Big Bad Love: Stories (Vintage Contemporaries)

A bit dog eared but great read

I feel this way about Brown's work. Nearly always I am compelled to immediately re read. I do not live in the "deep south", but I have known Brown's characters, and they were not from the south. However I do think swampy places produce swampy behavior... someone criticized Brown's first person POV as all sounding the same... I had no trouble with that as the first person was an "everyman" in all kinds of organic situations which not many writers can put on paper; some dismal, some quite funny... 92 days is a work like no other... travelling into the mind of a born writer in a climate which can't cultivate his brilliance from the thorns and weeds...I loved it; I am sorry we aren't able to read what a uncommon and fascinating artist would continue to produce throughout a longer life.... great stuff, just GREAT stuff.

Larry Brown was a great writer and humanitarian, as obvious in his stories and the people he wrote about (almost as if they are real people is the reason I say "people"). These stories focus intensely and intently on backwoods folk getting by in Mississippi--or not getting by so well. I prefer reading his novels but you still get a sense of what life is like in stunning detail and development-of-character down South. You can't go wrong whatever you read by Brown, just too bad he's not around to write more.

Larry Brown reminds me of Raymond Carver. Not that he imitates him; he has his own distinct voice. But he has the same gift Carver had of portraying characters straight on like a camera does, without apology or explanation. This is a truly original collection of stories. It includes my favorite opening line: "My dog died." There are two stories here about writing and perfecting your craft. Both are from Brown's own experience. He always said that he worked hard and suffered countless rejections for many years to become a good writer. He is really amazing. If you don't like this book, there is something wrong with you. This is great American literature.

This collection was a mixed bag for me. I thought many of the stories in Part 1 were a bit repetitive and unnecessarily crude. The stories have a consistent theme of the narrator, who seems out of luck and love, trying to find himself, happiness or meaning in life. However, many times he tries to find it at the bottom of a can of Old Milwaukee. Some have said there is a bleakness, which I agree, but I think Brown writes it in a more of comically grim sort of way. A few notable stories that I did enjoy: “The Apprentice” was quite funny. It deals with the narrator describing his wife as an aspiring writer who wants to be published. She is constantly asking him to critique her manuscripts, which he hates to do. There are a few funny bits in the story. One part is when the narrator asks his wife is she read “Moby Dick”, to which she replies: “No, I but I saw it on the late movie. Gregory Peck and all them. Did that come from a book?” I also thought the story “Sleep” was a good one, where the narrator reflects on life and philosophizes. I liked the longer works, “Discipline” and “92 Days”, in parts 2 and 3, better than the shorter pieces. “Discipline” was a sort of spoof, satire, with a man on “trial” for committing the sin of plagiarizing well-known authors. It really shifts the entire mood to a much lighter tone after reading part 1. I felt the best in the collection was 92 Days, as I think it pulls together the central themes of all the works: struggling with life, trying to find happiness, aspiring to get published. It has a mix of humor and pathos that really ties the entire collection together. I’m sure that many in this collection could be the basis of a country song in a smoky bar. This was my first Larry Brown book. I might check out some of his other stuff.

Another one of these pointless, depraved excursions through the black underbelly of southern culture. I guess it’s genius, but this ole boy just doesn’t get it. Face it, some of us simpletons just need continuity and something remotely resembling a plot.