Be Cool

Rating:
Summary: A great read.
Review: Whether or not you've read previous Leonard books, the characters in Be Cool will pull you into their world, and you'll love being a part of it. This satire on fame, Hollywood, and the music business, is loaded with terse, hillarious dialogue that will stay in your head long after you've finished the book. Elliot, the violent, loveable, gay Samoan bodyguard who wants to be a movie star, is an ingenious creation. You'll be left wanting more when the book is over.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent read
Review: This is my first Elmore Leonard and I thouroughly enjoyed it. The story rolls fluently in its almost script like format. This will become a film. The characters are very real and believable and Chili, well his confidence doesn't border on arrogance, it's invaded and ransacked it. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A Sequel That Doesn't Suck!
Review: Leonard's latest is dynamite read and is sure to be a hell of a movie too. The Chili Palmer and Linda Moon characters come alive with fresh dialogue and clever plot twists. It's satirical take on Hollywood and the music business is reminicent of Frank McConnell's "The Frog King." A fine read from start to finish. After all, how many books have a 300 pound, gay, half Simoan bodyguard trying to break into show business?

Rating:
Summary: Sharp, Witty and Cool
Review: Another winner from Elmore. He is the champion of great, witty, smart dialogue. Along with FRIED CALAMARI (which also contains very sharp witty dialogue), this is the best contemporary fiction I've read this year.

Rating:
Summary: Elmore Leonard & Chili Palmer, Right On The Money
Review: If you've seen the movie "Get Shorty" you can't help but read Leonard's latest and picture what a cool movie it's going to be some day. It's as if Leonard was thinking about John Travolta as he was writing (which isn't a bad thing). As usual the dialogue is sharp and the plot twists are satisfying. And Leonard wisely utilizes a tongue-in-cheek approach to sequels, which sets it apart from "Get Shorty". Well hopefully Travolta is game for reprising Chili Palmer and I hope they can get Barry Sonnenfeld to direct. Casting suggestion: how about Angelina Jolie as Linda Moon?

Rating:
Summary: Leonard rocks the music business
Review: First of all, for those music critics who have given the book a bad review because it doesn't go deep enough into the real psyche of the industry - PAY ATTENTION- this is not a book about the music industry - it's a book about Chili Palmer. This is a great read - the dialogue shows Leonard at his very best - and the very real depictions of the music industry (Palmer says "I have a hunch there aren't any rules, you just see how much you can get away with") are right on - He takes some of the real-life experiences of The Stone Coyotes (an amazing band - check out stonecoyotes.com) and makes them fodder for the heroine Linda Moon's own music career. Can't wait for the movie

Rating:
Summary: Elmore Leonard stays cool with "Be Cool"
Review: Although you may initially miss renewing acquaintance with some of the characters from "Get Shorty," getting to know some new and unforgettable beauts and bozos is entertaining enough to enable you to forgive Leonard. You can sure visualize Chili Palmer working his way through another new milieu - self-educating himself in its intricacies along the way courtesy of others' penchant for talk. Will it be another Travolta movie? You bet! The biggest question (in more ways than one): who'll play the giant Samoan from Compton??

Rating:
Summary: Not a good self-help book
Review: This is one of the worst self help books I've ever read. Instead of giving practical step-by-step advise to becoming cool there is nothing but anecdotal evidence that Dr. Leonard knows how to make you cool. I'm sticking with Deepak Chopra from now on.

Rating:
Summary: Leonard has fallen into formula--it's been such a long run!
Review: Though touted, Be Cool is not the book I expected. Leonard is still able to write the occasional scene that flashes with precise violence--the moment when Raji turns on Joe Loop qualifies I think. But Leonard fills pages with facual goo about the music business, and manages to bring the life of a musician down to the level of the tawdry and depressing in a way that, well, depresses. Maybe it's because I'm a musician myself and have toured, but his sneer at the idea of playing clubs, making it in that sense, really misses 9/10s of the point of the music life I think. Beyond that personal observation, I just feel the book is a rehash, and something of a hash. Chili Palmer does his schick again, the long stare, the "look at me, look at me" thing. But Leonard goes pretty far when he lets Palmer set up a massacre between rappers and mobsters--the idea that he just let them "be what they were" is facile. That might as well be the word for the whole effort: a hash. Skip the book--the movie might turn out to be ok if you like death and blood with your bon mots.

Rating:
Summary: as flaccid as "get shorty" was tight
Review: a huge disapointment after the savvy, funny "get shorty", "be cool" ranks with leonard's weakest. a poor xerox o0f his earlier tough-guy novels, be cool has all the standard leonard elements--thwe ambitious black gangster, the tough broad, etc., but scarcely a word rings true--the whole thing comes off like a parody of his earlier work.he pads the already sketchy book with half-assed chat about the record business (betraying very little real insight) and bad song lyrics. chili palmer should havwe been left un-sequeled. in short, an obvious contract fulfiller that bores rather than entertains.