Larry Brown
Paperback | Pages: 228 pages Rating: 4.12 | 2009 Users | 124 Reviews
Define Books In Pursuance Of Big Bad Love
| Original Title: | Big Bad Love |
| ISBN: | 0679734910 (ISBN13: 9780679734918) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Description During Books Big Bad Love
The whole world seemed to be trying to be decent, and I seemed an indecent thing in it.*This one was recommended to me by my pal John, who described it as "... a two evening read filled with social misfits." Though I spend most of my evenings surrounded by social misfits, I decided to give a read anyway. I'm fairly glad I did, as the book provides an excellent glimpse into what your friends, neighbors, and maybe even some of your relatives, might be getting up to behind closed doors.
Most of the stories concern basically decent men who've been kicked around by life. These are men who stay too long at the bar and find every reason why they not only need to, but deserve to cheat on their wives. Sometimes, their wives have had enough of it and have kicked the sorry sons of bitches out on their lazy asses. Yeah, we should hate these fellows, but more often than not, they are too pitiful to scorn. I credit Brown's writing talents for making the weasels tolerable.
A few of the tales are about struggling writers. In Acceptance, the quality of one man's sex life depends on whether or not he "likes" his wife's latest literary efforts. The last story, more of a novella really, is about a recently divorced man waiting for word on the short stories he has sent to publishers. Will the mail bring a big envelope containing a rejected story or will it be a letter of acceptance? And the funniest story, Discipline, is the document of a writer incarcerated for plagiarism who recounts weird, ungodly tales about torture and involuntary sex with obese women:
Why did you think they weren't going to take you out and torture you? Were you friendly with any of the guards?
No. Certainly not. They were all former editors. That was one of the requirements.
Oh, Larry must have really enjoyed writing that one. Sticks and stones may break bones, but sticking it to an editor is a writer's best revenge.
* from 92 Days
List Regarding Books Big Bad Love
| Title | : | Big Bad Love |
| Author | : | Larry Brown |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 228 pages |
| Published | : | October 1st 1991 by Vintage (first published September 30th 1990) |
| Categories | : | Short Stories. Fiction. American. Southern. Gothic. Southern Gothic |
Rating Regarding Books Big Bad Love
Ratings: 4.12 From 2009 Users | 124 ReviewsCriticize Regarding Books Big Bad Love
The whole world seemed to be trying to be decent, and I seemed an indecent thing in it.*This one was recommended to me by my pal John, who described it as "... a two evening read filled with social misfits." Though I spend most of my evenings surrounded by social misfits, I decided to give a read anyway. I'm fairly glad I did, as the book provides an excellent glimpse into what your friends, neighbors, and maybe even some of your relatives, might be getting up to behind closed doors.Most of theHillbilly-roticaI really appreciated and enjoyed Brown's novel Joe. Here though, the stories seemed somewhat juvenile, the dialogue forced and the sex disgusting. I think Brown worked around some "sho-nuff" rednecks before beginning his writing career. From personal experience, I know how this can scar the somewhat sensitive soul: at 18, I worked a summer in a factory with nothing but blue collar rednecks (God bless 'em: a Southern phrase to cushion the blow) who provided me an assortment of
In these loosely connected stories of masculinity gone awry, Brown introduces a variety of guy-types who perpetually miss opportunities to straighten up their lives. With booze and women being the two Achilles heels of our misfit heroes, they manage to skate by most times in the name of survival. I found myself shaking my head when they made destructive choices, and surprised that they didn't suffer more dire circumstances for their selfish actions. However, this may be the crux of what makes
My first five-star read of this year, yet I didn't 'love' every story in this collection of ten shorts (nine stories and one 87 page novella). So how does that work? Well, the power of Larry Brown's writing in this second collection of his is such that while I don't think that everything he tries to do here is a complete success, the value and impact of his creation when it IS a success is so overwhelming that I have no choice but to give the book the highest rating. The novella "92 Days" which
A reminder here that 2 stars is "it was OK". Southern fried Bukowski - which, for me, is not a good thing. Same kind of cult following, who seem to believe that being drunk imparts a wisdom of some sort. I suspect that his novels are better, since he has to do a bit more in 300 pp than get his narrator drunk on beer. I don't remember, can you really get that drunk on beer? My favorite was "Old Soldiers", which showed a glimmer of empathy and hope. "Discipline" would have been thrown out of
The whole world seemed to be trying to be decent, and I seemed an indecent thing in it.*This one was recommended to me by my pal John, who described it as "... a two evening read filled with social misfits." Though I spend most of my evenings surrounded by social misfits, I decided to give a read anyway. I'm fairly glad I did, as the book provides an excellent glimpse into what your friends, neighbors, and maybe even some of your relatives, might be getting up to behind closed doors.Most of the
3.5 These are not stories of the genteel South, ,where people are concerned with their reputations. Nope, these are crass, crude stories of those often talked about in country western songs. Pick-up trucks, driving down country roads aimlessly, some married but always on the lookout for something better and if they can't figure out an answer to the problems of their lives or they feel and unwanted emotion, why they just have another beer. Alcohol fixes everything. Yet there was something that in
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