In my quest to escape from the safe little box the books I read normally fall within, I've challenged myself to pick up things that aren't usually me. Edward Bunker's No Beast So Fierce was my first attempt to do that. This is an autobiographical crime novel. It's written as the memoir of Max Dembo, a parolee from Folsom Prison who has just completed an eight-year term. Trust me when I say that this isn't the type of book I'd normally choose to read. Keep that in mind too, while you read this review. It's just the opinion of one reader who is exploring new territory.

Let's start with what I liked about this. Max Dembo is a pretty fascinating case. Imagine emerging from prison, only to find that you no longer fit in with the world as it is today. Max faces not only the issue of being a former convict, but also of being someone who hasn't been part of mainstream society for almost a decade. His clothes are wrong. His demeanor makes him stand out in a crowd. Even the way he talks isn't necessarily in style anymore. Here is a man who is finally free, and yet now has so much standing in the way of the new life he wants to build.

I can't tell you enough how riveting it was to watch Max face all this. Edward Bunker puts the life of a parolee in vivid black and white. It's no wonder that Max hates mainstream society. They treat him like a leper without even knowing him, simply because of where he's been. It took a lot for me to read through the parts of this where his simmering rage was directed at, well, people like me. People who don't know a thing about the system and how it creates people like him. If nothing else, this book opened my eyes to the huge divide between the former convicts and everyone else.

What I didn't like, and trust me I know it's just my own biases working against me, was that this was a really heavy book. It's obvious that it will be the instance you realize that Max isn't going to make it. Still, as he started the downhill slide, the thoughts and words that came onto the page were tough to swallow. Racism, sexism, it's all on the pages. I think what made it harder for me was that much of this book is very wordy. Bunker doesn't cut down Max's stream on consciousness for our benefit. It's all there, and sometimes it's a little overwhelming.

I'm not sure how much of this review actually makes sense, to be honest. I'm not even certain how I really feel about this book. I've given it three stars mainly because I liked it, but not enough to keep following Max. It's distinctly possible that it's because I never liked him in the least. The fact is, this is a well written book. It's true, and it's gritty. If that's for you? You'll probably enjoy it. 

I opened a window for air and looked out. The cabin, for all its ugliness, sat upon a high throne over the endlessly sprawling city. A breeze had cleared the usual haze and the air was crystalline, the sky powdered with recklessly spilled stars. For all its brilliance, the sky was merely a bland proscenium for the glory of the bowl below - a bowl of jewels sparkling to the horizon. From here the earth as lighted by man was more lovely the heavens. Streets that were dreary in day's harsh red light were now flowing rivers of diamonds and rubies from thousands of vehicles going one way or another. The panorama evoked mingled exultation and the bittersweet pain of loneliness. I was indeed God's lonely man.

This passage struck a chord with me. I show up in Downtown Los Angeles every morning before the sun is up, and many times I've looked out the window of our 15th floor office and noticed a lot of the same things that Max did here. DTLA is such a weird place. So many people, and so much disconnect. In the dark though? It's gorgeous.

Ack, I can't read this at work. Normally I can glance down and read a bit, do some work, then come back and read more. This book keeps stealing my attention for extremely long periods of time.

Imagine going into prison on Alcatraz, then coming out 8 years later. Everything is different. New. Shiny. Bright. You're not even sure if you fit in with normal society, and your biggest worry is that you'll end up right back in that place you just escaped.

Freaking fascinating.

I was more nervous in facing release on parole than I had been on entering so long ago. It helped slightly to know that such apprehensiveness was common, though often denied, by men to whom the world outside was increasingly vague as the years passed away. Enough years in prison and a man would be as ill-equipped to handle the demands of freedom as a Trappist monk thrown into the maelstrom of New York City. At least the monk would have his faith to sustain him, while the former prisoner would possess memory of previous failure, of prison - and the incandescent awareness of being an "ex-convict", a social outcast.  

Questo è il primo romanzo Noir che leggo e, anche se non è stata una lettura facile, il libro mi è piaciuto molto. Conoscere il protagonista, Max Dembo, è come conoscere Edward Bunker in persona, in quanto Come una bestia feroce è praticamente una sua biografia. Max, ex galeotto reduce da 8 anni di prigione, ci porta con lui tra le strade impregnate di criminalità, di rapine e droga. Il libro si snoda senza problemi tra banche e fughe, tenedo il lettore con il fiato sospeso, e portandolo a tifare e ad amare i protagonisti, per quanto possa risultare strano da immaginare, Max un dono non da poco: diretto, scaltro e cinico, vi entrerà nel cuore senza nessun imbroglio, ma per quello che è davvero: un criminale. 
Il libro è sicuramente consigliato, non sono a chi predilige romanzi forti e crudi, ma anche a chi vuole semplicemente togliersi la curiosità sulla criminalità, sulle rapine a mano armata e sulla vita in prigione. 
Per quel che mi riguarda mi trovo soddisfatta di questa lettura un po' fuori dagli schemi alla quale sono abituata.