The Postman Always Rings Twice

By: James M. Cain

Narrated by: Stanley Tucci

Length: 2 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

An amoral young tramp. A beautiful, sullen woman with an inconvenient husband. A problem that has only one, grisly solution; a solution that only creates other problems that no one can ever solve.

First published in 1934 and banned in Boston for its explosive mixture of violence and eroticism, The Postman Always Rings Twice is a classic of the roman noir. It established James M. Cain as a major novelist with an unsparing vision of America's bleak underside, and was acknowledged by Albert Camus as the model for The Stranger.

©1934 James M. Cain (P)2005 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A good, swift, violent story." (Dashiell Hammett)

Not too bad

The narration was nearly monotone, the way Detective movies apparently were in the age of black and white. Unfortunately,it's not a "classic technique", it's just dated.

The story is supposed to be one of the best of the 20th century. It IS pretty good, too. I can certainly see how it would get that reputation.

In the end, I'm happy with my purchase, and that pretty much says it all.

A Great Listen to a Disjointed Story

If you could sum up The Postman Always Rings Twice in three words, what would they be?

Disjointed
Action-packed
Excellent

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I loved it. I bought it completely and deeply enjoyed it.

Which character – as performed by Stanley Tucci – was your favorite?

The Greek's wife was really impressive.

Good story.

I enjoy the story but felt the narration did not help the story in any way. I wish I had read this rather than listen to it. The narrator has little inflection and did not put any emphasis on the dialogue. There was absolutely no emotion in this reading at all. I can't say it was monotone, but it was the next thing to that.

Portrait of hopelessness

This is a dark tale of two people with low expectations of life. The male protagonist has no hope and little fear since he has nothing to lose in his own estimation. The woman waffles between emotions. It's a great story. The narration was spectacular, particularly Tucci's rendition of "the Greek." Definitely a good listen from another era in American 20th Century history.

Cain always good

It's hard to go wrong with this one. good narration. great noir/existential story. a classic and another that i can return to and enjoy many times. Cain is great and look forward to newly discovered Waitress.

Hard to Follow Performace

Never read the book and haven’t seen the movie version yet. I enjoyed the story, but Stanley Tucci doesn’t give a great performance of the material. Another reviewer already commented it was hard to tell a lot of the time who was talking. He gives accents to two of the characters, but the two main ones, male and female, talk back and forth a lot and there is no different of inflection between the two.

Wow!

I was amazed at how brief, but packed this book was...I had heard about it for years, but never read it..Sparse, evocative, brutal and heart-wrenching...Stanley Gucci gave a no-nonsense, expert reading..no frills, straight to the bone...Noir at it's best...I'll be reading the rest of McCain...

Wonderful

Two great things: A Cain book and time to hear it. Great Tucci narration of one of noir's best writers ever. Unbeatable combo.

Poor narration

This is one of my favorite short novels. My problem is the audio version is 'read' and not performed. Performance is what I expect when I choose and audible book - see Samuel L Jackson's performance of Chester Himes' 'Rage in Harlem. Stellar.

I'll be returning this one and stick to reading the text every other year.

Black & White

A really good story with twists and deceits I was not expecting. I never saw the movie but kept visualizing a film version in black & white made in the 40’s. Short and well written.