Joe

Recommended by M. Peacock. Larry Brown is a NC writer who died in Dec. of 2004. This book makes Backroads look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook. Farms. Joe's a nice guy with a really good heart, but has a little trouble with drinking (he has a bottle of whiskey with him from the time he wakes up in the morning till he passes out at night), and anger management. However, he takes a young black boy, Gary, under his wing and while trying to improve Gary's life, destroys his own. I had trouble getting into the book, but later couldn't put it down. I don't know who I'd recommend it to, or why. ( )

It’s almost hard to believe how good “Joe” is while you’re reading it. Then it gets better. Larry Brown’s writing is deceptively spare, carrying an undercurrent of emotion, bad intentions, and good intentions gone bad.
Joe is tempered, rough and divorced – the flawed conscience of the story. Gary Jones is the son of itinerant laborers – a family reviled in this part of Mississippi for long-ago transgressions. He thinks he’s fifteen, but can’t be sure, and is trying desperately to work his way out of the abject poverty and destitution that his father, Wade, has brought upon the family. Wade is the worst father, and person, in recent memory. Brown doesn’t flinch when he writes about him – or any of the characters.
Gary’s sister becomes the subject of one of Brown’s later novels, “Fay.” You can see Brown considering taking John Coleman, wounded war veteran, reclusive store owner, and Joe’s friend, down the same path. The truth in Brown’s fiction is unmistakable and as rock-hard as the lives his characters live. ( )

I read "Fay" first, then couldn't hardly wait to read "Joe". I think these two are probably Larry's best. I read "Joe" seven or eight years ago and the ending still haunts me. ( )

Story of Joe, divorced, getting by with a few drinks an hour and a boy living with his homeless family. Dad is without hope of solving life's problems. Sad story with very little progress in achieving any solution to the dismal situation. ( )

Larry Brown can really write. I could hardly put down this story of poverty, alcoholism, and misery in Mississippi. Absolutely perfect dialogue, great story, I want to read more by this author. ( )