A review by unionmack
Facing the Music by Larry Brown

4.0

My girlfriend picked this one up at Powell's on a whim a while ago and recommended it to me when she was finished. I'm really glad she did. These stories are tailor made for a Flannery O'Connor obsessive like me. They may not be as Catholic, but they sure are filled with quiet desperation. Ranging from the darkly comic to the outright tragic, Larry Brown's protagonists barely feel worthy of the title "anti-hero." But that's the mark of his talent: you're empathizing the whole way through with utterly repellant, hopeless cases because the right person is telling you their stories. "Kubuku Rides," "Old Frank and Jesus," "Boy and Dog," "Night Life," "Leaving Town," and "The End of Romance" were the standouts to me; the others felt a little more unhewn.