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180th out of 257 books
—
567 voters
The Sharpshooter Blues
by
Lewis Nordan
The first question this remarkable new tale of mayhem and misunderstanding asks is: Who is singing the Sharpshooter Blues?Is it Morgan, the teenage trick-shot artist, who stops by The William Tell Grocery in Arrow Catcher, Mississippi, one day to show off some fancy moves? Or is it Marshal Chisolm who enforces Law and Order? Or is it maybe Hydro Raney, a sweet, simple boy...more
Paperback, 308 pages
Published
January 9th 1997
by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
(first published January 10th 1995)
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A great read! The author has the characters use larger than life stories - approaching legends - to help go (even flow) through day-to-day life and loss, and the blues that come along with it all. Water and its flow are a big part of the book. To me the book is about loss and coping, and about pain and healing, and about friendships. Reading to the end is like eating a bowl of hearty goulash; you are full and nourished. This book not only has a sharpshooter; it has villains and heroes, an undert...more
Imagine being in a world filled with humidity, drooping moss, parrots flying, sounds of Robert Johnson singing to the wind and motoring the swampy delta in a boat powered by an evinrude motor. This is the world of Hydro Raney a young man stunted mentally by hydro-encephalitis. Lewis Nordan draws us into this strange and magical world in his book Sharp-Shooter Blues. Every character is deftly created and a pleasure to meet.
Hydro Raney is a gentle and innocent young man who readers will easily tak...more
Hydro Raney is a gentle and innocent young man who readers will easily tak...more
This is one of those novels that people either don't particularly like or go nuts over. I first learned of it from a friend in my writing group. If it's so goo, I told myself, why haven't I heard of it or of Lewis Nordan, the author.
Don't know the answers to those questions but the book is definitely that good. With equal parts magical realism and very thick description, this eerie tale set way back on the bayous of Louisiana really delivers. I'd say if you really like Flannery O'Connor, you'd...more
Don't know the answers to those questions but the book is definitely that good. With equal parts magical realism and very thick description, this eerie tale set way back on the bayous of Louisiana really delivers. I'd say if you really like Flannery O'Connor, you'd...more
I have to thank my ex for this book. It was given to me as a birthday present, and it has definitely left a mark, albeit how much of one is still to be determined, on me. This could be described as magical realism southern Gothic, but I think tragicomedy would be a more fitting description. There's something ultimately comical about the way this book is written, and above all else, something comical about the characters.
The book can be a tad sentimental, but it's a heartbreaking sentimentality,...more
The book can be a tad sentimental, but it's a heartbreaking sentimentality,...more
Thanks to Joe W for recommending this (well for having it on his list). I loved this book. The writing is near perfect - I savored his words and how they went together and the paragraphs and even re-read some of the wonderful wonderful conversations. It is funny (I still smile when recalling the conversation about the bucktoothed cowboy - "and him being dead and all") and it was sad,very sad, and it was poignant and about love and being loved, and there was this great tension as he describes sim...more
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This is one of the funniest books I have read in a while. The first 80 something pages were slow to read since I had to put the book on my lap due to outbursts...therefore loosing my place...every few lines. It gives you a breather in order to develop the story and some more colorful characters, then picks back up with the laughs, makes you weep and finally makes you think.
Again set in Arrow Cather this book ties in subtle details with Nordans other novels. A pure joy to read.
Again set in Arrow Cather this book ties in subtle details with Nordans other novels. A pure joy to read.
If you ever think to yourself that you want to feel super cool by reading an author that nobody else has ever heard of and who also happens to write astounding fiction, Lewis Nordan is your guy and The Sharpshooter Blues is your novel.
Pretty awesome. It's a good book to read on the other side of having lost someone you weren't expecting to lose. Meaning, he explains the feeling pretty well in his weird, super-poetic, good way.
I have just finished reading this book for about the tenth time and it gets better with every time. If you have a dark sense of humor I would recommend this novel to you.
I stumbled upon this on some website, and the review convinced me to try it. What a gem! Sweet and sad and loving and horrific. I cant put it down.
This book is more of the great kind of storytelling I expect from Nordan. I really like how he starts out so many of his novels in the same basic spot with the same crew of possible characters. It makes each novel seem familiar right from the start. Not that Nordan repeats himself though. He doesn't. Instead, though each book starts out from a similar origin point, they each diverge from there. Like a hallway with different doors, each book picks a different door to look behind. It reminds me a...more
My FAVORITE book of summer.
The south, swamps, small towns, and sadness.
A beautiful and dreary droll through the mangrove trees...
The south, swamps, small towns, and sadness.
A beautiful and dreary droll through the mangrove trees...
This is great. Has beautiful language, is funny, heartbreaking, and close to perfect.
Nordan speaks for himself: "...brave and vengeful as a strange angel." p. 191.
Seamus: 3.4 Peaks
Jim: 3.3 refrigerator shooting peaks
Jim: 3.3 refrigerator shooting peaks
This is on my top ten of all time!
This one is in the tradition of the Southern Grotesque--think dead canaries in paper bags, crystal balls, the particulars of prepping a cadaver for a funeral. And like Lewis Nordan's other books, is funny and sad at once.
In keeping with my obesssion with freaks showing the true nature of humanity, I adore Lewis Nordan. His stories are haunting, quotes from his novels float up to the surface like parts of a dream.
Jul 25, 2008
Jimmy
added it
Second best of the Nordan novels, which puts it among the best American books ever written I say. Broke my heart, it did.
there are not enough words in the world to describe my love of this book
good book buddy.
May 14, 2013
Canaan Merchant
marked it as to-read
Apr 09, 2013
Gibson
added it
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lewis Nordan
Born August 23, 1939 (age 72)
Forest, Mississippi
Lewis Nordan (born August 23, 1939 in Forest, Mississippi) grew up in Itta Bena, Mississippi. He is a graduate of Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1983, at age forty-five, Nordan published his first collection of stories, Welcome to the Arrow-Catcher Fair. The collection established him as...more
More about Lewis Nordan...
Lewis Nordan
Born August 23, 1939 (age 72)
Forest, Mississippi
Lewis Nordan (born August 23, 1939 in Forest, Mississippi) grew up in Itta Bena, Mississippi. He is a graduate of Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1983, at age forty-five, Nordan published his first collection of stories, Welcome to the Arrow-Catcher Fair. The collection established him as...more
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“Louis said, "There ought to be a comic book about geeks."
Dr. McNaughton said, "There are books about geeks."
He said, "There are?"
Dr. McNaughton said, "I'll read you some Faulkner sometime. I'll read you some Eudora Welty, some Flannery O'Connor. Geeks, midgets, anything your heart desires. Better than comic books."
Louis looked at his father. He said, "You'll read to me? Really?”
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2 people liked it
Dr. McNaughton said, "There are books about geeks."
He said, "There are?"
Dr. McNaughton said, "I'll read you some Faulkner sometime. I'll read you some Eudora Welty, some Flannery O'Connor. Geeks, midgets, anything your heart desires. Better than comic books."
Louis looked at his father. He said, "You'll read to me? Really?”
“Mr. Raney named the porpoises - Sister Woman, and Renford, and Lamar, and St. Elmo - and could recognize them, and call each by its name, even at night, six feet long, some of them, with a million sharp teeth and a naughty grin. Often when he floated past in the boat and watched their playful wheeling, in and out among the cypress knees, he called out to them, "Lamar, we are all alone in the world!" or "Renford, cork is an export product of India!”
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1 person liked it
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