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Nobody Move

Denis Johnson
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2009)
ISBN 9780374222901
Reviewed by Gina Holland for RebeccasReads (6/09)


“Nobody Move.”  What do you think of when you hear that title? Do you think of a policeman stopping someone, and then holding him or her at gunpoint? Or does it come to mind, that someone has dropped something and someone yells don’t move! Those were some ideas that I had when I first got the novel, but boy was I wrong!

“Nobody Move”  by Denis Johnson is a mysterious novel. It kept me wondering what the heck was going to happen next. In the beginning, we meet this loser, gambler, and smoker, named Jimmy Luntz. We learn that he is in a lot of trouble when a man named Gambol drives him towards his certain death. Jimmy gets really lucky and escapes; then somehow shoots Gambol in the leg, takes his wallet and takes off in his car-leaving Gambol behind, bleeding and broken.

In route to wherever Jimmy is headed, he meets up with Anita Desilvera, the alcoholic vixen. She is a beautiful Native American woman who is in as much trouble as Jimmy. They spend the night together and then they seem to join as one to try and make sense of the mess they have made with their lives!

Denis Johnson apparently writes this novel after another called "Tree of Smoke." I have not read "Tree of Smoke," so I honestly don’t know how or if the characters are related. I paddled along reading the "Nobody Move," which at a lot of points was interesting slipping into some boredom. It was one of those kinds of novels that was just good enough to keep you wanting to read past the boring parts. I am not familiar with Denis Johnson as an author, but if this novel was a good indication of his novels, I would think he does pretty well. Maybe the parts that I found boring weren’t really up my alley, but someone else might have enjoyed them immensely. So I have him 4 Stars and wish him the best. I definitely think that Johnson has great potential to write another novel. All in all I did actually enjoy the story.

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