Customer Reviews

Big Bad Love

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is such a powerful surprise that it is hard to know what to say. So many short stories one encounters in magazines and anthologies are so much 'in the tradition' that they could have been written by any number of writers. Larry Brown's stories, however, have an assured, unique and very personal style that is unlike anything else I have read. These first person confessionals by obsessed (and not too self aware) characters are gripping and funny all at the same time. There is a truth here - about language and behavior - that most authors rarely achieve.

I opened this collection of stories intending to read just one, in order to get a feel for Brown's work - which I have heard praised many times. I found myself glued to the book and finished it in one afternoon - obsessed like his characters. This is so like the high octane, drug and booze fueled narrative one gets occasionally in James Ellroy's L.A. series, but without the complex plot or life and death action. Here we see individuals - mostly down and out - struggling with their own personal demons in the red neck world of roadside taverns, pickup trucks, squalid domestic situations and many, many back roads.

Brown is able to give us the grit of Harry Crews's south without the qrotesque elements. The hard truth is here, and the humor too, but these are people that I have known. I just never cared for them as much as I do after seeing them pass through the filter of Brown's fierce vision.

Great stuff.

Larry Brown knows how to reach into his guts and pull out stories so true they hurt. Big Bad Love is -- and I know this term is terribly overused -- a masterpiece. Each one of his books is a small, burning miracle: Joe; Father and Son; Facing the Music; Dirty Work; On Fire.

The man knows life and he knows how to write about it.

(By the way, if you like Larry Brown, try Barry Hannah. While they are different in style, each one plumbs the depths of the human soul in a way few other contemporary authors dare.)

As a former student of fellow Mississippian Barry Hannah, Larry Brown knows how to write. Boy, does he ever! His characters are mostly down and out "white trash" who drink a little too much beer and whiskey, ride around in their pickups in a dry, scorching Mississippi heat, with a shotgun beside them, looking for something to hunt - deer or women, either one is fine. Larry Brown has a fantastic ear for dialogue and his language posesses a brute and simple poetry. I just love the way he writes:

"My dog died. I went out there in the yard and looked at him and there he was, dead as a hammer. Boy, I hated it. I knew I'd have to look around and see about a shovel. But it didn't look like he'd been dead long and there wasn't any hurry, and I was wanting a drink somewhat, so I went out a little further into the yard to see if my truck would crank and it would, so I left. Thought I'd bury the dog later. Before Mildred got home. Figured I had plenty of time." (p. 47)

"Big Bad Love" is a powerful collection of stories about small people living lives of quiet desperation, about their struggles with women, alcohol, and themselves. A small masterpiece of understanding and understatement.

okay, so i'll be the first to admit that maybe larry brown's style and content are acquired tastes, what with his predilection for setting his characters smack in the center of unseemly situations in unseemly bars. that's no excuse for not shelling out the $10 for this one. i've read the final story, "92 days", perhaps sixty times, and it's just as moving each time. he's a difficult writer to describe without sounding maudlin; let it suffice to say that larry brown sees the beauty in waking up at six a.m., going out onto the front porch, lighting a cigarette, taking a deep breath, and trying to figure out what comes next. and, as an aforementioned story should be a minor miracle

Larry Brown is a genius who combines the rich Southern tradition of Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner with the intensely honest introspection of Charles Bukowski and Jim Thompson. Nearly always moving, often darkly hilarious, always involving, Big Bad Love is a masterpiece, ten stories of mind-shatteringly powerful fiction.

I enjoyed this collection immensely, enough to look for other work by Mr. Brown in the future. These gritty, no-holds-barred stories from the south go down like gulping cold beer - there's a sting and a burn while your taking them in, but they settle in for a low buzz that sticks to your gut. Mr. Brown has captured the people and customs of 'some' of the south with great gusto and accuracy. I could recognize several of these characters as the same people who lived down the road from me when I made my home below Mason-Dixon.

I had two issues with this collection that kept me from rating it higher. The book is divided into three section, the first with eight short stories, the second in some kind of experimental style that reminded me of a play, and the third, which was another story, but much longer than the others. It was the second section that I had the most problem with. It is an imaginary courtroom drama, where a writer is put on trial and forced to defend his writing against charges of plagiarism. It's a tongue in cheek send-up of a lot of things, but the style just didn't work for me.

The other problem I found with the book was in the first section, and that the protagonist of each story seemed too similar to me, and were nearly interchangable. That didn't stop most of the stories from having a stunning impact, especially 'Falling out of Love', 'Wild Thing', and the title story. One reviewer mentioned how these stories were Carveresque, and though Mr. Brown does seem to prescribe to the minimalist school, I think he departs from that style by the gritty grubby search of his characters for their idea of redemption.

Had the third section with the long story '92 Days' been in its own format, I would have given it 5 stars. This collection is well worth your time, especially if, like me, you're approaching Mr. Brown's work for the first time, and enjoy a fine short story.

I had never heard of Larry Brown untill I read this, I'm from Scotland and wanted something good on conpemporary life and romance in America from a modern angle. Liked it a lot. "The apprentice" was one of the funniest storries I have ever read.

Having just finished "Dirty Work", went right into "Big Bad Love". Never heard of Larry Brown until reading a haunting story, "Fishing with Charlie", in the never disappointing Oxford American magazine (the story is from the 3rd annual double issue on Southern music). Anyway, I digress, but do read the story if you can get your hands on the magazine.

How about that Leon Barlow in "92 Days"?? Can he ever be forgotten?? No, he's the kind of guy, and Brown's words are the kind that find some place within that's very close to the bone, and there it stays. The stuff that you know if you're ever locked away, deprived of further sensory information, you can pull out, dust off and savor.

I've heard Larry Brown's short stories compared to the music of Vic Chestnutt. I hear strains of the characters in the music of the late Mr. Townes Van Zandt. These guys really understand and say so. I just love it. Makes it easier somehow to forgive those characters who show up in your own life, including yourself.

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.

Excellent book of short stories. Simply written with a raw reality. I recommend them especially for the heavy drinker who has had a few too many way too many times. Read it and and enjoy it!!!