I just completed Serenade, a novel published in the thirties.  It’s my third James M. Cain work I’ve read in the past year.  I started with action-packed The Postman Always Rings Twice.  I thought this book could eventually become a fun read for my students.  According to Stephen King, this novel begins with one of the most famous opening lines of American literature: “They threw me off the hay truck about noon.”  Immediately following this abrupt intro, the main character Frank – he’s the guy that got pushed off the truck – meets the other main character of the novel, Cora – a waitress in a highway café –  and 20 pages later they are already plotting to kill Cora’s husband and steal all of his money.  I’m telling you, there’s no waiting around. Frank is a bad, bad man.  And Cora is right there with him.  You would think they were made for each other. I wouldn’t expect any of my students to complain they don’t know what this book is about.  Stephen King believes readers will find themselves hooked right from the beginning.  He says, “We can see right away that we’re not going to indulge in a lot of FOOFARAW.”  Jaja.  I don’t know what that means, but I agree there is very little of it!

Cain’s Mildred Pierce offers more of the same, sustained tension. This novel presents an intense love-hate relationship between mother and daughter.  "Hard-Luck" Mildred is obsessed with providing a better future for her daughter, but eventually they sleep with the same man, so as you can expect, by the end of the book, they’re ready to kill each other.  Too bad, but this novel is much longer than the other.  I’m not sure I could fit it into my curriculum.  Still, I encourage all my students to find the movie Mildred Pierce and study the Evil Genius of actor and mother Joan Crawford.  They won’t be sorry.

I like Serenade, but it’s not really the fast-moving story that my students will follow with great patience or appreciation. No one gets seriously hurt until page until page 251.  No guns or blunt instruments.  Late in the book, an angry Mexican woman stabs a belligerent old white guy with a decorative bullfighting espada right in the middle of a party. A sword, right through the chest!  At first, party revelers – most of them were pretty drunk –  thought it was great drama.  A joke.  Maybe someone yelled “OLE!”.  Things became radically different, however, when the blood began spilling all over the couch.  I insert the violence here because, come on, it’s James M. Cain. Serenade, however, offers a much greater level of spirituality than the other two novels mention.  That’s because the protagonist Johnny Sharp is an opera singer who had once known what it felt like to be on top of the everything, world-famous, powerful and in demand;  now, he  knows the opposite extreme.   He’s down and out, broke in Mexico.  He’s lost everything that he’s ever cared for – his voice.  What a tragic fall!  He feels worthless without it. He’s going nowhere, fast.

James M. Cain knows his opera.  His mother was coloratura soprano who had to quit the opera once she gave birth to James. Serenade is full musical allusions and lessons.  My favorite scene in the book is when "Down and Out" Johnny hooks up with a Mexican prostitute in a sleazy bar in Mexico City.  She invites him to drive her to Acapulco, and during the night they run into a tropical rainstorm and take refuge inside an abandoned church. At this point, Johnny has no voice, no money, no future.  He steals food and wine from a church storage room, and then he fucks Juana in front of the church altar.  He’s hit rock bottom, that’s for sure.  Very Creepy.  But something happens here that he could never have imagined.  He falls in love with Juana right there in the flickering candle light.  He feels so good for the first time in such a long time – He’s inspired to sing, and here the plot twists.  Johnny finds his voice has returned. He’s back on his feet again!  It’s a new ball game!  Johnny wastes no time with the decision to return to the U.S.  He’s going to take Juana with him.  Juana, I probably forgot to tell you, is the angry Mexican whore  with the bullfighter’s sword.   That’s on page 251, when the focus of the book shifts from the mystery of the human spirit to the hardcore violence of street life.

OK, I’m not going to write a book report here. I’m sharing my appreciation of the author. Stephen King is not the only famous fan of James M. Cain.  In my reading, I’ve come across many authors who were not only inspired by the violent action in his stories, but they identified with the desperation of the characters, both men and women.  In my opinion, they also admire James M’s relentless pursuit of his writing dream.   At first James M.  wanted to be a singer like his mother, but both mother and son knew he had no talent for it. In several of my books on famous writers I have here on my shelves in Mexicali, James M. appears, and he says one day when he was a child he heard a voice in his head:  “Your going to be a writer.”  And just like that, he lived the literary life for the rest of his days. During the day,  he worked for newspapers  and ad agencies, and at night he hunted down ideas and conversation that he could integrate into his stories. In 1931, he turned his back on the security of an editorial position at the New Yorker and packed up his life and his family and moved to Hollywood.  No contacts.  No published material.  No ideas.  He worked for cheap studios and lived in sleazy hotels.  The 1930s Hollywood is often called the Golden Era of Cinema, but at the same time thousands of homeless and jobless individuals like James M. arrived on the scene.  James M. was now in his forties. He was just a face in the crowd.  I imagine in this type of environment, James M. found his inspiration. No MFA program for him. He earned his creative writing credentials on the street amongst the chiselers, hustlers, and other desperate characters that, like him, came to L.A. to make something happen. It’s no surprise, then, James M’s characters in his novels I’ve read believe they are tougher, smarter, and bolder than everyone else. 

My students often write about The American Dream. Many of them come from immigrant families who have struggled to put their kids through school.  This is what they believe:  In America, anyone who wants to build a life for themselves, they can do it here – if they work hard enough and have the determination to succeed. My students  are approaching the age of characters in a James M. Cain novel. Soon they will have important decisions to make for the direction of their lives. James M. won't have the answers for them. But, it will be fun to consider the questions.