A review by matthewcpeck
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden: Stories by Denis Johnson

4.0

Denis Johnson's final work is a collection that's sadly too short, but the five stories therein are magnificent: sweet, bizarre, haunted, absurd, and tragic. Often within a single paragraph. The whole collection is impressive, but I especially loved "Strangler Bob", a recollection of a brief prison stay with a jaw-dropping last paragraph; and "Triumph Over The Grave", where a writer ponders the brevity of existence as his friends age and die. That latter story SOUNDS dreadful in description, but it's brilliant, mysterious, yet unpretentious in Johnson's signature fashion. The final story "Doppelganger, Poltergeist", about a poet with a wild conspiracy theory centering on Elvis's identity, is slightly less great than the others, and shouldn't have been picked as book's closer. But that's nitpicking. Reading "The Largesse Of The Sea Maiden" reinvigorated my adoration of Johnson's work, and made me want to reread every previous book. Like the best writers, he alters your perception of everyday life.