By DENIS JOHNSON
I didn’t like “Jesus’ Son”. Blasphemy I know. But its hard being at the bottom and in this collection of short stories Denis Johnson definitely takes you there. This work is so clearly described, that it’s easy to be completely engulfed by the dark and uneasy settings and drama of each story. “The downpour raked the asphalt and gurgled in the ruts,” (p. 4) With words like these, Johnson takes us into the dismal life of a drug abused young man, where even the rain fall can be one of most abysmal, disgusting and lowly of things. Good thing our main character’s only goal is to find his next high. He’s going to need some type of ambition to get out of the slump he’s in.
Nowhere in the duration of all one hundred and sixty pages does Johnson make it easy to believe our main character was going to get out of the mess he’s in. But in the few moments that he wasn’t pathetic and disgusting, I sort of liked him. Once in each of the two stories, “Car Crash While Hitchhiking” and “Out on bail”. In these stories the main character, in his maybe unfamiliar circumstance asks the questions and makes the same inferences that the rest of us do in this life. It’s what makes him human. “I was overjoyed,” he says “not to be dead. Generally the closest I ever came to wondering about the meaning of it all was to consider that I must be the victim of a joke… [But] I had a moment’s glory that night, though. I was certain I was in the world because I couldn’t tlololerate any other place.” (p. 41). In this statement he addresses a few common thoughtful experiences: feeling like life is just a game being played against you and accepting that where you are, is where you need to be. On page 10 I was captivated when he said, “I looked down into that great piety of a person’s life on this earth, I don’t mean that we all end up dead… I mean that he couldn’t tell me what he was dreaming and I couldn’t tell him what was real.” How often it occurs. Ours dreams, hopes, our pain and realities, rarely can they be shared. We can’t exchange our weaknesses and strengths.
Johnson’s voice in this work is disturbingly honest, dirty, confused and somehow still sure. I didn’t like it but I appreciate its originality. I also enjoyed its style. How many collections like this one can command the street credibility that Jesus’ Son does? I assume very few.
Secretary of bestcornergroup08,
melissapierresaint
Nowhere in the duration of all one hundred and sixty pages does Johnson make it easy to believe our main character was going to get out of the mess he’s in. But in the few moments that he wasn’t pathetic and disgusting, I sort of liked him. Once in each of the two stories, “Car Crash While Hitchhiking” and “Out on bail”. In these stories the main character, in his maybe unfamiliar circumstance asks the questions and makes the same inferences that the rest of us do in this life. It’s what makes him human. “I was overjoyed,” he says “not to be dead. Generally the closest I ever came to wondering about the meaning of it all was to consider that I must be the victim of a joke… [But] I had a moment’s glory that night, though. I was certain I was in the world because I couldn’t tlololerate any other place.” (p. 41). In this statement he addresses a few common thoughtful experiences: feeling like life is just a game being played against you and accepting that where you are, is where you need to be. On page 10 I was captivated when he said, “I looked down into that great piety of a person’s life on this earth, I don’t mean that we all end up dead… I mean that he couldn’t tell me what he was dreaming and I couldn’t tell him what was real.” How often it occurs. Ours dreams, hopes, our pain and realities, rarely can they be shared. We can’t exchange our weaknesses and strengths.
Johnson’s voice in this work is disturbingly honest, dirty, confused and somehow still sure. I didn’t like it but I appreciate its originality. I also enjoyed its style. How many collections like this one can command the street credibility that Jesus’ Son does? I assume very few.
Secretary of bestcornergroup08,
melissapierresaint
2 comments:
Hi Melissa,
I agree, I was not a fan of this one. I highlighted many of the entries you mentioned from the book because I too found them powerful and sad. Nice response.
Posted by: Krista B.
Melissa
I would agree with the fact that this is a likable character, regardless of how down and out he is.what i don't necessarily agree with is that you think he will never get out of this lifestyle. I feel the book is loaded with subtle optimism, from "work" where he feels the rewards of putting in a hard day, to even in "Dundun" where he is willing to help out a person in need, even if his motives are drug related we see that there is a person inside this bag of hammers.
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