Title: Depressing
Product review: Having read a handful of Willeford's later novels, I was curious to discover what his novels from the 50's were like. If "The Pick-Up" is in any way typical of his work from this period, then they are all very noir and almost hysterically downbeat. The "Pick-Up" documents the love-affair of two alcoholic losers who are so hopeless that they decide to commit suicide fifty pages through the novel. They don't succeed. This and other sordid incidents comprise the book's "plot", all culminating in a surprise ending that has lost its shock value in recent years and doesn't add too much to the book's meaning. I still recommend it, especially if you enjoy wallowing in the grimier aspects of human existence. Favorite passage: "She let her hair go uncombed. She skipped wearing her stockings. Her voice was slightly louder and she seemed to be getting deaf in one ear. We never made love any more."
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