Terry's review
Jesus' Son: Stories
by Denis Johnson
Terry's review
Jesus' Son: Stories by Denis Johnson
Terry's review
rating:
bookshelves:
greatshortstories
recommended for: most people
Denis Johnson was a bad alcoholic, druggie, and petty thief back in the day. These stories are from that time. Nowadays you almost have to state: I don't advocate the lifestyle. But the stories affected me like nothing since 9 Stories by Salinger.
Far from being downbeat or crazy, the stories are luminous, made of fine crystal, with sentences that burn: "Down the hall she came. She didn't know yet that her husband was dead. We knew. That's what gave her such power over us. She was glorious, burning....I've gone looking for that feeling everywhere."
It's 1973 and Johnson says to an AWOL hitch-hiker on his way to Canada: "Don't worry. You're on your way to Canada!" Then back to today: "That world! These days it's all been erased and they've rolled it up like a scroll and put it somewhere. But where is it?"
Read them in no particular order.
Far from being downbeat or crazy, the stories are luminous, made of fine crystal, with sentences that burn: "Down the hall she came. She didn't know yet that her husband was dead. We knew. That's what gave her such power over us. She was glorious, burning....I've gone looking for that feeling everywhere."
It's 1973 and Johnson says to an AWOL hitch-hiker on his way to Canada: "Don't worry. You're on your way to Canada!" Then back to today: "That world! These days it's all been erased and they've rolled it up like a scroll and put it somewhere. But where is it?"
Read them in no particular order.
