Larry
Brown once said, “You take what you're given, whether it's the cornfields of
the Midwest or the coal mines of West Virginia, and you make your fiction out
of it. It's all you have. And somehow, wherever you are, it always seems to be
enough.”
Brandon
Graham’s book, Good For Nothing, is an incredible read. Like
Brown, he has an uncanny ability to sculpt his writing from the world he sees every
day. His words are strong and drowning in truth.
Book
Description from Amazon: “In Flip Mellis's recent past he had, by his own
assessment, his feet planted squarely on terra firma. As a husband and father
he was a consistent breadwinner. As a business professional, he was a
go-getter. For twenty years he did all that was expected of him, if not much
more. But a job loss in his middle years, in the midst of a national economic
crisis, knocked Flip squarely on his big, soft ass where he has been wallowing
for nearly a year. Over the course of one hectic week, replete with a cast of
colourful characters, Flip is forced by circumstances of his own invention to
finally get his life headed in the right direction. Like a pudgy, irritable
toddler he carefully tests his balance and lurches forward, stumbling around
absurd obstacles and grasping for any solid purchase. Good For Nothing is told
with dark and sometimes macbre tone that is lifted by its fast pace and quick
verbal wit. Ultimately a spark of human resilience locked deep within the core
of this deeply flawed protagonist begins to spread. The question becomes: will
Flip's best efforts be enough to lead him safely to redemption or will they
merely lead to a futile, purely graceless and quixotic crash.”
Before
we get into my review of his book we have to go back to the beginning. The
reasons I bought his book in the first place and believe in Brandon as a
writer. For me, everything starts a few years before Good
For Nothing
ever existed.
I got
an email from Brandon introducing himself as a fellow writer. He had run across
my bio on the web and read I had once interviewed Harry Crews. Brandon, being a
fan of Crews, was intrigued by this and reached out to me. We exchanged a few emails
back and forth over the next few days talking about Crews and other writers
that had inspired us along the way. At some point I mentioned how I had first wanted
to become a writer after discovering William S. Burroughs in the late nineteen
eighties. He wrote back saying he once sat beside Burroughs in a Kansas City
diner. A place where hardcore drinkers, homeless men, and drag queens have a
big cheap short order breakfast. Brandon was there drinking loads of coffee
around five thirty a.m. when Burroughs walked in and sat beside him. He would
go on to say he had a second encounter with Burroughs. One of Brandon’s friends
told him that during the first week of each month Burroughs would show up to a
local convenience store where his friend worked and buy the newest issue of
Guns and Ammo and Soldier of Fortune. Two months later Brandon took a chance
and hung out with his friend at work. The second day, Burroughs came in, went
to the Magazine rack and bought the titles his friend had described. Brandon
walked over, told Burroughs he was a fan and that they had sat together at the Kansas
City Dinner sometime earlier.
After
looking over his bio, I knew Brandon had attended Columbia and was an educated
man. Don’t get me wrong. An education is always a good thing for an author to
have, but life experiences are equally important. After reading these stories
about Brandon’s interaction with Burroughs, I was more than intrigued by the
possibilities of what he might write. I knew if he was hanging out in a diner
that Burroughs would frequent along with drag queens and homeless folks,
Brandon would have plenty of interesting subject matter to work with. He would
learn things about human behavior, things you just can’t be taught in school. Material
that later in his book would become descriptive jewels that would outshine a
lot of the literature printed today.
I’ve
always felt any good storyteller pulls from his or her own experiences to paint
their picture. What they’ve lived through and been a part of. Like Larry Brown,
Brandon is one of these storytellers. When you read his work you feel his words
are heavy with life’s hard lessons. Yet, there’s another side to his characters
that are so lifelike and caring, you have to remind yourself you are still
reading fiction.
In Good
For Nothing,
Brandon’s character Dean was so wise and so hauntingly real I felt Brandon had
more than likely written, and rewritten himself into exhaustion to bring him to
life. He didn’t miss a beat with his descriptions of Dean. Not one thing was
out of place. The main character, Flip was also spot on with his depression,
his fears, his doubts, his addictions, and all of his self-loathing. Along with
a cast of well thought out everyday folks swimming in a world hammered by a
downturned economy, this book is truly a work of art.
Brandon
spared no expense when it came to pouring himself into writing this book. Good
For Nothing
is a well written piece of literature.
It’s a
must read that will have you yearning for what will come next. Well worth every
cent and then some. Get a copy today.
