Dirty Work (Vintage Contemporaries)

Rating:
Summary: Damn.
Review: Brown opens with a reference to "Johnny Get Your Gun," and the novel definitely contains parallels, but his pacing, characters and dialogue are far and away reason enough to pick this up. Like Thom Jones and Tim O'Brien, Brown elicits my great thanks and praises to both vets and the fact that I was born in 1972.

Rating:
Summary: Damn.
Review: Dirty Work is the captivating debut novel from the finest novelist of this generation. Hailed as a modern Johnny Got His Gun, it lives up to and, at times, surpasses such comparisons. Brown's creative way of alternating the perspective, chapter by chapter, between the two main characters works beautifully. It's a fast and compelling read. The dark clouds that permeate Brown's style of storytelling are devoid of silver linings. The emotional landscape is often more stark than the gloomy physical settings where his stories unfold. I have turned many people on to this gem and all have come away as loyal Larry Brown fans. I do not think it's possible to be disappointed with this novel. Dive in with absolute confidence that Mr. Brown will take you where you need to go! You will want more when you are finished.

Rating:
Summary: incredible debut novel from a master craftsman
Review: Dirty Work is the captivating debut novel from the finest novelist of this generation. Hailed as a modern Johnny Got His Gun, it lives up to and, at times, surpasses such comparisons. Brown's creative way of alternating the perspective, chapter by chapter, between the two main characters works beautifully. It's a fast and compelling read. The dark clouds that permeate Brown's style of storytelling are devoid of silver linings. The emotional landscape is often more stark than the gloomy physical settings where his stories unfold. I have turned many people on to this gem and all have come away as loyal Larry Brown fans. I do not think it's possible to be disappointed with this novel. Dive in with absolute confidence that Mr. Brown will take you where you need to go! You will want more when you are finished.

Rating:
Summary: Dirty Work Indeed
Review: I'm a stone sucker for gritty Vietnam tales and don't care whether they are fantasy or realism, as long as someone is holding in their innards with a sweaty bandanna or emptying their 60 into the trees. In this novel, Brown goes where other writers like Robert Stone, Thom Jones and Bill Shields also go; things get ugly, they go to hell through nobody's fault, luck and Jesus run out at the same time. On paper, the plot seems somewhat hackneyed - the short-fuse father who ends up in the Big House, the school bullies, the Vietnam ambush scenes, etc. But Brown makes it work. We want to know what both of the main characters are thinking. Even more interesting than any of this is the budding relationship between the protagonist and another wrecked soul who sells him the beer that blunts his pain. Although the early Cuckoo's Nest reference telegraphs the ending somewhat, this book reads quick and rough, like the first elementary school beating I ever took. Recommended.