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thekarpuk's review
4.0
This isn't a long book, but it took me many sittings to get through. There's an intensity to the emotions contained within that doesn't allow you to just curl up with this on a lazy Sunday and work through the whole thing.
For starters many of the stories concern war veterans, and even the ones that don't tend to involve deeply damaged men of one sort or another.
Cox has a knack for pulling the reader in to these closed off enclaves of human life where psychologically damaged men retreat to. The prose is fluid with an effortless grace.
The story Obtaining Mercy made me genuinely wish a DB Cox novel was floating out there waiting for purchase. The longer form stories have a knack for establishing characters at a fast pace.
If there's one issue with the book, it comes more from the collection than any particular work. I felt like it could have used some variance in the emotions on display, something to break up a rhythm that borders on a dirge. I know that was probably his intent, but a few stories with a slightly different mood might have made the darkness hit even harder.
It's a small book, but there's a lot trapped in there.
For starters many of the stories concern war veterans, and even the ones that don't tend to involve deeply damaged men of one sort or another.
Cox has a knack for pulling the reader in to these closed off enclaves of human life where psychologically damaged men retreat to. The prose is fluid with an effortless grace.
The story Obtaining Mercy made me genuinely wish a DB Cox novel was floating out there waiting for purchase. The longer form stories have a knack for establishing characters at a fast pace.
If there's one issue with the book, it comes more from the collection than any particular work. I felt like it could have used some variance in the emotions on display, something to break up a rhythm that borders on a dirge. I know that was probably his intent, but a few stories with a slightly different mood might have made the darkness hit even harder.
It's a small book, but there's a lot trapped in there.
craigwallwork's review
3.0
Each story in Unaccustomed Mercy reads like a scream that awakes you in the night. There is a beginning, something unnerving that pulls you into the dark underbelly of life, slowly followed by a sense of regret and hopelessness. But there is no end. Instead, what D.B. Cox offers you is a moment, a single action that reverberates in your mind long after it has disappeared.
For this reason, Unaccustomed Mercy is not an easy book to read. If you want stories with resolution, twee and sickly sweet characters that fall in love and live happy lives, then this book is not for you. The strength of this books lies in its desolate landscape that shifts with each character Cox renders so perfectly to the page. The overriding theme throughout each story is redemption, or absolution. Like the man battling with his past, seeking absolution, or a cure to an illness that is rotting him from the inside out, a man so desperate for escape he fantasies of an execution, and the only judge and jury being his father. Or the story of an angel wishing to be mortal, to feel pain because even pain is better than nothing. Or a man sat in bed measuring his life against the life of Jesus, hoping for an answer but getting a shrug from His celestial shoulders instead.
From the man returning to his home before being shot by police, a taxi driver stumbling on his past, a washed out musician who stabs a man in bar, these stories are so dark that at times you need a flashlight to guide your way through each. But that's not to say dark is a bad thing. In the right hands, dark can move you. Darkness makes you think. In darkness, all you have left are your instincts. And this is what Cox is great at, placing you in the palm of that black hand and allowing the fingers to close in around you until you're left hesitant and uneasy.
Cox writes about what he knows, and in that respect I felt Unaccustomed Mercy was a very personal journey. I'm not saying this is autobiographical, but there is the feeling that Cox has drawn heavily on experience, stories and people he has know through his life.
My favourite story came toward the end. It was a quick but beautifully crafted piece about an old man trying to get home. It came in under a page but its brevity was its strength, and so emotive it lasted much longer in my mind than the words given.
Overall, Cox provides an intense exploration into the heart of darkness. Not for everyone but nonetheless, a worthy addition to your collection.
For this reason, Unaccustomed Mercy is not an easy book to read. If you want stories with resolution, twee and sickly sweet characters that fall in love and live happy lives, then this book is not for you. The strength of this books lies in its desolate landscape that shifts with each character Cox renders so perfectly to the page. The overriding theme throughout each story is redemption, or absolution. Like the man battling with his past, seeking absolution, or a cure to an illness that is rotting him from the inside out, a man so desperate for escape he fantasies of an execution, and the only judge and jury being his father. Or the story of an angel wishing to be mortal, to feel pain because even pain is better than nothing. Or a man sat in bed measuring his life against the life of Jesus, hoping for an answer but getting a shrug from His celestial shoulders instead.
From the man returning to his home before being shot by police, a taxi driver stumbling on his past, a washed out musician who stabs a man in bar, these stories are so dark that at times you need a flashlight to guide your way through each. But that's not to say dark is a bad thing. In the right hands, dark can move you. Darkness makes you think. In darkness, all you have left are your instincts. And this is what Cox is great at, placing you in the palm of that black hand and allowing the fingers to close in around you until you're left hesitant and uneasy.
Cox writes about what he knows, and in that respect I felt Unaccustomed Mercy was a very personal journey. I'm not saying this is autobiographical, but there is the feeling that Cox has drawn heavily on experience, stories and people he has know through his life.
My favourite story came toward the end. It was a quick but beautifully crafted piece about an old man trying to get home. It came in under a page but its brevity was its strength, and so emotive it lasted much longer in my mind than the words given.
Overall, Cox provides an intense exploration into the heart of darkness. Not for everyone but nonetheless, a worthy addition to your collection.
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