Candy Audiobook By Lawrence Block cover art

Candy

Collection of Classic Erotica, Book 2

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Candy

By: Lawrence Block
Narrated by: Bill Weeden
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About this listen

Jeff Flanders has a perfectly good life. Until Candace Cain sashays into it, and turns it upside-down. Jeff’s got a good-looking wife; he loves her, and she loves him. He’s got a job, swinging a desk at a semi-shady finance company, signing off on usurious loans to losers; he doesn’t love it and it doesn’t love him, but it’s easy work and it pays the bills. Until a girl called Candy applies for a $1000 loan - with no job, no bank account, no security.

Nothing but a beautiful face, an awesome body, and all the nerve in the world. He lends her the money himself. That’s a mistake. In return, she takes him to bed. That’s a bigger one. All she wants in the world is someone who’ll keep her in style. All he wants is more Candy....

Candy, first published in 1960, is a noir novel of sexual obsession. An early entry in the Collection of Classic Erotica, LB decided it would be more at home in the Classic Crime Library. And we still get to use the gorgeous Paul Rader cover.

©1960, 2012 Lawrence Block (P)2024 Lawrence Block
Literature & Fiction
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Really enjoyable

Another enjoyable early Lawrence Block outing. I wonder if I'll ever catch up with his entire back catalogue? Probably not, but it won't be for the want of trying. I think if I was restricted to reading only one author's books for the rest of my life, Block's my man.

Candy is a femme fatale and bad news for Jeff Flanders. As soon as the two cross paths, Flanders' brain heads south to his skiddies and from then on he's pretty much doomed. You just know things aren't going to end well. Following their descent to mutual destruction is great fun though.

Candy is a handful. Physically, she's nearly everyman's dream. Emotionally, maybe not. She's driven and very single-minded. She knows exactly what she wants from life - luxury and to be kept. She's happy to use her ample attributes to help her get it. And it doesn't matter too much which way she has to swing to get it.

Jeff Flanders never really stood a chance.

Entertaining, funny, and in one particular scene, pretty brutal as madness takes over.

Great characters, great dynamics, an interesting set-up and story, with an outcome that pretty much seemed pre-ordained but was nevertheless executed perfectly.

4 from 5


Lawrence Block has been enjoyed more times than I care to mention. Fortunately I'm probably not even halfway through his tremendous output. The good times will be rolling for a while yet.

Read - (listened to) January, 2022
Published - 1960
Page count - 190 (3 hrs 16 mins)
Source - Audible purchase
Format - Audible

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Another Home Run

As always, Block turns out another interesting slice of erotica. His narrator, Bill Weeden, has the perfect voice for Jeff (the protagonist) -- slightly gravelly, slightly sleazy, slightly weary with life. Weeden's voice makes the story even better than it would be if I were reading it instead of listening to it.

One thing -- all of Block's books that I have read (and I think I've read at least a bit in all of his series that I know about) always have transparent writing that -- even while excellent -- does not get in the way of his stories. And many of them have little surprising twists that make the stories. Even his erotica stories and his earliest crime stories have some little detail that elevates them beyond the usual fare.

On another note, I have to admit, Block and his various readers have gotten me to give audiobooks a fair try, and I am very grateful that they have done so. This is a relatively new world for me, but it has been one that has turned out to be very worth exploring.

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Enjoyable

Candy is another of Lawrence Block’s early novels that skirts the line between erotica and crime fiction, and it works. The erotic elements are not designed to stimulate (at least compared to his other ‘mid century erotica’), and the crime elements don’t poke their head in until fairly late into the game, and yet neither pose a problem. Block has referred to these early works as an ‘apprenticeship,” but from the start, his talent was evident and his work was definitely enjoyable. Candy is no exception. Written with a breezy, conversational prose, it’s a quick read/listen, and a good one.

Bill Weeden’s work is rock solid. He keeps a brisk pace without ever rushing, and his voice and mannerisms suit the narrating protagonist beautifully. His is a name to remember should you be looking for other audiobooks to enjoy.

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excellent

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall

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Classic Block -- still reads like Block

Lawrence Block's team offered me this title for free in audiobook format, and I gladly accepted.

When it first started, I thought I would get tired of the narrator, but I quickly grew to sort of like him. Sounds like if James Woods were a lifelong smoker.

The book is short and sweet and I listened to the whole thing in one sitting. This is a 1963 Lawrence Block title written under the pseudonym of Sheldon Lord (which other authors apparently used as well) that is sometimes classified as a crime novel and sometimes classified as a classic erotic novel. Despite the cover image, which was no doubt designed to sell more dime store paperbacks, it does not seem to qualify under that classification. Even by 1963 standards, I would think this would be pretty PG-rated, so anyone looking for erotica will probably be sorely disappointed. As for erotic content, it is about on par with most of Block's popular novels (unlike some of his novels like Small Town and Getting Off, which have specific themes that are more adult than his typical fare).

As for the crime aspect, it all takes place in the final couple of chapters. Everything leading up to that is the protagonist slowly destroying everything in his life because of a girl. Very noir. There is nothing earth-shattering about this book, other than the fact that it was written nearly 60 years ago by one of the greatest authors in the world. And you know what? He could write even then. Block has always had a way with words and this book has some of the witty hallmarks that have endured in his popular fiction. If you need that hard-boiled/noir itch scratched and have a couple of hours to kill, give it a whirl. If you are a Block completionist (wow, what a task!), you won't be bored by this one. It's short, after all. You can see the seeds of Mona in this one (also re-released as Grifter's Game). If you haven't read that, don't bother doing anything else until you have. Then circle back around to Candy when you need more Lawrence Block in your life.

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