#688 in our old book database. Not rated.

Larry Brown is a remarkable and innovative writer. His stories in this volume are raw, human, and evocative. Human desperation is at the heart of many of them, whether desperation for love, money, or simple peace. He writes with a lean style and an eagle eye for hidden emotion. Some of his stories are straightforward, while others toy with the form, as though he'd decided to see how much he could rearrange a story and still have it make sense. This collection of stories is a wonderful read, a slice of sun-baked southern life that sizzles with vitality. ( )

Rough, desperate lives are portrayed with honesty & compassion. ( )

A truly striking collection of disparate and desperate characters from the back lanes and dive bars, and the woodlands and cotton fields of North Mississippi.

***

1) Facing The Music -

In with a bang. One husband contemplates his fidelity while his wife hopes to distract him from watching the late movie on TV... A very powerful opening salvo you won't easily forget.

2) Kubuku Rides (This Is it) -

A heartbreaking portrayal of secrets and lies, and addiction within the family.

3) The Rich -

A revealing moment in the life of Mr Pellisher, a travel agent who is poor, but who associates with the rich...

4) Old Frank and Jesus -

Devastating and possibly a quintessential Larry Brown short tale of one man's life lived hard. Opening lines:
'Mr Parker's on the couch, reclining. He's been there all morning, almost, trying to decide what to do. Things haven't gone like he's planned. They never do.'

5) Boy and Dog -

Prose poetry in the form of short simple phrases, sequenced statements of fact tell how a boy's lunch is ready - but he's not coming in. His dog has been hit outside on the road, and is already dead. But then the killer Mustang comes back - 'It was hunting its hubcap.' - and the boy picks up a brick...

6) Julie: A Memory -

Brown in slightly more experimental mode with this one. A series of interlocking and overlapping narratives are told in almost rhythmically alternating sentences. It feels like 'cut-up' technique - only it works! You can sense exactly what's been going on as the tale of two young lovers unravels. Violence and tragedy pervade the scene once again - but it's never gratuitous, just real.

7) Samaritans -

A lonesome barfly one hot and bright mid-afternoon does what he can for a pathetic and peripatetic family out in the parking lot. He could end up ruing their acquaintance. This reader was entranced.

8) Night Life -

Gary's a bachelor mechanic who doesn't find meeting women that easy. Connie is a married mother whose just left her husband she's been with since the age of sixteen. Their stop-start liaisons have an edge of black humour about them, but ultimately are full of aching pathos as the sad realities of their unfulfilled lives emerge.

9) Leaving Town -

All of Brown's stories have something about them that could lend themselves well to film adaptation, but THIS really is the one that leaves you with that feeling at its end that you've just experienced something truly memorable. Using the alternate viewpoints technique he later uses to such good effect in his excellent post-Vietnam novel 'Dirty Work', Brown tells of a blue collar brief encounter between a hard-working handyman and his fragile customer. He will do everything he can for his own partner's disabled little girl, while his female client is alone and recovering from an abusive relationship. If this 'movie' had a theme tune, it'd probably be written by Jimmy Webb.

10) The End of Romance -

'"Just go in and get some beer," she said. "We got to talk."' So begins the closing story in this collection. A couple are out for a drive and it's clear that they both have a lot to get off their chests. Their talk is interrupted in the most unexpected way. Brown's final lines somehow manage to leave you with a smile on your face, despite the most awful of circumstances.

***

Hard to believe that this was Brown's first published collection back in 1988. While it's clear that he is evidently trying his hand at a few different approaches with the method, the accumulative effect is somewhat akin to a series of well-landed body blows. The punches hit hard and you find yourself waking up still almost dazed - thinking of an ending, or seeing the characters all around you out in the world: clocking in at the depot, eating lunch, shopping in a supermarket, driving home. A superb book of short stories from the late and much missed prince of the 'Rough South'. Five stars. ( )

The late, great Larry Brown is one of my favorite authors, and this collection of short stories is great introduction to his work. In fact, his later work may not top it. With his stark, brutal prose, Brown describes the stark, brutal lives of the working class in rural Mississippi. His stories are gripping and moving. ( )