The Warriors by Sol Yurick Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Warriors
Book Review: Don't come in expecting the movie
Summary: 3 Stars
Sol Yurick admits in the author's notes that he wrote The Warriors while he was waiting for his real book to get published. I'm not going to say it's second rate, there are pieces that show inspiration, but it's not the epic I was expecting. Being a solid fan of the movie, I had to read it. After hearing it was based on Xenophon's Anabasis, I was doubly excited to get my hands on it. Now that I've read it, I wasn't thrilled. It's a story well-told, just not the story I was expecting or seeking.Book Review: Great book!
Summary: 5 Stars
I enjoyed the book much more than the movie for the simple fact that it felt real. Real slang, real characters, overall a gang-related, gritty novel. It doesn't have the comic-book feel that the movie had (which is part of the appeal of the movie I know).
One of the best I've read.
Book Review: I found it boring and long in the tooth
Summary: 1 Stars
This is a case of going overboard on detail. I found it stupid at times and boring. The characters had very little appeal to the reader, even though they are bad guys, sometimes you can still relate. The subway ride was drawn out and the final conclussion had no substanceBook Review: Just as good as the movie, perhaps better.
Summary: 4 Stars
I just recently saw the movie and became obsessed with it, so the next logical step was to read the book. It took me a few days to find it though, and in the meantime I read a lot of things about it, which might have been a mistake but whatever. Aparently it was a lot more violent than the movie, and a lot of people found it less satisfying because of this. Views on it are pretty polarized. Either people love it and put it up there with (or even above) Lord of the Flies, or they just don't get it and are turned off by how different it is from the film.
The edition I found has a new introduction by the author that talks about how it came to be written and his reaction to the film when it was made. He didn't like the film. He thought they made to many changes and that it only coincidentally resembled his novel. Things like making the gang mixed instead of all black, not using the slang that he worked so hard to portray accurately (apparently he sat in a rented van for weeks observing urban gangs talk and interact) and he thought the acting was generally poor. I can see where he's going with these things. it's his vision and they missed it, but I don't really agree. The changes that were made to the movie were pretty necessary. I don't really think it would have worked or had the same appeal if it was done exactly like the book. If for no other reason that it was written in the mid 60's and the movie made in the late 70's, times had changed a lot.
This sense of anachronism was something that I had to keep in mind as I read it. At first it was hard to get a hang of the narrative, but I got used to it. I think it helped a little that I was prepared by the author and other reviews. I had a better idea of what was meant to be important while I read it.
The plot points were more or less the same as the film. The only major difference is that in the book the gang is not directly blamed for the death that happens in the beginning. In the movie this is used as the driving force behind the numerous antagonists. But in the book it felt as though the entire city was already against them. The looming feeling of danger was all around them and it didn't need to have a coherant motive or reason to oppress them. I thought this was more subtle, but a lot more effective once I noticed it.
Since the danger is mostly intangible, and formed from their own perception of the world, it's much harder for them to overcome it. Instead of fighting other gangs to get home, they have to wrestle with one another and themselves to try and figure out what home is.
I had been warned about the violence, and it was there. But there was something strange about it. It was almost as if the violent acts were commited by the gang as a whole, and not the sum of it's parts. These were the things that the gang did to survive or keep face. But when each of them is taken away from that entity, they do not share the burden or guilt of it's actions. I will admit that they do some pretty terrible things, but in the end I did not hate them for it. They acted like a gang, not like a bunch of young boys. There's even a clear distinction of this in the text. The act of wearing or concealing the gang emblem had a real effect on the characters. A lot can be read into that, but I won't go into it here.
The end of the book was another thing that a lot of people took issue with. Some reviews I read said that it wasn't nearly as satisfying as the movie, that it just kind of stopped. I disagree with this completely. In the movie they reach their home and look back on it with a new kind of respect, and also the understanding that it is not the whole world. It's hinted that they will give up this life and leave. Maybe even grow up and become part of that bigger world.
In the book it doesn't just end. There's is something similar to that restlessness and need for change, but as with so many other things in the book, it's a lot more subtle.
I originally read this book to fuel my obsession with the movie. I wanted more of those characters and that city. Instead of getting just more though, reading the book was almost a whole different experience, and just as rewarding. In the end I thought it was very good. I greatly apreciate it's differences from the fim. In his introction to the book the author says that even though the movie is a cult classic and helped define a generation, no one really knows that it was based on a book. This amuses him because without the book there would have been no movie. I'm glad that I tracked it down and am part of that smaller minority.
Book Review: NOT an insightful book about street gangs of the 1960s
Summary: 1 Stars
This book is about an all-black gang from the 1960s. It was written by a Jewish professional in his 40s. I dont think he had a lot of personal experience about the subject, if any. He loosely based the theme of the book on an Ancient Greek story. So, if anybody thinks this book comes from a guy with experience about gang-life, guess again. There's a rape scene in the book too, that I could definately have done without.