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phil_abernethy's review
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
thewordslinger's review
3.0
This book has been on my shelf for a literal decade. I think I'd started it ages ago and put it down... I remembered nothing about it and I went in blind.
If you were a 20-something living in the deep south circa 1975, this book may very well be your autobiography. The writing is thick with culture and Brown does an excellent job of creating authentic sounded voices for the characters in his short stories.
Big Bad Love is a collection of short stories that display love not as some romanticized ideal, but as the real, hard, complicated emotion it is. Sometimes it involves boredom, sorrow, frustration, anger, loss, infidelity... these tales could be from anyone's past, and they feel genuine.
However, just about every single one of the stories in this collection involve the same few elements:
1. Drinking beer/alcohol
2. Thinking about women and thinking about having sex with them.
3. Smoking pot/cigarettes
4. Driving around aimlessly
After a while (I made it through part 1--about halfway through the book) I began to roll my eyes at the sameness of all the stories. It might be someone's thing out there--and I am in NO way criticizing Larry Brown's writing because it is excellent, but it's not for me.
If you were a 20-something living in the deep south circa 1975, this book may very well be your autobiography. The writing is thick with culture and Brown does an excellent job of creating authentic sounded voices for the characters in his short stories.
Big Bad Love is a collection of short stories that display love not as some romanticized ideal, but as the real, hard, complicated emotion it is. Sometimes it involves boredom, sorrow, frustration, anger, loss, infidelity... these tales could be from anyone's past, and they feel genuine.
However, just about every single one of the stories in this collection involve the same few elements:
1. Drinking beer/alcohol
2. Thinking about women and thinking about having sex with them.
3. Smoking pot/cigarettes
4. Driving around aimlessly
After a while (I made it through part 1--about halfway through the book) I began to roll my eyes at the sameness of all the stories. It might be someone's thing out there--and I am in NO way criticizing Larry Brown's writing because it is excellent, but it's not for me.
maedo's review
2.0
I chose this book to read for my 1000th "read" book
on Goodreads because it is one of the books that's sat on my shelves the longest unread. It survived nearly a decade of culling neglected books in my library to make room for fresher options, because I was so sure that when I finally got around to it I'd love it.
But maybe 2018 wasn't the right time for Big Bad Love. I'm not predisposed to empathy for pathetic drunk dudes hunting for (usually extramarital) tail in these times of Trump. I can be convinced into empathy for most characters by especially good writing, but Larry Brown's "Bukowski of the South" style struck me as more mordant than empathetic.
The first part of this book, a selection of short stories, is its best part. The title story was probably my favorite, and the only one where the macho humor made at the expense of the main character's wife made me laugh (the MC is sexually frustrated in his marriage because his wife's vagina is too loose; as with Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint, Brown seems in on the humor, aware that his MC is rather pathetic, and writes some really funny sentences illustrating how awful their sex life is as a result).
The second part of this book is a meta interlude about two writers being punished for copping others' style/"literary theft." It is jarring to read based on the stories that have come before it, and not very well executed. I contemplated DNFing this book after it.
The third part of the book is a novella that, despite following a story about literary theft, reeked so much of Bukowski in terms of style and ambling, aimless quality. I did feel an occasional pang of feeling, but again was mostly frustrated by the machismo.
I want it understood, though, that I love some of Bukowski's writing (I have lines from "The Laughing Heart" tattooed on me). I love other artists that are like Larry Brown in terms of writing and/or singing mostly about women and drink. Tom Waits, Howlin' Wolf? Love love love. But they also have a burning heart that I could not find in most of this collection.
Now I'm off to listen to "Anywhere I Lay My Head," because the feeling I get listening to that song is the feeling I hoped to get from Big Bad Love and did not!
on Goodreads because it is one of the books that's sat on my shelves the longest unread. It survived nearly a decade of culling neglected books in my library to make room for fresher options, because I was so sure that when I finally got around to it I'd love it.
But maybe 2018 wasn't the right time for Big Bad Love. I'm not predisposed to empathy for pathetic drunk dudes hunting for (usually extramarital) tail in these times of Trump. I can be convinced into empathy for most characters by especially good writing, but Larry Brown's "Bukowski of the South" style struck me as more mordant than empathetic.
The first part of this book, a selection of short stories, is its best part. The title story was probably my favorite, and the only one where the macho humor made at the expense of the main character's wife made me laugh (the MC is sexually frustrated in his marriage because his wife's vagina is too loose; as with Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint, Brown seems in on the humor, aware that his MC is rather pathetic, and writes some really funny sentences illustrating how awful their sex life is as a result).
The second part of this book is a meta interlude about two writers being punished for copping others' style/"literary theft." It is jarring to read based on the stories that have come before it, and not very well executed. I contemplated DNFing this book after it.
The third part of the book is a novella that, despite following a story about literary theft, reeked so much of Bukowski in terms of style and ambling, aimless quality. I did feel an occasional pang of feeling, but again was mostly frustrated by the machismo.
I want it understood, though, that I love some of Bukowski's writing (I have lines from "The Laughing Heart" tattooed on me). I love other artists that are like Larry Brown in terms of writing and/or singing mostly about women and drink. Tom Waits, Howlin' Wolf? Love love love. But they also have a burning heart that I could not find in most of this collection.
Now I'm off to listen to "Anywhere I Lay My Head," because the feeling I get listening to that song is the feeling I hoped to get from Big Bad Love and did not!
viktorija9's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
donnaeve's review
4.0
Here is my quick take on this collection of short stories by Larry Brown. Some are really good, while others left me scratching my head. One in particular titled DISCIPLINE was a real puzzle. It didn't make sense to me, but sometimes I think the stories require re-reading. This one was written like a screenplay, and someone was on the witness stand in court, answering questions about having sex with a fat woman, called "involuntary sex." This same person was asked to then read some of his writings, out loud, and he had a meltdown - end of story.
Other stories in here made me laugh out loud. LB seems like he's crawled into many heads of people he knows, and he just plunks them down on the page so clearly, so accurately, it just leaves you amazed at his writing prowess and his remarkable ability with character portrayal. I can't say enough about that, really.
All in all, I still like his writing. I have several more books to get through, FAY is the next one I want to start, and then, maybe BILLY RAY'S FARM. If anyone has read Larry Brown, and this collection in particular - maybe you can enlighten me on the story DISCIPLINE.
Other stories in here made me laugh out loud. LB seems like he's crawled into many heads of people he knows, and he just plunks them down on the page so clearly, so accurately, it just leaves you amazed at his writing prowess and his remarkable ability with character portrayal. I can't say enough about that, really.
All in all, I still like his writing. I have several more books to get through, FAY is the next one I want to start, and then, maybe BILLY RAY'S FARM. If anyone has read Larry Brown, and this collection in particular - maybe you can enlighten me on the story DISCIPLINE.
sjmerrill's review
4.0
Was going to give this one a 3, but the final story (“92 Days”) pushed it up to a 4.
neven's review
4.0
Suffers a bit from featuring the same voice through all the stories, and from an excess of machismo. But, Brown always writes well.
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