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NoirNovels.com - A unique repository for all things noir
The Animal Factory
Reviewed By Rogue The Animal Factory is Edward Bunker's extremely personal story of two inmates in California's notorious San Quentin prison, where Bunker himself was an inmate. At the start of the novel, we are introduced to Ron Decker, a young and intelligent drug dealer who finds himself sentenced to five years imprisonment in San Quentin. At this stage, Decker is fearful of what awaits him in prison and resolves to try and keep out of trouble, with the hope that the judge will recall him to modify his sentence to a lesser term. What Decker doesn't realise is that prison life will have a profound effect on him, and that he must overcome his fears of long term incarceration if he hopes to survive. Soon after Decker arrives at San Quentin, he is befriended by long-term inmate Earl Copen, a hardened con who knows the prison like the back of his hand. The pair strike up an unlikely friendship and Earl resolves to help Ron survive long enough, and keep him out of trouble, to ensure that the younger man's sentence is reduced. However, events conspire against the pair and they are forced to change their plans drastically. Bunker's intimate knowledge of the Californian penal system enables him to create a vivid literary realisation of both the prison and its inhabitants. While the book is only just over 200 pages long, the story covers a considerable period of time, and this adds weight to the descriptions of the numerous confinements and segregations that Ron and Earl endure. Bunker's style is fairly minimalist in that he doesn't use more words than he needs to, and this suits the stark setting of San Quentin, but this is not at the expense of character development and he fleshes out both Ron and Earl extremely well, as well as a number of key supporting characters. While the subject matter may seem weighty, The Animal Factory is never a difficult read and it grips from the first page to the last. The shortness of the book does have one penalty in that the final denouement is covered rather rapidly, and some may feel that another 20-30 pages would have given Bunker the opportunity to add slightly more 'meat'. In the end, though, this is a minor criticism and The Animal Factory remains a riveting and consummate novel. Certainly, this is a good introduction to Edward Bunker and one which I would thoroughly recommend. |
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