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that Lilith has stolen a majority of it by replacing the five-hundred-dollar bills with singles. When he confronts her, she tells him that he is deluded and attempts to have him committed to a mental institution, and he narrowly escapes. He flees and resorts to performing as a mentalist at increasingly shoddy venues, trying to evade the men he falsely believes
Grindle is sending after him. During this time, Molly takes up with a gambler reminiscent of her father, and gives birth to a son. Eventually Stan becomes a hobo, staying afloat by giving Tarot readings and selling
234:, but ends up murdering a police officer who attacks him while he sells his merchandise. A final reconnection with Zeena provides him an opportunity to again make living in the carnival, but he breaks completely and descends into alcoholism and depression when he discovers through a newspaper article that Lilith has wed Grindle.
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Grindle convinced her to seek. A reluctant Molly plays "Dorrie" in a series of sessions but eventually breaks character, destroying the illusion. In a rage Stan punches Molly and
Grindle and flees the scene. At Lilith's suggestion he decides to go into hiding with Grindle's money but later discovers
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His life in shambles, a drunk Stan finds a carnival owner and asks to join the sideshow as a palm reader. The owner gives Stan some whiskey but refuses his proposal, saying the show is full. But as Stan begins to stumble out, the owner changes his tune and invites Stan back in with a job offer: "Of
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and offers him a temporary job with a steady supply of liquor. Initially, the bum is only asked to pretend to be a geek, using a razor blade to slice chickens' necks and then faking the drinking of the blood. After a few weeks, the owner threatens to end the job and replace the bum with a "real"
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proclaimed, "I was utterly unprepared for its raw, Dostoevskian power... It's not often that a novel leaves a weathered and jaded reviewer like myself utterly flattened, but this one did....it's more than just a steamy noir classic. As a portrait of the human condition,
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named Lilith Ritter, who seduces and then begins controlling him. Stan pleads constantly for them to go away together, and Lilith eventually agrees, suggesting the Rev. Carlisle swindle a rich man for the getaway money. They settle on Ezra
Grindle, a ruthless
134:", pulp magazine in New York City during the 1940s. He outlined the plot and wrote the first six chapters over a period of two years, then finished the book in four months. Each chapter is represented by a different
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as an exemplar of a novel with an unhappy ending that was nonetheless a "fitting ending," where the protagonist brought misfortune on himself.
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to conversations he had with a former carnival worker while they were both serving as volunteers with the
Loyalist forces in the
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A musical by
Jonathan Brielle, directed by Gil Cates. It opened on April 21, 2010 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.
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Stan keeps
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Their act becomes very successful, but Stan grows bored and transforms himself into
Reverend Carlisle, an upstanding
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geek, and the fear of sobering up terrifies the bum into actually biting the chickens. Thus, a geek is made.
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Clem
Hoately where geeks come from. Clem explains that geeks are "made": a sideshow owner finds an alcoholic
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by accurately answering written audience questions. Stan also begins to pick up Zeena's talent for
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432:'Nightmare Alley,' by William Lindsay Gresham, reviewed by Michael Dirda.
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and its immoral inhabitants—the dark, shadowy world of a second-rate
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where he has recently begun working. He later asks the carnival's
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with four
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course, it's only temporary – just until we get a real geek."
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Zeena to learn a refined "code" act, where performers
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277:Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s
444:Creating Characters: How to Build Story People
411:. University Press of Kentucky. p. 248.
255:is a creepy, all-too-harrowing masterpiece."
446:. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, p. 101.
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387:as Stanton Carlisle - was released in 2021.
349:as Stanton Carlisle - was released in 1947.
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457:"Graphic Novel Review: Nightmare Alley"
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481:Musical Cyberspace, February 23, 2010.
258:Author and creative writing professor
16:1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham
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508:American novels adapted into films
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174:but studies under the carnival's
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279:, Robert Polito, ed. (
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298:New York Review Books
498:1946 American novels
405:Joe Nickell (2005).
180:memorize verbal cues
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479:"NIGHTMARE ALLEY"
418:978-0-8131-2358-5
326:978-1-61347-006-0
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332:Adaptations
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232:horoscopes
152:Ten-in-One
136:Tarot card
132:true crime
383:starring
345:starring
343:film noir
318:Bret Wood
242:Reception
216:skeptical
176:mentalist
148:geek show
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378:neo-noir
283:, 1997)
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172:sideshow
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109:carnival
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463:May 18,
376:- as a
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