false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171484466m/102113.jpg 102113 18 Joe Lansdale, author of several horror novels, Westerns, and some outrageous thrillers, is something of a cult writer. <I>The Bottoms</I>, which may be the breakout book that moves Lansdale beyond the genre category, is a resonant and moving novel. Though there is a mystery at its core, it is at heart a coming-of-age story, with a more literary bent than Lansdale usually demonstrates. <p> Harry, an elderly man, tells the story of a series of events that occurred in his 11th year, when the mutilated, murdered bodies of Negro prostitutes began turning up in the county where his father was the local constable. Harry and Tom, his younger sister, find the first one. Only their father, Jacob Crane, seems to care about finding justice for the victims, who are dismissed out of hand as unimportant by the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan, which warns Jacob off any further investigations. Harry and Tom think they know who's responsible: the Goat Man, a creature who's said to lurk beneath the swinging bridge that crosses the Sabine River, where the first body was found. In fact, the Goat Man has something to do with the murders, and the secret of who he is and what he really did is the key to the unsolved slayings. But that takes second place to the artfully explicated character of Jacob and Harry's changing relationship with him in the course of the loss of his boyish innocence. This is a masterfully told story and a very good read. <I>--Jane Adams</I> 2038476 1 9 2000 The Bottoms total:414|5:160|4:180|3:61|2:11|1:2| 414 1727 602 77 3 1 false false Wed Oct 21 01:25:13 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 01:39:07 -0700 2009
Most of his stories are pretty lazy a...more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri May 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 29 17:00:33 -0700 2008 Sat May 03 14:41:39 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 22:18:17 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 23:56:49 -0700 2009 The Bottoms is a realistic look at rural life in the East Texas during the Great Depression. Narrated by a man at the end of his years about an incident that happened he was 11 years old, the story centers around a string of brutal murders of women. At first it is a bla...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Apr 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 09:04:16 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 09:22:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 08:48:21 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 09:13:12 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 06 10:44:50 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 24 13:38:09 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 13 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Tue Feb 12 08:59:57 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 12 08:59:57 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1999 Thu Nov 15 09:10:48 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 15 09:13:55 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Apr 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 10:05:12 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 10:12:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Oct 03 13:37:09 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 04 19:38:19 -0800 2007 The Bottoms may very well be the best book of Joe R. Lansdale’s career. It typifies what is best about his work with fascinating characters in unique situations in a story that is wonderfully Texas. Not chock full of the humor or "colorful" language of his previous works, Lansdale sho...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Nov 05 12:00:04 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 15 17:45:26 -0800 2009
I've only read three other Lansdale books. While this captured a lot of sense of humor and style, the themes are far more bold and complex. I l...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 13 20:28:26 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 13 20:32:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Wed May 20 13:33:38 -0700 2009 Wed May 20 13:36:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sat Jan 17 19:49:53 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 17 19:54:17 -0800 2009 3 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Nov 21 12:53:18 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 21 13:08:33 -0800 2008
Here is an except:
http://www.mostlyfiction.com/excerpts/bo...

I will mess up this review with too much talking, but I think Lansdale is one of the best writing today. It is a coming of age story, a period thriller, a southern tale.
...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat May 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 19:03:24 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 19:09:13 -0700 2009
Tightly plotted and told with that Lansdale flare, it's both a thr...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 13:08:18 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 13:08:39 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 true false Tue Sep 01 21:41:48 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 21:47:07 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Nov 24 20:50:27 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 24 20:52:02 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Tue Mar 24 12:58:56 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 24 13:00:55 -0700 2009 with the innocent children narrating and a boo radley type character. If you are going to steal, steal from the best. He has also made it his own. An enjoyable read]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=102113