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A review by fishbelly
Southern Gods by John Hornor Jacobs
4.0
Whatever happened to novels under 300 pages? If you cannot remember such a thing, you are obviously not as old as I am. There's something said for a well-told tale that is economically written. I have grown bone-weary of fantasies that cause wrist pain from holding too long. Hell, I've taken to reading with a pillow on my lap, upon which I prop whatever overstuffed book I am currently reading. Maybe I'm just getting old.
At any rate, Jacobs has given us a crackerjack short novel that I found thoroughly enjoyable. Take a bit of Manly Wade Wellman's gift for combining folklore with fantasy, a healthy dose of the rural south--not quite Faulkner but hints thereof--and a welcome addition to some real Lovecraftian elements (not similarities, but actual elements from Lovecraft's Old Ones. Toss in a titch of southern blues music and you have a novel that most certainly begs me to give it a go.
The novel is mostly told from two alternating points of view: Bull Ingram, a WW II vet, and Sarah, a down on her luck wife and mother. Bull has been set to investigate the disturbing music of a mysterious bluesman known as Ramblin' Joe Hastur, whose tunes have been said to turn its listeners to fits of violence and madness. Sarah is dealing with the crumbling of her own marriage, and the return to her mother's house who is dealing with lupus and other issues.
As most astute readers would expect, the two character's lives will intersect before the novel's end, changing the direction of both their lives in unexpected ways.
Jacobs tells a leisurely story, fitting well with the descriptions of the muggy, slow south of the 1950s. I quite liked his descriptions of a world that has mostly disappeared, a world I remember tiny pieces of as a child in the late 60s. My one regret is Jacobs doesn't give us a greater look at the blues world from that time. This is not a limitation of the book, but I was expecting more of that world considering the plot line of Ramblin' John as well as the cover depicting a wicked blues guitarist. I love the blues and wanted more, but it somewhat disappears after the first half of the novel.
Instead, it is replaced with a closer examination of the rural south, with shades of Flannery O'Connor as we meet Sarah's hard as nails and cruel-tongued mother, as well as her childhood friend and mother's servant Alice, and her two children. Jacobs takes a nice look at Sarah and Alice commenting on their kids--one white, two black, who become fast friends and how other people might not like that. As the novel moves on, we also see more and more of the Lovecraft influence come to the fore.
While the novel went in directions I didn't necessarily want, I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. If you enjoy southern gothic or Lovecraftian tales, then most certainly take a look at Southern Gods. In the end, I found myself wanting more--totally at odds with my praise of the novel's brevity. Isn't that what a good book is all about? Recommended.
At any rate, Jacobs has given us a crackerjack short novel that I found thoroughly enjoyable. Take a bit of Manly Wade Wellman's gift for combining folklore with fantasy, a healthy dose of the rural south--not quite Faulkner but hints thereof--and a welcome addition to some real Lovecraftian elements (not similarities, but actual elements from Lovecraft's Old Ones. Toss in a titch of southern blues music and you have a novel that most certainly begs me to give it a go.
The novel is mostly told from two alternating points of view: Bull Ingram, a WW II vet, and Sarah, a down on her luck wife and mother. Bull has been set to investigate the disturbing music of a mysterious bluesman known as Ramblin' Joe Hastur, whose tunes have been said to turn its listeners to fits of violence and madness. Sarah is dealing with the crumbling of her own marriage, and the return to her mother's house who is dealing with lupus and other issues.
As most astute readers would expect, the two character's lives will intersect before the novel's end, changing the direction of both their lives in unexpected ways.
Jacobs tells a leisurely story, fitting well with the descriptions of the muggy, slow south of the 1950s. I quite liked his descriptions of a world that has mostly disappeared, a world I remember tiny pieces of as a child in the late 60s. My one regret is Jacobs doesn't give us a greater look at the blues world from that time. This is not a limitation of the book, but I was expecting more of that world considering the plot line of Ramblin' John as well as the cover depicting a wicked blues guitarist. I love the blues and wanted more, but it somewhat disappears after the first half of the novel.
Instead, it is replaced with a closer examination of the rural south, with shades of Flannery O'Connor as we meet Sarah's hard as nails and cruel-tongued mother, as well as her childhood friend and mother's servant Alice, and her two children. Jacobs takes a nice look at Sarah and Alice commenting on their kids--one white, two black, who become fast friends and how other people might not like that. As the novel moves on, we also see more and more of the Lovecraft influence come to the fore.
While the novel went in directions I didn't necessarily want, I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. If you enjoy southern gothic or Lovecraftian tales, then most certainly take a look at Southern Gods. In the end, I found myself wanting more--totally at odds with my praise of the novel's brevity. Isn't that what a good book is all about? Recommended.