Grit and Squalor Carpenter, Don (1966/2009). Hard Rain Falling. New York: New York Review Books Gritty is too mild a descriptor for this unrelentingly dark character study of a young man in Portland and San Francisco in the 1960’s. Jack … Continue reading
Zombie Professor Williams, John (1965). Stoner. New York: New York Review of Books, 278 pp. This is a well-written story of an average man who lives an average life. William Stoner, son of farmers in Missouri, goes off to college … Continue reading
Bums with Feelings Kennedy, William (1983). Ironweed. New York: Penguin, 225 pp. This beautifully written novel is a character study of homeless alcoholics in Albany during the depression. Sounds depressing, but it isn’t, because the characters are so alive and … Continue reading