The Executioner's Song

De: Norman Mailer

Narrado por: Maxwell Hamilton

Norman Mailer's Pulitzer Prize-winning and unforgettable classic about convicted killer Gary Gilmore now in a brand-new edition.

Arguably the greatest book from America's most heroically ambitious writer, The Executioner's Song follows the short, blighted life of Gary Gilmore who became famous after he robbed two men in 1976 and killed them in cold blood. After being tried and convicted, he immediately insisted on being executed for his crime. To do so, he fought a system that seemed intent on keeping him alive long after it had sentenced him to death. And that fight for the right to die is what made him famous.

Mailer tells not only Gilmore's story, but those of the men and women caught in the web of his life and drawn into his procession toward the firing squad. All with implacable authority, steely compassion, and a restraint that evokes the parched landscape and stern theology of Gilmore's Utah.

The Executioner's Song is a trip down the wrong side of the tracks to the deepest source of American loneliness and violence. It is a towering achievement - impossible to put down, impossible to forget.

©1980 Norman Mailer (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Mispronounced names drive me a bit crazy.

I read this one as part of my personal challenge to read all of the Pulitzer prize winners. Although it was good I cannot say that I loved it, and did not like it nearly as much as I liked Capote's [book:In Cold Blood|168642]. This one is obviously very well researched, and I appreciated that it has a very real and accurate feel. Unfortunately I thought it was much too long. If it were cut by 1/3 it would still be 600+ pages and in my opinion would be far stronger. At times I just wanted to hit fast forward.

When a person is hired to read an audiobook one of the first things they should do is learn to pronounce words and names in the book. Mr. Hamilton mispronounced both the name of the angel Moroni -- a very important name in the Mormon faith, and the name of Geraldo Rivera! Over and over and over again. Ugh!

Don't Shoot the Narrator!

I was a little concerned about committing to a 43-hour listen with a narrator who has been thoroughly disparaged by those who have taken time to review this title, but I don't read anymore if I can help it, only listen, and this was the only way to hear this title. I was surprised to find the narrator thoroughly engaging. More of an asset to the material than a liability. It is true that there's an occasional mispronunciation, but it didn't detract from the experience for me. I'm sure I couldn't read a 43-hour book out loud without fumbling occasionally. Unfortunately, a lot of mispronunciations seem to get by into the final audiobook release of many titles. It's not the narrator's fault that the editors were taking a nap. But, like it or not, this is probably the only audiobook we'll ever get for this title, which is an absolute, must-listen for true crime fans. It's right up there with In Cold Blood and Helter Skelter as a classic of the genre. This is how it's done, folks. You don't just list facts in an emotionless way, you get inside the heads and emotions of all the characters and really feel the immediacy of the crimes and their aftermaths as if you're in the moment. There's too little of that in modern tales of true crime, basically written by hacks instead of a Pulitzer Prize winner.

True crime story.... excellent!!!!

This is an excellent and well researched story about Gary Gilmore the last man to be excuted by firing squad in the USA. Well researched and great narration.

Haunting

It's going to be a while before I get this book out of my head

The odd narration

The pronunciation of some words is dreadful and distracting. Really simple, ordinary words and names are pronounced very oddly. It’s really perplexing.

Awful Narration

The narrator was terrible. He mispronounced words throughout, and his monotone was not at all engaging.

May I recommend reading this one?

This is an excellent book. Thorough, well-researched, excellent writing, and written with such compassion. Gary Gilmore was not portrayed as a monster. He was portrayed with dignity and respect, which he probably deserved. What a wild story.

The audio was another matter. I thought perhaps this was a really old recording and that's why it was so terrible and seemingly out of touch. But no, it was released in 2018. I made it through 37 hours of the audio before I had to put it aside and read the rest. I blame the director - I think with non-fiction you shouldn't get much artistic licence ... Though Gary Gilmore was born in Texas, he was not raised there and didn't have a southern accent. This narrator voice him with an accent of the deep south, making him seem like a caricature of a back woods hillbilly living in a trailer park. Gilmore was not that. He was thoughtful and intelligent, and apparently humorous and kind (obviously not all the time.) Nicole was voiced with the same deep southern drawl. It really bothered me.

He also couldn't pronounce words and names. I'm so glad I quit when I did so I didn't have to hear him mispronounce Geraldo Rivera's name another 10 times. Grrr-aldo. And Claudine Longet's name pronounced ... you guess it ... Lawn-get.
But the most egregious of all was the pronunciation of the word "pique" as "Pee-kay". He was really terrible, and worsened the experience of listening.

Audio aside, this is True Crime at the top of its game. A deep look into the mind of a man who did a terrible things, and the people who loved him.

Give the narrator a chance

As other reviewers have said, the narration of this book isn’t t great. However, it also isn’t terrible. Play it at 1.2 speed and it’s OK. Although the narration is mediocre, the best part is that Hamilton reads Gary Gilmore’s voice like Kid Rock’s character Robby in Joe Dirt.

A gripping account of a heinous crime committed by a complex man

This is a well researched and detailed portrayal not only of Gary Gilmore’s life,crimes and execution but also of the media circus and feeding frenzy surrounding these events. The narration is excellent with the exception of a few minor errors in pronunciation

Worth It! True-crime lovers must listen!

Before there was Serial, Making a Murderer, or even Ann Rule, there was Norman Mailer and The Executioner’s Song.

This is a classic, I just never connected with it until now. It’s long and it’s worth the hours of listening you’ll invest.

The Executioner’s Song is the perfect companion to head phones and house cleaning, long journeys, and any activity that finds you wishing you had something else to focus on.

The story of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore and his path to notoriety is brilliantly delivered by (very accomplished) author and reader, alike.

The vividly described details bring the 1970’s to life, the characters are multi-dimensional, and the heroes journey, or elements of it, is expressed with more than a few.

As reader’s, we’re taken on an intellectual inquiry of crime and punishment in the U.S., the values that support/decry capital punishment, the hypocrisy that exists on either side of the argument, and the real impact of of all these things on the individual humans involved—the ripple effect is well mapped.

Enjoy!