Reviewed by Luc:

The Getaway Man

By A. Vachss

2003

à Summary

à Characterizing the story

à Extract

à Comparison with the computer game “GTA”

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Summary   

Eddie, the main character of the story, is a fanatical driver. He began to drive before he was old enough to get a license. As long as he didn’t have a car, he had to steal them, so he was a criminal at a young age. But in contrast to thieves he didn’t steal the cars for fun, it was just a means to an end. His urge to drive cars was so strong that he was ready to become a criminal, although he didn’t want to be one.

He was twelve years old when he got arrested for the first time, but he had to stay in prison only one night because he was so young. Until he was eighteen, he got arrested two more times. In prison, he got to know Tim, who was there for having robbed a little store. Tim tells Eddie very much about the robberies, and also that they sometimes needed a driver. Eddie is naturally very interested in being a driver for hijackers, because then he can finally show what he really has on the chest as a driver. And he also imagines how much money he will be able to earn. When Eddie gets out of prison,  he stays with Tim. In the beginning, Tim, Tim’s brother and Eddie do some small jobs, such as robbing a cash-point and Eddie is always the driver. First they don’t respect him very much, because he is a newbie and doesn’t have very much experience in this business. But he is a very gifted driver and learns very fast, so more and more he makes himself respected. Then, they spend about two months planning a great bank robbery for, because they realise, that they can make more money with big jobs for which they have to plan a very long time, instead of small ones where they cannot earn very much, but have to take the same risk. Eddie doesn’t have to help with the planning, his job is to find out a secure route to get away and organize a car they can escape in. Eddie has to know the escape-route exactly, so he drives this route until he has every little detail in his mind. After two months the great day arrives. Everything is perfectly planned, they even know the names of the employees who work at that time. So actually nothing can go wrong. But it turns out differently from what they have imagined. When Tim and his brother are in the bank and all people are lying down on the floor, one of the civilians wants to be a hero and kills Tim’s brother,  whereupon Tim kills the civilian. While Eddie is still waiting outside in the car, he hears the police sirens, but although he realises that he must leave now, he keeps waiting for Tim, until the police arrive and he gets arrested once again. But Eddie has a good lawyer and so he doesn’t have to stay in prison for very long. When he comes out, he gets to know J.C., who is very famous among criminals. With J.C., his woman Vonda and Gus they plan another big robbery. During the six months’ planning there begins a relationship between Eddie and Vonda, so there is an unexpected turn in the story....

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Characterization of the Story

The story is very exciting to read. Always when I took up the book, I only wanted to read for an hour or so, because it was the only book I had taken along for the holidays. But the story was so fascinating that I always wanted to know what would happen next, so I couldn´t stop reading, and I was through with it after only three days.

I understood most of the words without consulting a dictionnary, so it was pretty easy to read. Because of that it was a pleasure to go on reading, not like other books, where you have to look up more words in dictionnaries than you read in the book. But that doesn´t mean that the language is bad, of course it is not literature of the highest level, but it makes good reading for someone who is learnig English. In the book, they often speak in slang, so you get the impression that it is like in real life. Apart from a few scenes, the plot is quite easy to follow, so it makes fast reading.

About the story I can say that it was very interesting and full of surprises, I could never guess what would happen next. So it never got boring. Sometimes it was quite brutal, perhaps too brutal for readers under eighteen.

I think it is also interesting that you develop a liking for Eddie, although he is a criminal. And this shows that the writer has done a good job .

In general I can only recommend the book to all people who have only the smallest interest in gangster stories.

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Extract from the book ( Pages 51-52)

With this little scene I want to show you what Eddie has to do while he is robbing a bank:

“ I never found out what happened inside that little bank, not until the trial.

It was just after two in the afternoon when we pulled up. Tim said that’s the time it was always slow in the bank, specially on Thursdays.

Virgil had a double-barrelled sawed-off. Those are good for scaring people, Tim said. Much better than a pistol. Virgil carried the shotgun under his coat, against his chest, held there by a loop of rawhide around his neck. Tim had a pair of pistols, like he always used to carry.

“ Five minutes”, Tim said to me. Then him and Virgil went into the bank. The clock on the dashboard was one of those digital ones. It said 2:09.

The clock said 2:12 when I heard the crack of a pistol. Then the boom of Virgil’s shotgun. People started screaming. I started the engine and backed the car up to the front door of the bank.

There was more gunfire. Then it got real quiet. I got out and opened both backdoors. I jumped back in the driver’s seat and watched the mirror to see when Tim and Virgil came out.

I heard the sirens off in the distance. I put the getaway car in gear, holding it in place with the break.

The dashboard clock said 2:17 when the first trooper’s car roared up. There was another right behind it. And then a whole bunch more,

The cops piled out. They hid behind the cars, aiming there guns at the door of the bank. One of them had a loud-speaker in his hand. He yelled at me to get out of the car and get on the ground.

I waited for Tim and Virgil. Then the cops started shooting

(.................)

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Comparison of the Book with the Computer Game “GTA”

There are several computer games which have the same plot as the book. I want to describe one of these games and why this kind of games is so popular. The most famous game of this type is surely GTA (Grand Theft Auto). In this game you are a man who can move freely in a city. You can do really everything. As in the book, you can steal cars and then you have to follow orders,  e.g. rob a bank or a warehouse, and then you must get away with the money, chased by the police. These orders you get from gangs, which are ruling over different areas of the city. When you have carried out an order, you get more and more respect from the gang and so you get more difficult orders and you can earn more money. If you are caught by the police, your respect from the gangs diminishes and when it goes really badly, they begin to hate you, sometimes so strongly that they want to kill you. But you are not helpless, for there are several places where you can buy weapons, so you can defend yourself against the gangs but also against the police... The aim of the game is to make a certain amount of money, and if you succeed, you can move to the next city.

There are a lot of other games where you have to do approximately the same thing. Why are they so popular? I think because you can do everything you want. You can be the worst criminal, and nothing can happen to you. But what are the consequences of these games on the reality? Do they really lead to more criminality in this world or are they, on the contrary, stuff where you can abreact and so lead to less criminality? There are different opinions about this, so you have to make up your own mind. But think about it.

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