Joe

A book by one of my two favourite authors, Larry Brown; Larry Watson being the second. Larry Brown writes from working class experience, he served years as a fireman. There are no good guys or happy families in this book. Not Joe Ransom who buys stamps at the Post Office he doesn’t need just so he can see his ex-wife who works there. Certainly not Gary Jone’s family whose alcoholic father wastes money his family of five needs for food on Old Crow Whiskey. Joe at least has a roof over his head and a job. There are no likable characters in this hard-drinking, hard-scrabble world but the story has a harsh authenticity about it.

Fay, written some years later is the story of Gary’s older sister who deserts the family in disgust and peddles her booty to Biloxi. Neither book is intended for the faint of heart or those with delicate sensibilities. Fay and her father Wade are the kind of amoral characters who give gypsies and vagabonds a bad name. Well written and highly recommended both so long as you feel up to it.