Facing the Music

He also indicates he likes women, beer and dogs. In this wonderful collection of short fiction, Larry Brown takes you cruising to smokey bars searching for juicy women. He takes you back home where undesired wives are bitter at their non-willing partners. He takes you to the edge of a horrible accident caused by a child, vigilant at getting back at the driver for killing his dog. He also takes you to the backroads and side streets of Mississippi, where life is thick, humid and the people are thirsty for something to happen.

It has been my opinion over the last three years that the best authors in America writing today are southerners: Ellen Gilchrist, Nancy Peacock, Clyde Edgerton. Two of the best are from Mississippi: Lewis Nordan and Larry Brown.I won't lie--Nordan is the better of the two, but "Facing the Music" is proof that Brown can hold his own. In this collection of short stories, Brown gives readers a real-life view of southern relationships. Full of drunkeness, violence and bitterness, these stories paint a true picture of love in the South. There is, however, a tenderness in some of these stories that make you understand why lovers even try in the first place.Give this one a chance. You wont regret it.

Larry Brown has taken short fiction to its pique. The story "Julie, a Memory" is absolutely fascinating. All of his stories have within them the essence of real humanity. His stories are poignant and thought-provoking. This is wonderful reading for those who don't have time for novels.

FACING THE MUSIC is a series of short stories that Larry Brown wrote while still trying to get his grasp on writing from within. Even from the opening words of this collection, one can discern that he's speaking to the reader from the depths of his soul. Following this lead, most of the stories are engrossing personal portraits of the rotting corpses within personal relationships. Brown accurately arouses feelings in the reader in most of the stories, especially the harrowing 'Kubuku Rides'. And, supplies the occasional chuckle and smile, as well. The only drawback may be how experimental some of his prose is (for instance, the former story is written within a dialect) But, nonetheless-when he communicates the feelings and not the words on the page, his thoughts are the kind that can keep you up late at night pondering your own lives.