mileage would differ...maybe it is the time of the season maybe it is a lot of things. and that's all the time i want to spend on this one.
#24 from macdonald for me. just finished Murder in the Wind, not the "mystery" that some say it is although still a good story
(1954)contrary pleasure, john d macdonald
there is a quote from...? the princess nakayah...rasselas, by dr. samuel johnson, before story starts...explains the title
story begins:
this was a time of day he was most apt to like. a june evening, and a silence along the office halls after the twittering departures of the secretaries, young tamping of heels on the steel stair treads worn to silver, the last typewriter tilted back into its desk with decisive thump, the whirl and rattle and subsonic resonances of the mill itself stilled, the last cars leaving the lot.
okee dokee then, as the good doctor said (heikki lunta snow dance song, 1973) onward and upward.
time place scene setting
*new york: city of stockton, clayton village, amity park where three properties of the children now adults of michael delevan exist
*the stockton knitting company, inc. a business that is floundering though only ben, the eldest delevan and his bro-in-law george furman, know that to be the case
*a frat house, a beer joint, restaurant, officeof dean, the cardinal hotel
*60 lefferts avenue...bonny's place...later, she takes another apartment with easy access for quinn
*commodore vanderbilt train, car 801, roomette 8
*doyle's pinetop restaurant (bonny)
characters major minor peripheral name-only famous-real
*benjamin delevan, eldest of the delevan clan, 50-year-old, married to wilma, two children. he is president and chairman of the board of the stockton knitting company, inc.
*wilma delevan, ben's wife
*brock & ellen: their teenaged children
*miss daley, secretary to ben...perhaps a kind of temp as the regular secretary is away on vacation
*miss meyer: efficient secretary of ben....with company 25 years
*shoe salesman...ben saw tending to miss meyer
*quinn delevan: younger brother of ben, vice president. title only sounds like, the family company providing a family position and pay and barely doing so. alice is his twin sister
*bess delevan: quinn's wife
*david...bess's son from a previous engagement who is now deceased
*carney: the man bess was first married to...who died
*bess's father: a suicide
*alice furman (delevan)...wife of george furman, the builder. they have three children
*sandy: alice's youngest
*robbie delevan: in mexico city, recently married, moving/heading back to the delevan spread in amity park
*susan walton: robbie's bride
*sam coward: takes care of the grounds for the three houses of the develan family
*ben's mother, deceased, when ben was ten
*elaine: lady that michael delevan married after his 1st passed
*mrs bailey...cleaning girls
*the yankees, mantle, cleopatra
*the schermer boy...ellen dates...another couple
*tv: a grave man sat behind a big desk...the president as he boarded a plane...a crowd of dark people (calcutta)
*elise: 25-year-old that brock becomes involved with, is the reason he fails at school. elise lewis, called herself mrs. archie berris, said hubby died overseas, not true, hubby on a boat to cuba
*a pretty polish girl...his friends...a friend of elise's...coal heavers, gorillas...a boyfriend...frat roommate...faculty advisor
*marty greenshine...from whom brock steals $70
*a boy st at a desk...will later be witness against brock
*wife of the building superintendent...a man came in...dean of men, hardy...one of the freshman pledges...a squat brutal man, taxi driver diddling elise
*vanderbilt...jay gould, jack of beanstalk fame...gargantua...eros...dagwoods
*a doctor...the man in the station
*bonita "bonny" doyle: one of the girl laborers in the mill with whom quinn has an affair. twenty-year-old from the hills of new york, a brother in california
*larue doyle, bonny's father, gone. a logger from a family of loggers
*deskman at the club, two policemen
*thomas marin griffin: facilitates mergers, buy-outs of companies, an efficiency expert
*porter, conductor, bellhop, mr henry parks, mr tomlinson, dr garsh, gary...names associated with thomas griffin
*the man with griffin
*jim fiske? real? imagined?
*ben's grandfather of the same name
a note on the narration
through two chapters the telling is not confined to a single character, the telling is depressive, truth be told at least for the first chapter. chapter two follows brock, one of ben's & wilma's children who is at a college, unnamed. why? why not name the school? a flaw i think. a new england, new york, textile family, brock away at school, a girl...an "older lady" really, elise is twenty-fiveand although the telling of chapter two is 'depressive' it is a conflict with more feeling than the previous.
and neither is the narrative confined to a single larger than life conflict...although the fate of the family-owned textile business seems to be at the forefront. chapter 3, quinn is the focus, and an affair he develops and engages in is the conflict. chapter 4 finds a newcomer, thomas griffin, one of the new kinds of businessmen, who looks for failing businesses, bringing about mergers or sales
time passages
they come out of nowhere. as this one does, in chapter two, brock's chapter at college, his downward spiral to expulsion. when the end comes he is alone in a hotel room--the frat won't allow him to stay until his father arrives to bail him out--and he engages in what i've come to shelves stories under time passages...cue al stewart.
and true to stewart's song, brock imagines himself a pitcher against the yankees...mantle...followed by a number of other shorter scenarios and ending with the time he turned away from the lab door, cut class instead of continuing. nice, how it works and it does enliven the story after a depressing start.
two other characters engage their imagination. quinn, vie president of the company...does so, imagining a life for one of the girls to whom he is attracted. and that girl, bonny, recalls times in the woods, not as sleeping beauty or little red riding hood, but other kinds of pretend.
update, finished! 14 jan 15, wednesday afternoon 1:30 p.m. e.s.t.
finished and i almost did not. this is not a typical john d macdonald story. and i'm glad he didn't write many like it. i know in a previous review or two i said something like this story doesn't fit under any of the labels we like to use. i despise labels so i try to refrain from using them. this one does fit under that ubiquitous heading literature and as such it is the story of a new england textile family on the decline...read depressing. each character has a story minor or major conflict and there wasn't a one that i wanted to get on their side of the bleachers and cheer. not a one. so it was a plod. maybe your mileage would differ...maybe it is the time of the season maybe it is a lot of things. and that's all the time i want to spend on this one.
September 21, 2025
Thank Me for Mein Servicef
Starting in March, with only a couple of interludes and couple of bail-outs, I read the following Cookbooks of Recipes for Disaster:
The Brass Cupcake (1950)
Murder for the Bride (1951)
Judge Me Not (1951)
The Neon Jungle (1953)
Cancel All Our Vows (1953)
Area of Suspicion (1954)
Contrary Pleasure (1954)
A Bullet for Cinderella (1955)
Cry Hard, Cry Fast (1956)
April Evil (1956)
Border Town Girl (1956)
Murder in the Wind (1956)
You Live Once (1956)
Death Trap (1957)
The Price of Murder (1957)
The Empty Trap (1957)
A Man of Affairs (1957)
The Executioners (1957)
The Deceivers (1958)
Clemmie (1958)
Soft Touch (1958)
Deadly Welcome (1959)
The Beach Girls (1959)
Please Write for Details (1959)
The Crossroads (1959)
Slam the Big Door (1960)
The Only Girl in the Game (1960)
The End of the Night (1960)
Where is Janice Gantry? (1961)
One Monday We Killed Them All (1961)
A Key to the Suite (1962)
A Flash of Green (1962)
On the Run (1963)
The Drowner (1963)
The Last One Left (1966)
One More Sunday (1984)
Barrier Island (1986)
Last night I read one of the bio-blurbs for this clown too: you'd think he was Dostoyevsky, Dickens, and Balzac reincarnated.
All my life I've been fascinated by Entertainment suckers: how they'll parrot what they hear till they actually start really believing it themselves - I mean really. They will sacrifice vast amounts of time and throw away friends and relatives in loyalty to their favorite kind of music, a sports team, or other pastime. These parrot-squawks become gospel for them; beliefs held more strongly than their politics, religion, or even re-cycling regimen.
Entertainment delusions have a lot of reach: two camera kooks will murder each other over Leica vs Hasselblad. One guy is a Ford man; the other is for Chevy. It's Colt vs Glock. One Foodie "has to drive all the way to Sarasota" for his fresh-ground spices; the other one "has to drive all the way to Fort Myers" (because Sarasota fresh-ground spices are just "yuk, barf"). It's Steelers vs Bucs. Monet vs Degas. Taylor Swift vs Katy Perry. Frog vs Toad. Among coin-collectors, it's wheat penny vs indian head. And the enmity between Furries over Dog-head vs Fox-head is irreconcilable - I suspect the more "regular" kinds of homosexuals have their factions too, but I don't even wanna think about that.
And the point is that none of these tastes are organic; they're all "learned". Someone told our theoretical sucker to think these things. Often it takes years of repetition; a few decades of sitcoms or movies or song-lyrics or whatever Levantine medium is on deck.
But I'm lying, that's not the point. The real point is that someone, somewhere said that John D. MacDonald could write crime books. And those people lied too and you suckers keep repeating it.
You can Thank Me For My Service later. Or maybe by writing shorter reviews - lately I've seen reviews that defy the act of scrolling itself.
Starting in March, with only a couple of interludes and couple of bail-outs, I read the following Cookbooks of Recipes for Disaster:
The Brass Cupcake (1950)
Murder for the Bride (1951)
Judge Me Not (1951)
The Neon Jungle (1953)
Cancel All Our Vows (1953)
Area of Suspicion (1954)
Contrary Pleasure (1954)
A Bullet for Cinderella (1955)
Cry Hard, Cry Fast (1956)
April Evil (1956)
Border Town Girl (1956)
Murder in the Wind (1956)
You Live Once (1956)
Death Trap (1957)
The Price of Murder (1957)
The Empty Trap (1957)
A Man of Affairs (1957)
The Executioners (1957)
The Deceivers (1958)
Clemmie (1958)
Soft Touch (1958)
Deadly Welcome (1959)
The Beach Girls (1959)
Please Write for Details (1959)
The Crossroads (1959)
Slam the Big Door (1960)
The Only Girl in the Game (1960)
The End of the Night (1960)
Where is Janice Gantry? (1961)
One Monday We Killed Them All (1961)
A Key to the Suite (1962)
A Flash of Green (1962)
On the Run (1963)
The Drowner (1963)
The Last One Left (1966)
One More Sunday (1984)
Barrier Island (1986)
Last night I read one of the bio-blurbs for this clown too: you'd think he was Dostoyevsky, Dickens, and Balzac reincarnated.
All my life I've been fascinated by Entertainment suckers: how they'll parrot what they hear till they actually start really believing it themselves - I mean really. They will sacrifice vast amounts of time and throw away friends and relatives in loyalty to their favorite kind of music, a sports team, or other pastime. These parrot-squawks become gospel for them; beliefs held more strongly than their politics, religion, or even re-cycling regimen.
Entertainment delusions have a lot of reach: two camera kooks will murder each other over Leica vs Hasselblad. One guy is a Ford man; the other is for Chevy. It's Colt vs Glock. One Foodie "has to drive all the way to Sarasota" for his fresh-ground spices; the other one "has to drive all the way to Fort Myers" (because Sarasota fresh-ground spices are just "yuk, barf"). It's Steelers vs Bucs. Monet vs Degas. Taylor Swift vs Katy Perry. Frog vs Toad. Among coin-collectors, it's wheat penny vs indian head. And the enmity between Furries over Dog-head vs Fox-head is irreconcilable - I suspect the more "regular" kinds of homosexuals have their factions too, but I don't even wanna think about that.
And the point is that none of these tastes are organic; they're all "learned". Someone told our theoretical sucker to think these things. Often it takes years of repetition; a few decades of sitcoms or movies or song-lyrics or whatever Levantine medium is on deck.
But I'm lying, that's not the point. The real point is that someone, somewhere said that John D. MacDonald could write crime books. And those people lied too and you suckers keep repeating it.
You can Thank Me For My Service later. Or maybe by writing shorter reviews - lately I've seen reviews that defy the act of scrolling itself.
June 30, 2018
An exploration of characters
A study of the variety of personalities and expectations that makes up an extended group of people. Almost a series of short stories. A sense of place and era is created as well. I can see why MacDonald has been referred to as a source for future historians. Interestingly he makes many of his characters smokers.
A study of the variety of personalities and expectations that makes up an extended group of people. Almost a series of short stories. A sense of place and era is created as well. I can see why MacDonald has been referred to as a source for future historians. Interestingly he makes many of his characters smokers.
February 18, 2022
This one is similar to another JDM novel, The Crossroads. It was published in 1956 and has the old time feel of that era. A quick read, it tells the story of an extended family. The story is good but written by someone else in another era it may not be as good. It takes you back to another time. I was able to find at library.
March 27, 2023
I’m sure the publisher had no idea what to make of this. The book did not deliver the promises of the back cover summery. No real deep dark hidden family scandals. Just the normal problems of normal people.
A solid story of the life of an extended family in 1954. Interesting characters. Some end in a better place. Some don’t. Life goes on. All told with John D’s wonderful prose.
A solid story of the life of an extended family in 1954. Interesting characters. Some end in a better place. Some don’t. Life goes on. All told with John D’s wonderful prose.
October 16, 2018
This one did not really grab me the way MacDonald normally does. It’s not really a crime story, although it begins to resemble one late in the book. It is an exploration of one family’s secrets, and what they lead to. Worth a read, but don’t expect white-knuckle tension.
November 25, 2023
MacDonald is simply an ethereal author, certainly not to be pigeonholed into any "detective"/"whodunit" category. A true American master, this book left me wanting to know what happens next to the Delevan tribe - despite JDM's leaving them in just the appropriate spot. Gotta love John D. MacDonald.
August 23, 2021
Good, but slow at times. Like always though, he was a story teller.
September 27, 2023
Ambitious, but horribly depressing.
December 30, 2025
Preset good. Tragic for some but things work out for others. 3.5 at home.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 19, 2023
John MacDonald is a master of character development and definition. In this novel, more than his previous, he further delves into the relationship between his characters. By following each of the characters individually, the author paints the picture of an upper middle class family of multiple generations in a small town.
You get the perspective of each - though some are more relatable than others- as they experience a series of family dynamics. This is not a crime or detective drama of the sort that MacDonald becomes famous for, but it is a step in his development as an author.
I would recommend this book to any fan of his.
You get the perspective of each - though some are more relatable than others- as they experience a series of family dynamics. This is not a crime or detective drama of the sort that MacDonald becomes famous for, but it is a step in his development as an author.
I would recommend this book to any fan of his.
May 25, 2016
One of author MacDonald's lesser efforts.
Novel - A collection of subplots involving a family of upstate New Yorkers. Ben Delevan heads up the Delevan clan and serves as president of the family owned business, a textile mill. There are a number of disparate storylines affecting various family members. One concerns the possibility of a corporate takeover. A couple center around unwise sexual liaisons. Another involves the return of a long absent younger brother who has recently gotten married. This is a book of human emotion with self doubt and self discovery providing the major themes.
Novel - A collection of subplots involving a family of upstate New Yorkers. Ben Delevan heads up the Delevan clan and serves as president of the family owned business, a textile mill. There are a number of disparate storylines affecting various family members. One concerns the possibility of a corporate takeover. A couple center around unwise sexual liaisons. Another involves the return of a long absent younger brother who has recently gotten married. This is a book of human emotion with self doubt and self discovery providing the major themes.
July 27, 2010
Good one, though not JDM's best.
October 7, 2025
DNF. I just couldn't get into this one. I usually enjoy Macdonals's early novels but this one was too dry.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews