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A review by pickle_burner
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson
I’ve read this book so many times. It means something different to me now than it did to me when I first read it 20 years ago. This book is written in spare, simple, yet poetic prose. Stories are interconnected thru the voice of the narrator, who is looking back on experiences with drugs and alcohol. When you think it’s going to go left, it goes right and leaves you before some stunning revelation that you can’t quite process and that hits you like a punch in the stomach.
One of my favorite passages, from the story “Work”:
“All the really good times happened when Wayne was around. But this afternoon, somehow, was the best of all those times. We had money. We were grimy and tired. Usually we felt guilty and frightened, because there was something wrong with us, and we didn’t know what it was; but today we had the feeling of men who had worked.”
One of my favorite passages, from the story “Work”:
“All the really good times happened when Wayne was around. But this afternoon, somehow, was the best of all those times. We had money. We were grimy and tired. Usually we felt guilty and frightened, because there was something wrong with us, and we didn’t know what it was; but today we had the feeling of men who had worked.”