Len Joy

I.LOVED.THIS.BOOK. LETTING GO you say? Wasn't that a Philip Roth novel? Well yeah, but that was Philip Roth. This is Len Joy. And as much as I have loved Roth for the past fifty-plus years, this Joy guy could give Roth some serious competition (and minus the misogyny so much talked about in the latest Roth bio). But perhaps the most important function this minuscule collection of mostly very short stories fills is the way it amplifies Joy's much-praised (and deservedly so) first novel, show more AMERICAN PAST TIME. (And I LOVED that onetoo.) Because a couple of the longer pieces here - "Time Don't Run Out on Me" and the title story - give us mini-portraits of characters and places that showed up on the larger canvas of the novel. There's the forty-ish mail-carrier/EMT, Tina Bennett (a fifteen year-old 'Trudy' Bennett in APT), who meets an older, wiser Clayton Stonemason at Jake's Place, the blue-collar bar that looms large in APT, as do Clayton and his father, the emotionally and physically scarred ex-pitcher, Dancer Stonemason. And Dancer too shows up here in the person of 'Doak,' who "rescues" Tina's much younger friend, Annie, from her abusive ex-husband, in the parking lot of Jake's.

But hey, despite the brevity of these stories, you get the same ultra real dialogue and fully realized characters you get in the novel. I mean, in the space of just a few paragraphs, you come to care for these people. That's how good a writer Len Joy is. Not Philip Roth. Nope. Pure Joy. And every story here is a small, polished gem. I loved this little book. My very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

My GOD, but I loved this book! It never ceases to amaze me when I 'discover' an obscure writer like Len Joy, who is such a natural storyteller, and who creates characters so real that you feel they could walk right off the page and down your street past your front window. And you would knock on the window and say, "Hang on!Lemme get my shoes on and I'll walk with you." Because that's what it felt like I did. I 'accompanied' middle-aged Darwin Burr as he moved through the streets of Evanston show more (Joy's hometown) and small-town Claxton, where Burr was a high school basketball hero, and has coasted through life, resting on those youthful laurels, working for his best friend, Billy Roarke, at an auto parts store. Until Billy suddenly disappears, and the FBI comes looking for him, and Darwin's whole comfortable life - job, family, marriage - begins to crumble out of control. All of the various threads of Joy's narrative - gang wars imported from nearby Chicago; his friend Billy's secret, corrupt business dealings and possible involvement with terrorists; his Latvian wife's mysterious past; a new love interest in beautiful Fariba, an Iranian immigrant and new school counselor at Claxton High - are utterly believable. And, skilfully interwoven into all of this, is the overriding story of a girls' high school basketball team, coached by Darwin and Fariba, turning around a losing history and barreling toward a state championship. Yeah, all this stuff and more. Sound good? Hell yes, it's good! This is a book that you just don't want to put down!

Dar, the high school basketball hero, brought to mind Updike's Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom. Len Joy is no Updike, but in a way he's better. Because Darwin Burr is a good man, a better man than Rabbit, and Joy tells Dar's story in a plain, straightforward fashion that makes you CARE about this guy. You will find yourself rooting for Darwin, hoping against hope that things will turn out well for him. And you will keep turning pages, because you just HAVE to know what happens next. Enough said. No spoilers from me. This is a damn good book. I LOVED it. Bravo, Mr Joy. My very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

Just like Little Richard sang so many years ago, "I got that joy joy joy joy down in my heart," because I've only recently 'discovered' a new favorite author, and by God his name is Joy, Len Joy. A writer out of Evanston, Illinois (and a triathlete), he's only written a few books, but I've read two of them now, and they are both damn near perfect examples of good storytelling. I loved his 'middle' novel, BETTER DAYS, and now I've just read his first one, AMERICAN PAST TIME. Loved it too, and show more just did not want to see it end. The title is important, because there's a lot in here about baseball, America's so-called 'pastime,' but more importantly, Joy also serves up some generous helpings of of America's past, beginning in the 1950s, that idyllic post war era when things were looking up for America's middle class, and taking us on into the 1970s. Joy's hero (or anti-hero) is one Dancer Stonemason, an up-and-coming minor league pitcher with a St Louis farm team, the Rolla Rebels. It's 1953, and Dancer has just pitched a perfect game, but, sadly, things begin to go downhill from there. Saddled with a mortgage and other bills, not to mention a wife and two little kids, Dancer's arm begins to fail him & he never quite makes it to the Bigs. A short-lived factory job in his hometown of Maple Springs, Missouri, ensues, then a work-related crippling injury, a marriage in crisis, too much drinking, and well, things just go bad. The minor league element immediately brought to mind Pat Jordan's classic baseball memoir, A FALSE SPRING (and its sequel, A NICE TUESDAY). And, while it's true that Jordan's book is a memoir and Joy's is fiction, the baseball details and scruffiness of bush league conditions here ring true and seem spot on.

But AMERICAN PAST TIME is much more than just a baseball novel. It is indeed about America itself, and takes you through our country's troubled past, from Korea to Vietnam, racism, discrimination and protest marches, murders & assassinations, the space race and moon landing. All of these events are here, in news headlines, on the TV evening news, and even locally (Dancer is pressured by his factory boss to come to KKK meetings), as we follow the ups and downs of the Stonemason family through the sixties and into the seventies. Dancer's older son, Clayton, angrily denouncing his absent father's sport, becomes a high school basketball sensation (again, I thought of Updike's Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom), but isn't quite good enough for college level play. Drafted and sent to Vietnam, Clayton's real education begins as he becomes a part of the corruption that always accompanies war. Meanwhile, Clayton's brother, Jimmy, overweight & unathletic, becomes a business whiz at a young age, always striving to impress his parents and emerge from the shadow of his sports star brother. And Dede, their mother - Dancer's semi-estranged wife - emerges as a complex and strong character in her own right, finding work in a lawyer's office and doing her best to hold her family together.

But enough. I don't wish to drop any 'spoilers' here. It is indeed a joy, however, to discover a little-known writer like Len Joy. (While reading this book, I was constantly reminded of another book I first read over fifty years ago, and a few more times since - the late Edward Hannibal's novel of the sixties, CHOCOLATE DAYS, POPSICLE WEEKS.) And I am so pleased to know that there is a SEQUEL (Yes!). It's called EVERYONE DIES FAMOUS. So I have that to look forward to. But this book? It is just so GOOD! My very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

I loved Len Joy's other three books, and I enjoyed EVERYONE DIES FAMOUS too, since many of the characters from his first novel, AMERICAN PAST TIME, are in here, because yes, it's a sequel, set 40-50 years later, in 2003, once again in the small town of Maple Springs, Missouri. Dancer Stonemason is into his seventies now, a widower and grandfather, filled with regrets, trying to make sense of his life. His son Jim is here, and Jim's adult daughter, Kayla, about to be married. And Trudy show more Bennett, onetime lover of Dancer's older son, Clayton, is now the local mail-carrier and EMT. And a couple new characters, Wayne,an Iraq war vet, and Anita, his estranged wife. It's an intriguing stew of characters, no question. But, because it is a sequel, and because the whole story takes place in just a couple of days' time, an inordinate effort is required in tracing the connections and relationships of the past fifty years, making the novel a bit top-heavy in backstory, slowing the forward momentum of the narrative to a near-glacial pace. This changes in the final few chapters when a looming tornado strikes and all hell breaks loose. It was indeed a gripping, compelling finale, although I must confess I was left a bit confused about Dancer's fate. That said, still a good read, with a complex, well-defined cast. Highly recommended, especially if you're already a Len Joy fan.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less