The postman always rings twice door James M. Cain

Title The postman always rings twice

Author James M. Cain

Characterisation Frank, a man who falls in love with Cora. He’s a type of guy who’s rough but smart. His passion for Cora makes him mad of love. Cora, the Greek’s wife (He’s always called the Greek in the book so I’ll better call him the Greek, his real name is Nick) Cora is in doubt weather she would go with Frank or stay with her husband, the Greek. She chooses for Frank.

Genre This book is a short psychological novel.

Narrative structure It’s a first person story and told in chronological order. The book spends about two or three months.

Plot outline The story is set in a roadside sandwich joint in California, which has a living part, a filling station and a lunchroom part. When Frank arrived at the lunchroom the Greek offered him a job. Frank said yes, and immediately when he saw the Greeks wife Cora he felt in love with her. They made love to each other when the Greek wasn’t at home. One day they made a plan to kill the Greek, the wanted to kill him in the bathroom but failed. The Greek fell on his head, but wasn’t dead. They told the police it was an accident. After a week the Greek went out of the hospital, back home. But Cora and Frank drove away together. After a while Cora wanted to go back home. So she did. But Frank staid in town and three weeks later he met the Greek on the marked, the Greek asked him to come back to the lunchroom and work again. Frank left the town with the Greek and they drove to the lunchroom. When they got there, Frank met Cora again. They still loved each other so they made a new plan to kill the Greek, and spent the rest of their lives together. This time their plan worked and the Greek got killed. First the judge didn’t believe their story about this “car accident”. But Cora and Frank convinced the judge and they he pleaded them not guilty. Cora and Frank were happy that their plan had worked. Cora got pregnant and they made a ride in their car. But the worth ting happened, Cora got killed on that ride because of a car accident. But Frank survived, and the judge condemned him guilty for the murder on Cora and the Greek. Motive? Their money.

Theme and explanation of the tittle I think you can describe the theme as: God is punishing at once. (how do you say that in English?) The title means a warning for something unexpected.

Opinion I liked the book because of the authors easy writing style. And it gives a good view of how far you can go for loving somebody else.