Death Wish

By: Brian Garfield

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

What do you do when murderers have killed your wife and destroyed your daughter? Until that awful moment Paul Benjamin was an ordinary man - but the unspeakable violence that shattered his life turned him into someone quite different. Someone destiny was shaping into a bizarre instrument of vengeance. This is the novel that spawned the classic movie starring Charles Bronson.

©1972 Brian Garfield (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

100 Must-Read Thrillers (International Thriller Writers)

riveting and enjoying. interesting than the film.

The Voice artist was very versatile with the characterizations. Gripping. Much different than the adaptation.

Long overdue

Oliver Wyman's narration is filled with emotion. The book itself has been out of print for years, so this was a real find.

A heavy-handed but still worthwhile read

Content warning: This book is a product of its time, and it essentially a book about white male rage, so there is homophobia and racism in this book and disgust for the "Women's Lib" movement.

I wanted to like Death Wish more than I did. The story goes that Brian Garfield wrote Death Wish after someone had cut the top of his convertible. The senseless act of vandalism made Brian Garfield angry, so he went back to his NYC apartment and wrote his feelings down. There was high crime at the time in New York City, police corruption, and civil unrest. Brian wanted to write about an older man from a different time trying to cope with a world that was changing in a way that he thought was not good.

This man became Paul Benjamin, Death Wish's protagonist. By day, Paul is a CPA who helps the rich and corporations cheat the system. By night, he is a man who tries to do what he can to help his community. His "misguided liberalism"-you will hear this sentiment A LOT throughout the novel-is shattered when his family is irreparably destroyed by a random act of violence. Three teenagers beat Paul's wife and daughter and steal what little Paul has of value.

Paul becomes mired in his frustration, and he is wracked by paranoia, seeing criminality in every person of color and even in the way that some people dress. Eventually, he turns to vigilantism.

This novel is the basis for the Death Wish franchise, starring Charles Bronson, but Brian Garfield famously was not a fan of the Death Wish films. He thought they were pro-vigilantism, and he thought that was a terrible message to send to the audience. He said that his novel was "politically ambiguous" after it was criticized by some book critics as being right-wing propaganda. There is nothing politically ambiguous about this novel. It is a heavy-handed political diatribe where the reader is constantly lectured about the failings of well-intentioned liberalism via conversations between male characters. Garfield said that his novel is not pro-vigilante. Lol! It is a self-insert fantasy for middle-aged white guys who want to clean up the streets of, in their words, "those people."

So why did I give this book three stars? I still think there is a novel worth reading here, and more importantly, one worth discussing, if you can get past the heavy-handed politics, the uninteresting chapters involving Paul at his job, and all of the overt racism. I think there is some truth to the scene where Paul is talking about everyone, regardless of their political beliefs, feeling frustrated by random acts of violence. I think it is also common to feel frustrated by a revolving door criminal justice system. The jails are overcrowded, so they let a prisoner go, only for him to turn around and commit another crime the moment he tastes freedom again. I think a lot of people wonder what the solution is, or if there is one. Is it the more conservative view of punish the crime after the fact, or the more liberal view of trying to help at-risk communities before they commit crimes? Or is the solution somewhere in the middle? Book clubs or friends engaging in a buddy read can also discuss whether they think that Paul is a force for justice, or does he take things too far?

Also, without spoilers, I love the ending. It was the perfect way to end the novel.

Fascinating

I hate the way government can't protect us, but they won't allow us the means to protect ourselves.

Comparison to Book

1st. person narrative main difference. No police investigation which does add to the movie. Interesting parallels to today's political climate. More violent than movie except for original crime that motivates protagonist (not in book). Good but a little slow at beginning. Most intriguing part psychologist profile in magazine article. Liked book and recommend if you saw the movie or not. Quick read. Narration very good but main character does not bring to mind Charles Bronson.

alonzo

I saw the movie many years ago, enjoyed it immensley; pure escapism. The book on the other hand was, in my view the ultimate bore. In real terms nothing happened as his goes to the core message ( as I recall critiques of the time noted an apprent concern with crime and what was percieved to be the apparent lack of punishment as this applied to perpertratores in cities generally and New york in particular) until two thirds of the ay through. The naratater did his best and to some extent made the last 50-60 minutes interesting and more in keeping with the message I suggest was that intended. On the whole I'm sorry I bought this book.