A review by johndiconsiglio
Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson

5.0

Can Denis Johnson’s portraits of addicts & lost souls be rescued from hipster cannon? His voice was as original as Twain, as American as Whitman, as freeing as Kerouac & as batty as Burroughs. But a generation of writers maybe took a little-too-much inspiration from his heroin-hazed landscapes of car crashes, dive bars & ERs. (“And you, you ridiculous people, you expect me to help you.”) Did they miss his redemptive humor & compassion? “I'll never forget you. Your husband will beat you with an extension cord and the bus will pull away leaving you standing there in tears, but you were my mother.”