Denis Johnson was born in 1949 and died in 2017. He was an American novelist, short story writer and poet.
THE LAUGHING MONSTERS by DENIS JOHNSON (2014)
LESLEY: The main protagonist, Roland Nair travels to Sierra Leone, ten years after his last visit. He is meeting up with an African friend who has travelled widely and made a lot of money. Both men are con men who decide to scam people in a fake uranium sale. Sierra Leone is a war ravaged and corrupt country. Roland is a jaded alcoholic, selfish and world weary. He is lacking in morals and although he has a girlfriend in the States, he buys young prostitutes. Lelsey did not like the characters. She found the book boring and the characters typecast, women were not valued and only there for sex. She didn't finish it and gave it a 1/10.
JUDY A: She concurred with Lesley's opinion. The book is set in Sierra Leone, sometime after 2000. There are three central characters. Roland Nair is a Scandinavian who works for NATO. He reunites with his friend, Michael, a soldier of fortune with whom he once made a lot of money in Africa. Then there's Michael's fiancee, Davidia who is a grad student from Colorado. The three of them set out to visit Michael's family in the Ugandan/Congo borderland. There's a plot they hatch to do a swindle of some sort with uranium. This book was a really bad mixture of John le Carre and Graham Green. It was horrible, misogynistic and full of rampant drunkenness.
TRAIN DREAMS by DENIS JOHNSON (2011 Novella)
VAL: Val felt Denis Johnson's writing was reminiscent of Steinbeck. Robert Grainier, the main protagonist, is an itinerant worker in the Northwest of America. He marries Gladys and they have a daughter, Kate. He is often away building bridges over very rough areas of pines and gorges for the train lines. He follows the work and is away when a wildfire goes through the valley. He is a very ordinary man. He meets many odd characters. It's a bleak story but Val did enjoy it and felt it stretched her imagination.
KRIS: The story is set in the beginning of the twentieth century. He is a simple man trying to do what's right with honesty, decency and hard work being some of his qualities. The building of the railways has provided plenty of work for men like Robert, a day labourer. His marriage puts an end to his loneliness. There is a tragedy in his life but he lives a long life into his 80's. The ending is a bit depressing. It's only 116 pages, and well worth reading. The characters are well described and the writing was enjoyable.
DI: She said it wasn't her sort of book. She tried, but could only read 90 pages.
JOAN: Robert is an American itinerant labourer. It's the early 20th century and new frontiers are being opened up in the North West. They catch a Chinese co-worker stealing. Robert feels he has been cursed by the Chinese worker. Robert was born in 1886. He was orphaned and at age 6 he was sent on a two day train trip to family. As a teenager, he was lazy, but changed after he failed to help a homeless man. At age 35 he had a cabin built and after marrying Gladys, they had a daughter, Kate. After a tragedy, he rebuilds his life. It's a story of a poor, crushingly modest long life explained with gorgeous economy. He had never spoken on a telephone. The story evokes frontier life, loneliness and a simple life.
She also read The LARGESSE OF THE SEA MAIDEN, published in 2018. It consists of five short stories. They are drawn from his life. The collection was finished a few weeks before he died.
LYN: She found the novella very hard to review and enjoyed it much more the second time around. It basically describes various incidents during Robert Grainier's life, separated by years with scant detail. Denis Johnson draws wonderful, concise word pictures. The winters were freezing and there were often very hot periods and floods and fires. She thoroughly enjoyed the writing. She said it was beautifully written, so concise. She felt sorry for the protagonist, Robert. She said it was very different to any book she had ever read. It left her saddened and a bit bereft. Lyn will definitely read another book by this author.
PAMELA: She was a bit disappointed as she couldn't relate to it very well. She had to get a dictionary to look up some of the meanings. She didn't find it depressing at all, but found it quite positive as he had a hard life but he did not feel depressed. She said the writing was beautiful, especially the description of the sunset.
JO: This book was 116 pages long, a miniature version of the Wild West. It's about the opening of the country by the railways of America and the logging industry. She said it was easy reading and she thought it was okay.
DON'T MOVE by DENIS JOHNSON (2009)
CONNIE: She wants to do her best to forget the book. A young man who wants a bit of excitement might like this book, but she did not like the bad language, the violence, the torture, and the very detailed sexual parts. She appreciated the writing but said it should have been x-rated. She said the book was not for her.
TREE OF SMOKE by DENIS JOHNSON (2007)
JUDY D: This book is about the Vietnam war. She did not like the language of some of the men or the way women were treated. The American soldiers did ghastly things to the Vietcong prisoners. One of the main characters is Skip, a young and naive man who is eager to prove himself as a C.I.A.operative. He hopes to emulate his larger than life uncle, Col.Francis Sands, who escaped from the Japanese during World War 11. Skip is involved in a CIA psychological operation against the Vietcong. He is drawn into a complicated plot involving a double agent and finds himself increasingly unable to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys. Judy is only half way through and keeps thinking "what is going on here".
TAM: did not read Denis Johnson but instead read THE KITE RUNNER BY KHALED HOSSEINI, published in 2003. The story is set in Afghanistan. A 12 year old Suni Muslim boy is always trying to win his father's affection. To gain his approval he joins the annual Kite Running competition. Hassan, the son of his father's servant, is his best friend. Amir feels his father favours Hassan. The story is about the need for redemption. Tam said she was pleased she had read this book. She learnt more about life in Afghanistan.
HELEN: As she is a new member to book club, Helen read our Australian author. She read A BLOODY GOOD RANT by THOMAS KENEALLY. This is a series of rants by Keneally. He is outraged about the treatment of Indigenous people and refugees. He has been writing and reflecting about Australia for well over fifty years. Helen enjoyed this book.
Kris
JUNE: We will be reading OUTBACK NOIR
