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misscassylee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I really love Lansdale’s books. He’s funny and his use of simile is fantastic— I wish more authors used them as a much as he does. Also, I think like Stephen King, Lansdale hasn’t forgotten what’s it’s like to be a kid. It’s a window into a boys world, and as I’m raising a boy of my own I really love his stories that are centered around young boys.
Every character in this book was so well written and nuanced and the even the secondary characters had depth and breadth. This is just a damn good story, it’s dark at times and violent and grapples with race and classism, but also laugh out loud funny.
Every character in this book was so well written and nuanced and the even the secondary characters had depth and breadth. This is just a damn good story, it’s dark at times and violent and grapples with race and classism, but also laugh out loud funny.
deadhighwaybooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
the_enobee's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book. The writing was always engaging, the character development was excellent, and the time period was represented in detail. The only thing keeping this from five stars is that the writing was sometimes too much telling in lieu of showing, and I felt the main character conflict could have been stronger. However, this book is written in more of a memoir style, and the main conflict is really the narrator coming to terms with the state of the world, which is plenty intense.
I'm turning into a big Lansdale fan, and this book is a good example of why. Strong character development and a story full of heart. Great stuff.
I'm turning into a big Lansdale fan, and this book is a good example of why. Strong character development and a story full of heart. Great stuff.
jjkook13's review against another edition
5.0
This book has a beating heart, made much more alive by the beautiful writing, engrossing plot, and impeccable characterizations.
ofearna's review against another edition
5.0
A fun read... right up there with Stephen King's IT (spider notwithstanding) and Boys Life by Rober R. McCammon
agoodaudiobooklistener's review against another edition
Narration was hard to listen to
sjj169's review against another edition
4.0
I read [b:The Bottoms|102113|The Bottoms|Joe R. Lansdale|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348765461s/102113.jpg|2038476] by Lansdale and fell in love with his writing. That book was a coming of age tale also.
This one is set in Dewmont, Texas during the late 1950's.
Thirteen year old Stanley Mitchell is pretty naive. He reads comic books and hangs out with his dog Nub. His dad gets a wild hair and buys the local drive in movie theater and the family moves into the house that comes with it.
Stanley and Nub are poking around in the woods near the theater and he digs up a box containing lost love letters.
There was a kind of smell about the place that brought to mind something primative, like a prehistoric swamp containing dead dinosaurs. I liked to pretend there were dinosaurs in there, in suspended animation, and that any moment one, awakened by a crack of thunder, or maybe a stroke of white hot lightning on the surface of the algae-slick pond, would rise out of there shedding water and begin a rampage through downtown Dewmont, hopefully taking the school out first.
He becomes interested in the story behind the letters when they realize that two murders happened on the same night involving people that had wrote the letters.
Stanley partners up with Buster Lighthouse Smith, an elderly black man who runs the projector at his family's drive in. Buster had retired from being an Indian Reservation police officer and he is way smarter than he lets on. He employs the love of Sherlock Holmes into his sleuthing skills.
There are other characters that come into the story also. You have black cleaning lady Rosy, who after being beaten by her live in boyfriend comes to live with Stanley's family, his sister Callie, his mom who's cooking will never be what Rosy's is, and his dad. Lansdale does father figures so very well. They will kick some ass if you mess with their families and you cheer the whole time.
"Threaten me, and the police will know about it."
"I'll bury your ass in the suit you're wearin' out back of my place and I'll plant a goddamn cactus on top of it."
I laughed.
Daddy looked at me sharply, and I went silent.
I love coming of age books, they are some of my favorite genre's and these are just so easy to get caught up in.
Plus you have the boy and his dog....
It was so wild the way the world and Dewmont really were. Probably all towns were like this and most people never found out. I wished I were most people. It was like once the lid was off the world, everything that was ugly and secret came out.
Just a short time ago my biggest concern, my greatest disappointment, was discovering there was no Santa Claus.
This one is set in Dewmont, Texas during the late 1950's.
Thirteen year old Stanley Mitchell is pretty naive. He reads comic books and hangs out with his dog Nub. His dad gets a wild hair and buys the local drive in movie theater and the family moves into the house that comes with it.
Stanley and Nub are poking around in the woods near the theater and he digs up a box containing lost love letters.
There was a kind of smell about the place that brought to mind something primative, like a prehistoric swamp containing dead dinosaurs. I liked to pretend there were dinosaurs in there, in suspended animation, and that any moment one, awakened by a crack of thunder, or maybe a stroke of white hot lightning on the surface of the algae-slick pond, would rise out of there shedding water and begin a rampage through downtown Dewmont, hopefully taking the school out first.
He becomes interested in the story behind the letters when they realize that two murders happened on the same night involving people that had wrote the letters.
Stanley partners up with Buster Lighthouse Smith, an elderly black man who runs the projector at his family's drive in. Buster had retired from being an Indian Reservation police officer and he is way smarter than he lets on. He employs the love of Sherlock Holmes into his sleuthing skills.
There are other characters that come into the story also. You have black cleaning lady Rosy, who after being beaten by her live in boyfriend comes to live with Stanley's family, his sister Callie, his mom who's cooking will never be what Rosy's is, and his dad. Lansdale does father figures so very well. They will kick some ass if you mess with their families and you cheer the whole time.
"Threaten me, and the police will know about it."
"I'll bury your ass in the suit you're wearin' out back of my place and I'll plant a goddamn cactus on top of it."
I laughed.
Daddy looked at me sharply, and I went silent.
I love coming of age books, they are some of my favorite genre's and these are just so easy to get caught up in.
Plus you have the boy and his dog....
It was so wild the way the world and Dewmont really were. Probably all towns were like this and most people never found out. I wished I were most people. It was like once the lid was off the world, everything that was ugly and secret came out.
Just a short time ago my biggest concern, my greatest disappointment, was discovering there was no Santa Claus.
tarah_'s review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jonmhansen's review against another edition
4.0
Buster looked at me, saw I was bewildered.
"Growin' up, just full of confusion, ain't it, Stan?"
"I'll say."
"Growin' up, just full of confusion, ain't it, Stan?"
"I'll say."
davidwright's review against another edition
3.0
Although this has some things in common with To Kill a Mockingbird and Montana, 1948 - a child's-eye-view of growing up amidst racial injustice in mid-century, with intrigue and - Landsdale just can't resist adding in his own Southern Gothic touches in the form of a homicidal maniac and a gruesome near-decapatation. So there you have it: To Kill a Mockingbird meets Night of the Living Dead. Good book, tho.