Did anyone read the book?


I've been searching for this book for a while. Does anyone know where i can find it?

Yeah right, gaffot.

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Amazon.com

If you want it in English it will cost you. But if you can read French you can pick it up pretty cheap.

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Thanks but I can't read French. To whoever has read the book, what did you think of it.

Yeah right, gaffot.

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There are English translations but prices start at $40. Ouch.

Check your library. I checked mine. The didn't have it; but they did have the movie.

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i read this book around 1992. It was an english translation available at my local library (in Washington State). Since then i've seen a (presumably) rare 1968 paperback re-print that i wish i had bought (i'm sure it was only a few dollars too! Damn!)
As for the book vs the film...i remember a few changes; there is a priest in the book who appears nowhere in the film. But the book was well-done, with an ending that read better than it played on-screen.

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Couldn't quite tell from your post whether the ending in the book is the same as in the film. If different, can you tell us what happens?

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Sorry about that; Yes, it ends as in the film with the guy (Mario?)... driving back from the successful nitro delivery and he crashes his truck & dies but I seem to recall it being more a question of the brakes failing rather than him messing around all filled with joy, although my unreliable memory may be playing me false here, so a qualification. cheers, butch

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Just picked up another copy of this book from Ebay for only 12 dollars! Score!
Merry Xmas to myself!

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I found a 1966 Australian paperback copy (Corgi GN7442) among some old boxes of stuff that had been stored away for 50-odd years. The price on the back cover is listed as 6/- (60c) which would have been about right for such a paperback way back then.

I remember reading it when I was about 15 or 16, and of course, I had all but forgotten it. So, I re-read it, and thoroughly enjoyed it!

(So much so that I immediately ordered the DVD from Amazon.)

There ARE a few things different, between the book and the film, but only minor differences, really.

The Standard Oil Corporation was really called the Crude Oil Corporation originally, and there was some degree of competition between the two teams of truck drivers. There was also a bit of jealous sabotage, committed by another driver that was not selected for the job. Also, the ending was different, only in its details. Gerard (his name in the book was not Mario!) was not 'waltzing' the truck along the road, but there was a transmission failure that caused him to lose control, and plunge over into the abyss....

By all means, do yourself a favour and read the novel, if you can find a copy!


Good luck!


^_^

The Opener of the Way is waiting....

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