false 336474 5 <B>Penzler Pick, April 2000:</B> The world of mystery has long accepted the occasional offbeat tour de force that veers into the realm of uncertain reality. Even if its author might be startled to hear it, <I>The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living</I> fits comfortably, I think, into the splendid list that includes John Dickson Carr's <I>The Burning Court</I>, Russell Greenan's <I>It Happened in Boston</I>, and William Hjortsberg's <I>Falling Angel</I>. At the same time, it is like none of those books. Imagine John Grisham crossed with Alice Hoffman and you might come closer to what's going on in these highly entertaining pages.<p> The story itself offers interlocking strands that come together in the person of Evers Wheeling, a preternaturally young North Carolina judge who's headed to the dogs with his eyes wide open, "waiting to hit bottom," as he puts it. But just before he makes it there, into his life comes a blonde in trouble with an outrageous (and ever-mutating) tale of a brother who needs help avoiding a jail sentence. That this brother turns out not to resemble his sister in the slightest--he's an African-American dwarf, and strong for his size--is just a small surprise in the overall scheme of things. (Here you might start trying to picture <I>The Maltese Falcon</I> as rewritten by Charles Portis.)<p> There's an elusive prize, possibly a cache of rare stamps worth millions, and a decided falling-out between an uncertain alliance of thieves; there's also a brutal murder, one that's close enough to home to put Evers Wheeling on trial for his own life. In addition to all this, there's Evers's brother, Pascal, to reckon with: he's the one with the double-wide trailer parked back in the woods, the IQ that's off the charts, the preference for staying stoned, and the one trying to help his sibling in <I>any</I> way he can, no matter the illegality.<p> <I>The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living</I> is enough to put Good Ole Boys back in style. But until Martin Clark writes his next book, I guess all I can do is go back and reread Michael Malone's equally memorable--and moving--<I>Handling Sin</I>, perhaps the best Southern novel of the past quarter-century. <I>--Otto Penzler</I> 450204 book 2000 The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living: A Novel total:125|5:15|4:51|3:37|2:21|1:1| 125 433 194 20 3 0 false false Sat Sep 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 12 05:16:51 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 07 07:37:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri May 23 10:57:44 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 12 12:42:40 -0700 2008 Plain Heathen Mischief, so I was really looking forward to reading this book.

Many Aspects... uses many of the same devices as Plain Heathen Mischief, including a likable but deeply flawed protagonist, unlikely pairings of mismatched characters, and a journey ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 10 15:57:24 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 02 08:31:48 -0800 2008 Amazon.com for 80 cents. It has arrived with a battered and torn cover. They promised "like new" but what do I want for 80 cents?

This book immediately engaged me. I'm hooked on this author now. If I had designed this book, however, I would have made the...more...]]> 4 0 true false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 05:58:10 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 06:01:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 19:05:02 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 19:08:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Dec 23 05:33:23 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 23 05:35:46 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Fri Nov 14 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 04 03:51:24 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 14 14:06:05 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Nov 20 14:09:15 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 20 14:09:46 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Fri Jan 02 07:46:46 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 02 07:48:37 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Feb 08 18:55:41 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 18:57:57 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Tue Jul 17 16:18:14 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 17 16:22:33 -0700 2007
A young lawyer gets left by his bitch of a wife so he starts hanging out in the front yard of his brother's trailer smoki...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 24 17:35:58 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 24 17:35:58 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Sep 18 09:18:17 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 18 09:19:51 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 12 13:24:51 -0700 2008 Mon May 12 11:26:07 -0700 2008
Okay, I finally finished this one up a bit ago, and it got better further in, but it didn't hit a sweet spot. It was trying too...more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Oct 31 16:10:42 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 31 16:12:24 -0700 2008
Not a horri...more...]]> 4 0 true false Tue May 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 26 09:23:42 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 16:45:43 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Jun 24 17:40:35 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 24 17:43:12 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Sat Jun 07 13:07:23 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 13:08:02 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Tue Aug 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 12 20:12:30 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 26 20:41:34 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Fri Jan 11 09:06:42 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 11 09:07:29 -0800 2008