Customer Reviews

The Oxygen Man: A Novel

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Once I started reading this book I had a hard time putting it down. The plot is somewhat typical of backwater Mississippi characters ("white trash" trying to figure life out....usually getting caught up in violence and circumstance as they work it all out) - the saving grace, however, is yarbrough's skill with the written word. Something about the way he writes makes you feel as if you are in each scene - this facet is hard to come by in books which at first look like sheets of paper, bound between two thicker sheets of paper. What they really are, however, are stories harboring struggle after struggle but always maintaining a strand of hope that the tortured protagonist(s) will find a way to make their lives easier. If you are looking for a good end of summer read, this is one of the best. It is quick but is not fluff - you are definitely left thinking and trying to figure out when it was Ned started living as a "yes man" and why Daisy had such a hard time forgiving her brother.

Life in Indianola, Mississippi, has some rough edges. In this earthy novel of Ned Rose and his sister Daze, the reader learns what it's like to grow up as a poor white in a state which is both class and color conscious. Ned works as an oxygen man who checks the oxygen level in the catfish ponds of Mack Bell, while his sister is employed as a bartender at the Beer Smith Lounge. There are glimpses of the sibling's often-absent, beer-in-hand parents, Ned's macho high school football buddies, and the gritty, more well-to-do employers of the common black and white folks.

This is an unsettling story which gets down and dirty right from the start. It's not a pleasant book nor one for the lighthearted. There's a strange uneasiness about it. You'll hope for the best as you read, all the while expecting the worst. The very real characters are not people you'd like to know. But the author, in a surprisingly good first novel, gets you deeply involved in their feelings of scorn. If you like the creepy characters in Pete Dexter's The Paper Boy, Ruth Hamilton's The Book of Ruth, or James Dickey's Deliverance, you'll like this book. The chapters are short and interesting. It's a book that's easy to read in short spurts, pick up and put down at any time, and the appeal is always there.

The Oxygen Man is quite simply a wonderful novel. The writing is clear, vibrant, and imbued with the emotions of the story -- it carries the story like music carries lyrics. The characters are real, empathetic (even the worst of them), fallable and adeptly rendered. And it reminds us that the struggles of being Southern (and human) are more complex than we think, that it is hard to escape the life you were born into, and even harder to escape the life you've lived, but the struggle is wortwhile, and that a world seeming to lack light or love and contain only danger, can really have those things. A book anyone who cares about fiction should read.

What a wonderful surprise this book was! Something about the characters and their intricate yet unfulfilling lives is so compelling. I cared about Daze and Ned, but was never quite sure as to what was driving them. Yet Yarbrough's story is so well woven, things come together in a startling, yet perfectly plausible fashion toward the end. And what an ending! Very round, completely developed characters, expertly crafted. The sense of setting is also superb, with central Mississippi becoming a character in itself. I am excited to have come across this novel, and am sad that it's over.

In Sunflower County, Mississippi, Steve Yarbrough has delivered a wonderful setting for his first novel, Oxygen Man. The characters are diverse, and richly drawn. The countryside is beautifully described. The economic situation is fully understood because of his descriptive writing, though he doesn't go into any specifics. As you delve further into the book, Mr. Yarbrough goes back and forth from 1972 to 1996. Through the two different periods, looked at through a single generation, you get a feel for the general community. In this community, he has also given us the potential for his own Yoknapatowpha County. Just what every "southern" writer prays for, and hopes to never hear; the comparison to Faulkner.

There are numerous stories to tell in Sunflower County and while a couple are told in great detail, specifically the stories of Ned Rose and his sister Daisy, there are many others that we are given just enough of to hope that Mr. Yarbrough plumbs the area again. There are the stories of the cotton farmers turned catfish farmers: the Bells, Salters, and Morellis; the story of the Gautreaux family, bankers from generation to generation. There are also Beer Smith, owner of the lounge Daisy works at as well as an entire population of slaves turned indentured servants living on the Bell property (leading the reader to assume there were such populations on the Salter and Morelli property as well). All of these stories would be similar in one nature, they would be stories about both our destiny due to fate, as well as our futures stemming from decisions made.

The story we are given by Mr. Yarbrough in this effort is mainly that of Ned and Daisy Rose. He works for Mack Bell, mainly checking the oxygen levels in his catfish ponds each and every night, but also doing whatever else Mack demands. He follows these instructions, seemingly without even thinking over the potential ramifications of his actions. She works as a bartender at a local lounge, going out of her way to avoid her brother, though they live together in the house they grew up in. This is the Ned and Daisy Rose of 1996.

We are also treated to the Rose family circa 1972, when their parents have Ned and Daisy go to the local private school, thanks to a local scholarship organization, in order to keep them in a segregated environment. Ned fits in better than Daisy, mainly due to his athletic ability, in an area of the world where Saturday Night Football comes second only to breathing. Daisy is looked down upon by the wealthier girls of the school due to her K-Mart clothing.

The story line in 1996 has Ned and Daisy living together in silence. They don't speak to each other and for the most part, their schedules leave them from seeing each other all that often. Ned isn't often found without a beer, and his sister has an unhealthy obsession with the actions of her mother during Ned and Daisy's childhood. Early in the novel, the reader may believe that the actions of their parents may be the eventual reason behind whatever problem the later Ned and Daisy have.

The 1972 story line has the kids in high school. Their father is a hard drinker who moves from job to job as a painter (after a failed effort at farming). Their mother has a deserved reputation as a woman willing to bed down with any man when her husband is away. There is only one event that can be considered a family event; the other three go to watch Ned play in a football game. They sit together near the top of the stands, the father yelling frequently when Ned does something good. After halftime, he comes back from a visit to the ground with a flask of alcohol. He has already had some, begins making accusations to his wife, cursing frequently which draws the ire of gentlemen near him. He nearly gets in a brawl, and he and the mother begin to make up right there in the stands. Daisy is actually relieved when he falls over a few rows of people as it stops the two of them from going too far in the making up process out in public.

Ned does run with the money crowd as he plays football with Mack, and Rick among others. Daisy on the other hand, is so sure she doesn't want to be like her mother that she ignores her growing beauty and really only associates with a friend named Cindy Riggins, who was also on scholarship to the school. We see Ned's violent side begin to be exposed in visits back to 1972; killing a Black store owner, nearly choking Mack to death in his car, as well as other incidents. At the same time, we begin to see the development in Daisy's self-respect, as Denny Gautreaux goes beyond just showing interest in her. While he is the whipping boy of the football team, she gets to see a much more athletic side of him.

By 1996, Ned is doing Mack's bidding. He still socializes with Mack, Rick, and Al but it is much more obvious that he is of a lower class then they are in terms of their status within their group. He is obsessed about his mother and her whereabouts and who they're with. He is also obviously concerned about his relationship with Daisy, or lack thereof. Daisy is quietly passing the time. She doesn't leave the house much. When she does, she goes into areas of town that she knows in advance who she might run into. Not Ned, not Mack, not anybody she doesn't want to see. She begins to go out with Beer Smith, owner of the lounge she worked at. It started out as a couple of lonely people going out to dinner, and progressed; very similar to the way she and Denny started out.

It is Beer talking with Daisy, and another visit to 1972 that finally brings up the source of the siblings relationship problem. Needless to say it has to do with Ned and Mack and Denny. Explaining it would ruin an important part of the book. It is the reliving of this, as well as the burgeoning relationship with Beer that gets Daisy to decide to come to an initial level of forgiveness with Ned. It is at about the same time that Ned has finally developed enough shame of his relationship with Mack that he decides to act out upon it.

Decisions. Decisions and their ramifications. That is what Yarbrough's story is about. How our decisions lead to actions and how these actions have ramifications on the rest of our life. Some things we cannot control, race, class, when we are born all have effects as well, but it is our decisions and actions that have the longest lasting effect on the rest of our lives. This story is powerful and should be read.

In a contrast between a troubled past and present discontent, Ned Rose chafes under the abusive mentality of his boss, Mack Bell. Since high school, Mack has retained the upper hand, seducing the more vulnerable Ned by allowing him to join the social circle of the all-white high school football team, yet never letting Ned forget his background. Long-buried in their history is a shameful incident that leaves Ned in Mack's power and contributes to the tensions that surface in their adult years. This is clearly a one-sided relationship that will come to a climax, Ned's internalized rage and self-disgust eventually unbearable. Meanwhile, Ned's sister, Daze, watches her brother from a distance with disgust and distrust.

Raised by a distant housepainter father and an amoral mother, Ned and Daze fend for themselves, bearing the family shame in silence, isolating in their misery. While Daze allows herself to escape into a romance, Ned withdraws into himself, nursing his unhappiness. By the end of their teens, Mack will have permanently scarred both their lives irrevocably. As adults, the Mississippi delta leaves few options for brother and sister, Daze working in a local bar and Ned patrolling Mack's catfish ponds on the graveyard shift, aerating when necessary, while monitoring for potential problems. When someone begins sabotaging the ponds in the dark of night, Mack believes he knows the culprit and determines to deal with the culprits outside of the law. Long inured to Mack's kind of justice, Ned finally reaches his breaking point after a lifetime of emotional abuse.

With the Southern way of life as a backdrop, Ned and Daze are confronted with their humiliating past and the demands of the future; after too many years under the boot of the more powerful Mack, Ned realizes that until he faces his nemesis, the future will remain intolerable. Moody and atmospheric, Ned's appointment with destiny drives The Oxygen Man, a need to free himself from years of victimhood and claim his manhood in a final desperate cry for release. Luan Gaines/2006.

Steve Yarbrough has written a book with a wonderful sense of place and time. The characters live and breathe, and the dialogue rings true to the core. As seamlessly as the narrative flows, there are some remarkable eddys and bywaters that greatly enrich the book and demonstrate the author's deft hand.

This one is a stunner.

Steve Yarbrough was my writing teacher at Virginia Tech. This novel is a perfect example of his writing style: clear, concise and vivid. It reminds one of Faulkner, where the little people have dramas and character strengths and flaws. It is actually more like a novella, or a short story, of which the author is a master.

Just finished reading this book--couldn't put it down. An intriguing story, strongly drawn characters, and lively language. If this is Yarbrough's first novel, I'm waiting for more.

This book was a scary look at the South. Ned takes us through a time-warp back to the seventies, and his growing up years. The balance of Ned with Daisy helps us understand the challenges of growing up white and poor. This perspective is filled with honest, gritty realism. Mr. Yarbrough's style is definitely post-modern, and I would pair this illuminating novel with any similar ethnic growing-up story for teaching purposes.