A review by davidwright
Delicious Foods by James Hannaham

5.0

I always enjoy it when an author strays perhaps not so very far from the reality of life as we know it (the cheap lives of migrant workers, drug addiction, institutionalized racism, slavery), just turning things at an angle, mixing them up a tiny bit to make them feel a bit less commonplace, a bit more improbable (although this is inspired by an actual case) and so that much more revelatory. I feel this way about some of George Saunders' stories too: as different as they are from this grim and gripping odyssey, they tell us just how things are by twisting them just a little bit, enhancing the view with an added element of strangeness. Hannaham's writing and narrative drive is tremendous, doing a neat job of propelling the reader through some very grim and horrific territory, and the voice of Scotty - aka Crack - is a brilliant device for beguiling the reader into some nightmarish realities, but also reflecting just how heavenly hell can seem to junkies on the pipe. It feels like a narrative feat on a par with the voice of Huckleberry Finn in charming the reader into a disconcerting ambivalence about matters one might be otherwise prone to pious judgements over.