The Executioner's Song
Norman Mailer · 1923–2007 · United States
Why it matters
Mailer spent a thousand pages reconstructing the real case of Gary Gilmore, the first man executed in America after the death penalty's reinstatement, who demanded his own killing proceed. Flat, exhaustive, and morally unresolved, it won the Pulitzer as fiction stripped down to fact.
At a glance
crime & noirpsychological novel
Difficulty 6/10fast pace1056 pagesMassive length and flat, reportorial prose sustained across two killings and a trial.
Deep dive
Why Mailer wrote a thousand flat, affectless pages about a killer who wanted to die, and refused to tell readers what to feel about any of it.
Where to go next
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Isaac Bashevis Singer · 1960The Magician of LublinLvl 5Medium pace
Robert Stone · 1974Dog SoldiersLvl 6Fast paced