I just finished Chris Offutt's THE GOOD BROTHER. It wasn't
bad. I liked the dialogue. According to the blurb on the back
cover, THE GOOD BROTHER is his first novel, a transition from
short stories. The novel's chapters sometimes had a short
story feel to them, with some of them hitting hard and
precise and others just filling in the chronology.
It's about a young Kentuckian pressured into avenging his
brother's murder, and his subsequent escape to Montana. The
first part of the book in Kentucky is the strongest. The
Montana part is not bad but it lacks the cohesion that the
earlier part has, and it seems to lose focus in a myriad of
new themes.
According to the back cover, Offutt has received a lot of
recognition. I cannot remember who on the list recommended
him to me (sorry!) but I recall they said they thought his
short stories better than his novel. I might try some of them
in the future.
miker
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 26 Dec 2004 EST