Lucky Town is a beautiful piece of writing. Sometimes sad, sometimes funny, this novel is always accurate in its precise rendering of filial love and devotion. We are reminded, as art will do, that the human spirit is indomitable, and that the most ordinary lives can be utterly extraordinary in their tragedies and victories. - Tim O'Brien "A wonderful narrative There is an utterly compelling nature to this vigorous tale of the pilgrimage of a son and his erratic, passionate father Few writers possess James Brown's authoritative talent for dealing with such besetting familial ironies". - Thomas Keneally
--This text refers to the
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In his fourth novel, Brown ( Hot Wire ) tells the intriguing story of Bobby Barlow, a teenaged boy growing up in the early '70s with a father who is more son than parent. Floyd Barlow is a laborer, gambler and occasional con man who drifts from one apartment complex to another from Seattle to Vegas in search of women or cash, with Bobby desperately trailing behind. Melinda, a former working girl turned law student and policeman's wife, motivates many of Floyd's moves, and eventually joins the pair. Bobby, functioning as the "adult" of this dysfunctional family, narrates the story from the perspective of his aged self, but his voice, like his life, is thin and hollow. He has a mouthful and headful of quasi-adult thoughts, but no real handle on what they mean; whatever bonds keep the ungainly trio together remain baffling. As Bobby puts it, they all have "nothing better to do but walk around and kill time." Brown's moribund prose and empty pretension ("I thought of the word power . . . I thought of dark clouds. Lightning. The works.") match the characters' deadened inner lives. In spite of the affectless prose, however, the novel has a dark and ruminative force.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In his fourth novel, Brown (Hot Wire, Morrow, 1985) chronicles the deteriorating relationship between a young boy, Bobby Barlow, and his ex-con father, Floyd. After three years in a foster home, Bobby escapes at the age of 16 to meet his father, who has just been released from prison. Floyd arrives in a stolen car, and the two head for Seattle to find the gorgeous Melinda, a much-younger acquaintance Floyd has been unable to forget. Bobby's narration shifts back and forth in time as he describes life with Floyd before and after his prison term. As the trio journey to Las Vegas and the promise of quick riches, Bobby becomes the father and Floyd the prodigal son. Their final confrontation in the desert is a sad ending to this story of a son who tried as hard as he could to love a shiftless father. Brown's novel is well written and touching.
A.J. Wright, Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A.J. Wright, Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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More About the Author
James Brown is the author of the addiction memoirs, This River and The Los Angeles Diaries. He's also written several novels, including Final Performance and Lucky Town. He's received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction Writing and the Nelson Algren Award in Short Fiction. His personal stories have appeared in GQ, Esquire, Ploughshares, The New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The New England Quarterly, and anthologized in Best American Sports Writing, Oral Interpretations (college textbook), and Fathers, Sons and Sports: Great American Sports Writing. Brown teaches in the M.F.A. Program at Cal State San Bernardino, and can be contacted through his website at www.jamesbrownauthor.com
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like father...,
By
This review is from: Lucky Town (Hardcover)
I had to keep reminding myself while reading this novel that it was in fact a novel, not a memoir; Brown's narrative spins with such honesty, intensity and control, one begins to believe the voice of young Bobby Barlow as he relates the woeful tale of life on the lam with his father, Floyd. When Floyd is released from prison, he steals a car, picks up his son, and the two embark on an unintended quest to find some semblance of happiness--or at least stability. What renders this story so gripping is the use of the adolescent Bobby as narrator. We believe him because he is initially the naive victim rather than perpetrator, carried along by the influence and power of a dysfunctional father figure. I have to confess, the character of Floyd Barlow was so much like my wicked step-father I felt at times like Brown was channeling the man, and it is perhaps why this novel seemed so like a memoir to me; I could have been Bobby relating some of those conversations with a father figure who in some ways refuses to see the world as it really is, in others, sees it more realistically than most people.
Brown's brilliant, tight prose is the foundation for this novel, and I hope to see future work in which he explores the volatility of family dynamics. Highly recommended.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Quick Read,
By
This review is from: Lucky Town (Hardcover)
I enjoyed this book very much because of the characters. I have to say that I hated Bobby's father. Not because of what he did but because he seemed completley oblivious about everyone but himself and his own goals. He reminded me too much of someone from my own past. I don't really know what else to say about this book except that I would recommend it if you enjoy books with less than happy endings.
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