Harry Crews

[JensLowcut]

Just read my first book by him, the brutal and funny A Feast Of Snakes, it blew me away, one of the best novels ever! I've got The Hawk Is Dying as well? Where do I go from here, Crews-wise?

[Mr Yates]

Never read any Harry Crews, but do remember an all girl supergroup w/ Kim Gordon and Lydia Lunch from back in the late 80s.
Maybe time to check out his writing.

[JensLowcut]

He's also in Sean Penn's Indian Runner, A Feast Of Snakes is the best book I've read all year. A very unique redneck tale from Georgia about lust, violence, pitbull fights, snake hunting, and castration.
Christmas reading; The Hawk Is Dying and All Need Of Hell by Crews.

[Mr Yates]

Sounds a bit like Charles Willefords "Cockfighter" which is his best book by miles IMO.

[JensLowcut]

I've read Willeford's Kiss Your Ass Goodbye and Wild Wives, pretty good, especially the last one. Haven't read Cockfighter, was a bit disappointed with the praised Warren Oates flick.

[JensLowcut]

The Hawk Is Dying was a bit disappointing after reading A Feast Of Snakes (I guess 99% of most novels would be), but All We Need Of Hell was bloody amazing. Now I'm waiting for Crews' Celebration novel.

The Hawk Is Dying has been made into a movie last year with Paul Giamatti, anyone seen it?

[Catherine Reach]

Try also Crew's Knockout Artist. If you like the brutality try some other contemporary Southern authors:

- Barry Hannah (Bat's Out of Hell short stories)
- Larry Brown (Dirty Work)
- Donna Tartt (The Little Friend)

and not Southern, but an amazing short-story collection is Annie Proulx "Close Range: Wyoming Stories" that includes the short story that the movie "Brokeback Mountain" was based on.

[Repent Records/Rudos and Rubes Publishing]

Car, definitely. It's available in the Classic Crews collection (which is all great) that you might still find on remainder tables. Amazon also has cheap used copies of it. The Gospel Singer is also a classic, though not easy to find - I wish I could remember whom I lent my copy too.

Great as Warren Oates (always) is, the movie Cockfighter suffers greatly from budget constraints. A lot of the best stuff in Willeford's book was left out.

[JensLowcut]

I've just read my 1st Barry Hannah novel, Yonder Stands Your Orphan, it was okay, although its readability was tarnished by introducing 10 new characters and their flashbacks in each chapter for no apparent reason. But I like the way he writes, so I might try some of his other works. Not familar with Larry Brown or Donna Tartt, so thanks for the tips.

[Catherine Reach]

I haven't read any of Barry's stuff lately, but I tend to like short stories in general because they force the writer to condense. In fact, the collection Sudden Fiction is one of my favorites.

[Pigmeat]

Yeh the Classic crews collection and gospel singer are fantastic... I think Crews was influenced by Flannery O'Connor too "A good man is Hard to Find" is a good place to start with her... If you haven't already...

[shotzi]

I read A Feast of Snakes last month, buying the book the day after I heard about Crews, and was wowed. What an incredible book. I've got a copy of The Gospel Singer but I'm caught up with some other books at the moment. Can't wait to get to it. I can't believe it took me so long to hear about Crews!

[Bibliodiscoteque]

Harry Crews is great and if you are looking for another sort of Southern brutality I advise checking out Joe R Lansdale. You know him best as the man who wrote Bubba-Ho-Tep, but his detective fiction is brutal and filthy. There are some great videos of him reading from his novels on Youtube.