Crimes in Southern Indiana: Stories by Frank Bill
My rating: 4/5 cats
sorry, canada. i know i just gave tony burgess the title of “sick fuck,” * but i am going to be taking that crown back now, and giving it to frank bill. oh, god – what is that shit clotted all over it?? tony burgess, you sick sick fuck. well done.
this book is…descriptive.
this is another one of those short story collections that is more or less a deconstructed novel. the title of this novel could easily be here is a list of people who died horrible deaths in one place over a number of years subtitled seriously, i hope you aren’t one of those people who becomes attached to characters. because you will be horrified.
it is rough. and bleak.
and the author looks like “mean zach galifianakis”
as opposed to “placid zach galifianakis”
the blurbs on the back of this are all from people i have either read and loved, or mean to read and love: tom franklin, donald ray pollock, benjamin percy, pinckney benedict, william gay…all of those authors that do the appalachia-and-its-borders thing i love, with its isolated poor and its inherited revenge tragedies and the resourcefulness of its populace steamrolled by lack of opportunity and …resources. lazy repetition or clever wordplay? you decide – i am half in a food coma.
this book is best read in three-story chunks, with the interval used to wipe the blood spatter from your glasses. and those of you who don’t wear glasses, after you read one of the scenes in here, you are going to wish you did because oh my god, i have to share it, and it probably isn’t even a spoiler, but it is so gross i should spare elizabeth:View Spoiler »
love it. so gross, man. i squawked when i read that part.
but yeah – when you are reading this, just know that every character is going to experience that age-old evolutionary decision: kill or be killed.
whether it be a woman scorned, or meth-related, or to protect family, or because of honor, or befuddlement, or fear, or all in a day’s work, there will be blood.
and probably other fluids as well, it gets a little messy.
also, dogfighting, which was interesting because that story made me feel awful, while the multitudes of human carnage that came before it had no effect on my sympathy-parts. interesting or pathological? you decide.
but only after you read this book.
not you, obviously, elizabeth.
* oh my god, how awesome is it when i link to another one of my reviews within a review!? get thee behind me, shame! i do not recognize ye!
