Rating: 
Summary: Gritty and Not Fun for Kitty
Review: Tom Franklin is a terrific writer. His prose is sparse yet descriptive. Some might believe he's a slooshee made out of Ernest Hemingway, Larry Brown, and Raymond Carver. These stories will please fans of what the scowling (and snooty) independent bookseller with the "Give Peace a Chance" t-shirt called 'Oh, Southern GritLit fan are ya' when I dropped it at the cash register. These are stories about losers, dreamers, boozers, troublemakers, who carry on in the midst of self-imposed turmoil. I should warn the catlovers of the world (note: I gave a lovingly inscribed copy to Bessie for her birthday and bookmarked the Duane Juarez chapter) that there's a story in which cats (and kittens) get treated in an unkind manner. Of course, a lot of humans get treated poorly as well.In any case, the writing is fabulous and the title novella is a bit of a chiller. Great beer-drinking reading and some of the finest writing I've seen in contemporary fiction. Oh, and a lot of these stories have a hint of humor to them, even in the midst of disaster. Good stuff and Heavy Hop Dop approves mightily.
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