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A review by chramies
White Trash Gothic by Edward Lee
5.0
Luntville, twinned with Brentford? Or Yoknatawpha County? "White Trash Gothic" is in many ways a recap of Edward Lee's earlier novels set in his appalling Appalachian township of Luntville and environs. The writer (not the Writer, who is a character here) warns that it would be advisable to have read some of his earlier books before reading this - particularly "The Bighead" and "The Minotauress". The protagonists of "Gast" also wander through before the story starts (nice couple. God-botherers, but nice) and of course Headers get mentioned - though not much. Amiable Snowie is quite happy to drug our protagonist and get him to have sex with a deceased woman, and to talk about long-neckings and dead-dickings, but when the Writer asks,
"What's a Header?"
she clams up and says, You don't want to know. You really don't want to know.
I'd say she goes pale but she can't really as Snowie is an albino with a face like Calvin Coolidge - and despite her occasional strange behaviour (such as 'cranking up' a certain large individual from an earlier Lee novel), one of the most good-hearted characters in the Lee canon. She and her lover / best girl friend provide some laughs but also the key to the story.
The Writer, who has lost his memory of events though not of things, finds himself drawn to out-in-the-sticks Luntville and things get weird even before he gets off the bus (and given what he actually sees - in a lot of detail considering he isn't that close - I'm surprised he didn't just stay on the bus, but then there'd be no story).
Despite being a man in his fifties and gone to fat, the Writer is required to do heroic deeds, such as starting a long-abandoned car whose starting (a bit Arthurian this) will lift the curse on the waste land. This put me in mind of "The Horn-Cranker" where the lad-about-town has moved to the city and been tamed, but throws off the shackles of civilisation and returns. This is a Lee favourite, the outsider who is all book-learning and no earthiness, finding their way to the boondocks and confronting what is to be found there. Another fave is the face-body disconnect, visible here in Snowie and her family - and finding out the reason for that, in her case, is one of the threads of this story, though it doesn't go any further ... for now.
Thing is though, as soon as all the pieces are in place, the story ends ... to be continued. The threat or promise of all hell letting loose - the presence in town of a villianous preacher - the Mafiosi nosing about - all is set up and it is still just a murmur of war. We await the sequel(s).
"What's a Header?"
she clams up and says, You don't want to know. You really don't want to know.
I'd say she goes pale but she can't really as Snowie is an albino with a face like Calvin Coolidge - and despite her occasional strange behaviour (such as 'cranking up' a certain large individual from an earlier Lee novel), one of the most good-hearted characters in the Lee canon. She and her lover / best girl friend provide some laughs but also the key to the story.
The Writer, who has lost his memory of events though not of things, finds himself drawn to out-in-the-sticks Luntville and things get weird even before he gets off the bus (and given what he actually sees - in a lot of detail considering he isn't that close - I'm surprised he didn't just stay on the bus, but then there'd be no story).
Despite being a man in his fifties and gone to fat, the Writer is required to do heroic deeds, such as starting a long-abandoned car whose starting (a bit Arthurian this) will lift the curse on the waste land. This put me in mind of "The Horn-Cranker" where the lad-about-town has moved to the city and been tamed, but throws off the shackles of civilisation and returns. This is a Lee favourite, the outsider who is all book-learning and no earthiness, finding their way to the boondocks and confronting what is to be found there. Another fave is the face-body disconnect, visible here in Snowie and her family - and finding out the reason for that, in her case, is one of the threads of this story, though it doesn't go any further ... for now.
Thing is though, as soon as all the pieces are in place, the story ends ... to be continued. The threat or promise of all hell letting loose - the presence in town of a villianous preacher - the Mafiosi nosing about - all is set up and it is still just a murmur of war. We await the sequel(s).