Father and Son

If you wanted to, you could describe this as a book about men and women constantly drinking beer, smoking, drinking whiskey from the bottle, and trying to sober up enough with coffee to keep drinking. But of course, that is just the reality for Brown's cast of characters, particularly Glen Davis, freed from Parchman Penitentiary after serving a little short of three years for running over a little boy while drunk. Glen is about the most despicable character you will ever read about, and he is way too real. The things he does during the course of the book will stay with you a long time. On the other side of the law is Bobby Blanchard, the Sheriff, whose connections to Glen are revealed more and more during the course of the story--no show more spoilers here. Between them is Jewel, the mother of Glen's son and the object of Bobby's affections. There are other characters we get to know very well, including Glen's father Virgil, a survivor of the Bataan Death March and Bobby's mother Mary, who was widowed during World War II. No one writes better than Brown. The intensity of the story and the suspense of wondering how things will turn out is almost unbearable toward the end. So just drop whatever you're reading now, and if you haven't done so already, discover Larry Brown, certainly one of the greatest writers America has ever produced. And I imagine he was a pretty good fireman, too.

I listened to the audiobook, which was exceptionally well read by Tom Stechshulte. show less

A small town in Mississippi, 1968. Glen Davis has recently been released from prison and returns home. Those three years in the pen have done nothing to settle this unstable man down and he quickly seeks revenge on the people his thinks screwed him in the past, including his father. The story also involves the sheriff, who grew up with Glen and he tries his best to rope him in. It doesn’t work.

I love a lean, mean writing style and Brown is a master at that. His dark stories are also not for the faint of heart, so steer clear if you don’t care for bursts of violence and other unsettling crimes. Highly recommended.

I've been on a Larry Brown kick since last October when I visited Square Books in Oxford MS and purchased LARRY BROWN, A WRITER'S LIFE. Larry Brown was born in Oxford, and his stories take place in small towns nearby, and throughout MS. After reading this biography by Jean Cash, I was so intrigued, I bought BIG BAD LOVE, FACING THE MUSIC, JOE, FAY, FATHER AND SON, BILLY RAY'S FARM, and A MIRACLE OF CATFISH. I think the only two books I don't have are DIRTY WORK and ON FIRE.

Either way, this is my review of FATHER AND SON which I just finished a couple nights ago. I've loved all of LB's books thus far, but this one has been my favorite.

FATHER AND SON was the sort of book I would think about during the day, anticipating the time when I show more could pick it and start reading where I left off. I usually only get to read at night and I found myself going to bed earlier and earlier, just so I could get back into the story.

Glen Davis is one of the main characters, and the "son," and Virgil is his "father." It's a story about not only their relationship, which is tenuous at best, but also many others who are an integral part of their lives. His brother, nicknamed "Puppy," the sheriff, Bobby Blanchard, Jewel, the love interest of both Glen and Bobby, and Mary, Bobby's mother.

Glen has just come out of prison, but not really. Because to me, he's imprisoned within his own mind. He is mad at the world, and especially his father. Actually, he's mad at many people, and prison hasn't helped him forget all the wrong's he believes have been heaped on him. As I read, I kept hoping Glen would have an epiphany of sorts, a come to Jesus awakening that would mellow him out, make him forgive. But Glen is a hard man, out to settle scores.

The book is written from many different points of view so you get where each of the characters are coming from. I felt sorry for Virgil, who is an old man wishing his son would do right. I had empathy for Jewel's predicament, having a child by Glen, hoping and waiting for him to do the right thing, and Bobby Blanchard, LB's "good guy," was somebody we'd all want for Sheriff in our own hometowns. The interactions of these characters lays out a complex history with secrets that are slowly revealed as the story moves on.

As with many of LB's books, the writing is tight, crisp and full of imagery and descriptions. If you've never been to MS, or anywhere in the deep south, reading his stories will make you feel like you've been there. show less

Dirty, raw, gritty - and that just barely scrapes the surface of Larry Brown's book, Father and Son. I don't mind the dirt and the grit, but I must confess, this book was more than I can handle.

Glen Davis spent three years in jail for killing a young boy while he was driving drunk. He got early parole, and as Glen returns to his small hometown in 1968 Mississippi, you can tell trouble's brewing. Glen's one of those types who thinks the world is always against him - and that anything bad that happens to Glen (real or perceived) must be met with swift and cruel retribution.

So, within a short time of his return, Glen commits double homicide, seeking revenge on a man who offered to buy his girlfriend a drink (three years ago). Then he rapes show more a woman who flirted with him (she deserved it, you see). Finally, upon learning that his girlfriend broke up with him so she could date the sheriff, Glen kidnaps the sheriff's mom, ties her up and rapes her too.

Mix in a lot of beer, whiskey, cigarettes and animal cruelty - and you get a less than favorable view of Southern life. I fear it fits the stereotype a little too much. Sure, there were some upstanding characters, but Glen's crimes overshadow it all.

As Brown writes about the characters and their pasts, he starts to paint a picture of Glen's youth - the child of a drunken, cheating father and a mother who complained to her son about his father's misdeeds. We also learn about the death of Glen's brother in a gun accident. Indeed, Glen's young life was not an easy one, and Brown keeps pressing on his relationship with his mother as an important influence in his life - as if she had, in some way, caused him to be such an evildoer. I object to this position. Glen was a sociopath. While his mom may be guilty of bad mothering, no amount of good parenting could have cured him. He was evil to the soul.

Larry Brown writes with sparse prose and is fearless about his stories. If you like the styles of Cormac McCarthy, Jon Clinch or Robert Olmstead, then give Larry Brown a try. Be forewarned, though, the Father and Son is like a punch in the gut. show less

I liked everything about this book, from the way it was set up to the very vivid, spare prose to the characters. Brown takes the old story about brothers going in different directions (in this instance they're half-brothers) and makes it new and real. He changes POV easily and effectively to let the reader know his characters from the inside. A terrific book. I miss Larry Brown.

This is powerful stuff and superbly written. Larry Brown writes in a way that compels you to fall deep into the scene he sets. You can feel the Mississippi heat rising as the days progress...when the rains come it brings sweet relief. You can smell the coffee perking and the biscuits frying, and the whisky-breathed main antagonist Glen Davis as he spends his first days of freedom back in his home county after 3 years incarceration. We follow the compact cast of characters as a path of destruction unfolds...This novel will stay with me for a very long time. So glad I've discovered Larry Brown's writing.

Glen Davis' parole triggers a tense few days, especially for a knot of families doomed to repeatedly cross his hell-bent path. A dramatic climax brings relief, but not in a particularly satisfying manner. Its not so much that the book's conflicts are resolved, but that the possibility of avoiding them altogether is restored.

For most of the book, Brown succeeds in inflecting the same tensions from different points of view very deftly. When he narrates from inside Glen's head, the reader recognizes moments of his or her own weakness or poor judgment. When with Jewel, the reader feels the pain of getting by without a well-defined future in sight. When with Bobby, the Sheriff, one understands his doubts and long-suffering.

Brown also show more succeeds in immersing the reader in the details of a small southern town. Of listless ignorance paralleled by rusting automobiles; of the close relationship between earnest salvation and brutal sin. Dusty hazy yards buzzing with gnats and the sound of rainfall on a wooden porch.

One weakness in the narrative is how Brown detours from the momentum of the story to indulge those descriptive passages. They add a lot, but not, it seems, always at the right moment. Perhaps frustrating the pace of events is Brown's intent, but I found it distracting.

All in all, a very realistic and insightful account of a murderous rampage conducted by a villain made all the more threatening by his familiarity. I wish there could have been more of a lesson, but I understand why a smart author would shy away of filling it in for us. show less