I've never liked Norman Mailer. Granted, until this past week I'd never read anything he'd written, but I didn't like the press on him. In either the 1970s or '80s he was instrumental in the early release of a murderer who in a matter of a few weeks murdered someone else. In the 1960s he was arrested for stabbing his current wife, his third, I think. I sensed he believed that talented people, particularly writers, could/should be above the law. I've now read The Executioner's Song and my opinion hasn’t changed.
Oh, the research demonstrated by that book is mind-boggling, and I will grant Mailer's readability. I have to do the latter; after all, I've just finished a 1054-page book, and I didn't start muttering "Oh, just go ahead and kill him" until around page 936.
And for either good or bad reasons I did dog-ear pages.
1) Nicole, the love of Gary Gilmore's life, connects with him because she thinks she understands prison. "Prison was being married too young and having kids." (page 91) I think I agree. There are some prisons I'm happy to have avoided.
2) "If the psychopath were ever accepted as legally insane, then crime, judgment and punishment would be replaced by antisocial acts, therapy and convalescence." (page 385) Probably true. Scary. And it might be happening. (Got an opinion, Phil?)
3) Came across some interesting comments on Utah. Regarding its Supreme Court: "Those justices were probably all Mormon, and just about the closest thing you could find on the Bench to a theocracy." (page 532) Anyone know anything about Utah? I know it's a "red" state, but could it politically be considered a theocracy? Here? Right in the US? A country that stands for democracy? Inquiring minds etc.
4) Of course the validity of the death penalty runs throughout the book. Personally, I don’t know how I feel about it; it's one of those mammoth issues I don't let myself think about. I do, however, think much of the culture surrounding it is ridiculous. Twice Gilmore attempts suicide. Once he's left in a coma. A reporter says, "He has to be conscious. They can't execute a man who is comatose." (page 609) Come off it. The state wants to be nice, at a minimum considerate, about when it kills someone? If I'm really supposed to believe that, then I am against capital punishment. Kill someone; don’t kill someone. But don't think you're "playing nice" only if the person to be killed is aware of what's going on.
5) I have no problem with the f-word. Gilmore uses it continually in his letters and in dialogue. It fits. But when Mailer writes "if was like every f'ing lawyer in Salt Lake City …" (page 670), it was like chalk on a blackboard. Gee, maybe I am a prude.
6) Finally, there's a wonderful example why lawyers write the way they do and why writers of government regulations take a cue from the lawyers and use the same language. At the time of the execution one of the lawyers notices a helicopter hovering over the prison. He knows the fly space has been restricted and checks into it. The regulation stated planes weren't allowed; thus, a helicopter was okay. (page 978) Using the title of Countdown's new final segment: what the f…?
So, do I recommend? Sure. Mailer was one of the journalists in the 1960s who moved nonfiction in a new direction. Of course, IMHO, Thomas Wolfe did it better. And with a lot less words.
