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It's a pretty fair chase story with some skillfully written action sequences. A good strong debut novel by a young writer. Morrell would go on to to write stronger novels, but John Rambo is his creation and this is the book where Rambo first appeared. Even at the age of forty-two it's a good beach read. Helps to be a little older though. I believe many readers under thirty might find it boring and/or unoriginal. It definitely helps to be old enough to at least remember the aftermath of Vietnam.
When I initially watched First Blood, I don't think I really understood what it was about until the wonderful monologue at the end, but in the book it was apparent throughout the text that Rambo was a broken man. A man who literally brought the war home with him. So it begins. But it all could have been avoided SO EASILY. If Teasle had half a brain cell, this could have been halted about 11 times. Also, Rambo could have chosen to move on about 11 times. But he didn't. He's very stubborn. He has some idea about 'proving' that he 'can't be pushed' and of course it ends very badly for everyone. Cuban-Italian actor Tomas Milian read First Blood soon after its release and wanted to star in an adaptation of it; however, he was unsuccessful in persuading Italian producers to support the project. Still, he used "Rambo" as the name of his character, an ex-cop, in the 1975 film Syndicate Sadists. From New York Times bestselling author, David Morrell, comes a classic thriller that introduced the character of Rambo, one of the most iconic action heroes of the twentieth century.It's gritty, it's gross. It reminds me in a way of Joe Abercrombie's writing. Like Abercrombie, Morrell can't seem to miss the opportunity to make something gross or disgusting. He relishes it. He never describes stuff with any kind of neutral or positive adjectives. Coffee is 'sour' or 'bitter.' Adenaline 'squirts' into someones stomach. Diarrhea is discussed more than once. The world is a bitter, hateful, disgusting place. Same as Abercrombie, although Abercrombie's writing skillz are a bit better than Morrell's IMO. What? That's not why you're doing this? Admit you wanted all this to happen. You 'asked' for it – so you could show him what you knew, surprise him when he found you were the wrong guy to try and handle. You 'like' this"
Morrell, David (November 3, 2018). "David Morrell - Posts". Facebook . Retrieved November 3, 2018. I had an exciting day yesterday. Decided to vote early. Born in Canada, I became a U.S. citizen in 1993. Since then, I've never missed voting in any election--schoolboard, city, state, national. It truly excites me to be able to do so. Morrell's teenaged son Matthew died of Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, in 1987. In 2009 his granddaughter died of the same form of cancer. The trauma of his loss influenced Morrell's work, in particular in his creative fiction memoir about Matthew, Fireflies. The protagonist of Morrell's novel Desperate Measures also experiences the loss of a son. [2]
The novel is told from both main characters’ points of view, alternating chapters for the most part and offering us plenty of insight into their thoughts, motivations, and personal history. Rambo is clearly suffering from what today we call PTSD. The sheriff is a former decorated soldier from the Korean War and a competent sheriff. When these two clash, it’s unclear who will have the upper hand: the highly trained Green Beret with all of his skills or the sheriff who can bring to bear a vast array of government resources to hunt down his prey. Here again, the movie greatly differs. Here, Rambo is not a near-super-powered being but rather, an entirely human character who gets hurt, bleeds, and suffers tremendously. The violence is far greater than in the movie. Sometimes it's brutal and sometimes it’s almost a simple off-hand comment about another good friend being gunned down but it always drives the narrative as well as the two characters. The Successful Novelist: A Lifetime of Lessons about Writing and Publishing (2008) ISBN 978-1-4022-1055-6 Most noteworthy is that the character of Sherriff Teasle, portrayed in the film by actor Brian Dennehy, is much more important in the book than in the film, every other chapter is from his perspective, and Morrell uses Teasle as a foil, or simply a juxtaposition with Rambo, as Teasle was also a veteran, a decorated Marine who saw action in the Korean War. Some may see this as a father-son metaphor, but I saw it more of older and younger brother.
I remember watching this movie when I was in about the seventh grade. My household was super religious so we didn't get to watch movies like this at home. One of my teachers at school actually brought in his copy for us to watch one day. I was glued to my seat. Rambo was the shiznit. In the author’s forward, he discusses his motivations for writing the book and what he wanted to achieve by creating these two characters and what they represented in American culture. The forward in my copy of the book was written years after the movie and I would strongly urge readers to avoid reading it until after completing the novel itself. Major spoilers are included, even the ending, which is far different from the movie. Most readers are likely coming to this novel after having seen the Sylvester Stallone “Rambo” movie many years previously. That’s certainly the case for me. While movies are always different from their source material, that is especially true in this case. Yes, we still have the basic former Green Beret fighting solo as an underdog against an army of forces against him. He’s been pushed around and told to get out-of-town even though he’s done nothing wrong other than have long hair and a beard. It’s hard for anybody to be bullied like that. But whereas the movie focused on a single hero character, the novel offers two: Rambo (no first name given in the book) and Wilfred Teasle, the local sheriff. Whether or not either one is a hero is open to debate. The book, as well as the movie, is a warning. Not about the evils of war, but about the evils of man. Be careful who you decide to antagonize, as you might start a war.In dit boek wordt beschreven hoe de mannen elkaar achtervolgen en achternajagen. Soms kwam er wat psychologische diepgang in voor, dat is de reden dat ik de motivatie kreeg om het uit te lezen, maar dat was iets dat zelden gebeurde. De schrijver gaat niet diep in op de trauma, historische context of achtergrond van de karakters, het blijft vrij oppervlakkig. Ik vond het erg vreemd dat wij dit voor Engels moesten lezen. Ik was blij dat ik het uit had, en heb in ieder geval geleerd wat voor boeken ik minder vind. Now get it clear," he said. "I don't want a kid who looks like you and doesn't have a job in my town. First thing I know, a bunch of your friends will show up, mooching food, maybe stealing, maybe pushing drugs.” 8% You're probably familiar with the basic story, although I have to tell you there are quite a few differences between the book and the movie. Okay, why did I read it then? Because the original First Blood movie was filmed in my hometown, Hope British Columbia, and it seemed like a novel choice (no pun intended…). The first movie was really good (the sequels were totally meh and definitely Hollywood cash grabs; I won’t get too into it here but I feel the first movie more appealed to the psychological where the second appealed to the raging hormones of gun and action loving man-childs lol). David’s novelizations for RAMBO (FIRST BLOOD PART II) and RAMBO III are available as e-books. They’re quite different from the films and include revealing introductions. See also David’s RAMBO AND ME: THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY.
It's been (probably) a couple decades since I last read First Blood. It's showing it's age a little more now. Still not a bad read, but it's really nothing more than a glorified chase story. A product of it's time. Make no mistake about it there were many folks in the early seventies who were nervous about the returning veterans. Many truly believed that we were going to have warfare erupt ,on a large scale, within the United States and the vets were going to be at the forefront. I suppose it seemed inevitable. The country was already experiencing social upheaval and violence thanks to the anti-war movement and the civil rights movement.Now the vets were returning home and they weren't being treated very well. Americans knew this and they were worried.It's almost as if they thought that John Rambo and his fictional counterparts were the retribution that they deserved. Of course I'm probably being melodramatic. I guess in one way or another, this story is supposed to be about the denigration of our boys that came home from Vietnam. Perhaps we should have given them a parade or even said "we're proud of you, thank you." I guess Rambo never heard that. Well, pal, sorry for what I had to do; it was never personal. And, one more thing, thanks for all you did for us over there. While most folks will recognize the Rambo character from the Stallone films, this began as an allegory about war experiences and about martial training, as well as an exploration of the connection between generations of fighting men. Called “the father of the modern action novel,” FIRST BLOOD changed the genre. Although the book and the film adaptation have similarities, they are very different, especially its unexpected ending and its greater intensity. If you’ve only experienced the film, you’re in for a surprise. Morrell is the co-president of the International Thriller Writers organization. [2] Personal life [ edit ]David Morrell (born April 24, 1943) is a Canadian-American author whose debut 1972 novel First Blood, later adapted as the 1982 film of the same name, went on to spawn the successful Rambo franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. [1] He has written 28 novels, and his work has been translated into 30 languages. [2] He also wrote the 2007–2008 Captain America comic book miniseries The Chosen.
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