What do you think?
Rate this book
Any Cold Jordan
Billy Parker, an aspiring guitar player, tries to solve problems involving his wife and pressures to play popular music instead of the old-time country and gospel music he finds more rewarding
263 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1987
19 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 9, 2015
Drifter Billy Parker plays guitar in a country-and-western bar in rural Florida. He hates what he does and the people who come to see him play, has a complicated relationship with his wife and drinks too much. In short, his life is going nowhere fast. That is until an acquaintance, Jack Nolan, a Vietnam vet with a shadowy past, asks him whether he wants to make money. Parker needs the money to finance his share of a bar he wants to buy. The downside is that the scheme is very illegal and, potentially, very dangerous.
Long out of print, my copy of Any Cold Jordan came via New Jersey crime writer Wallace Stroby, who strongly recommended it. I can see why. It was published in 1980, long before the inundation of books termed ‘rural noir’ and packed with meth labs, dying towns and dysfunctional communities. Any Cold Jordon has some of these elements, but they are beautiful understated and take the reader in a completely unpredictable direction. It is also a wonderful piece of prose.
Long out of print, my copy of Any Cold Jordan came via New Jersey crime writer Wallace Stroby, who strongly recommended it. I can see why. It was published in 1980, long before the inundation of books termed ‘rural noir’ and packed with meth labs, dying towns and dysfunctional communities. Any Cold Jordon has some of these elements, but they are beautiful understated and take the reader in a completely unpredictable direction. It is also a wonderful piece of prose.
July 4, 2012
I first read this in ~1987 as a school assignment for a book review. I remember liking it for its writing (Bottoms is better known as a poet) and for a tense plot relating to a hurricane. As I head to the Outer Banks at the dawn of hurricane season, I thought I'd re-read it. Wonder how it will hold up.
UPDATE
This story is so NOT about a hurricane. It's about a jealous, middle-aged man trying to find his way in life, who is forced into danger by his own mis-judgments and actions.
Bottoms is an excellent writer, and his portrayal of the flawed main character is subtle and almost poignant. The path he takes is littered with misunderstandings and miscalculations. I feel like the book ends in the middle though. At the end of the book, he's facing his biggest life challenge yet, and I'd like to have seen how he handles it.
UPDATE
This story is so NOT about a hurricane. It's about a jealous, middle-aged man trying to find his way in life, who is forced into danger by his own mis-judgments and actions.
Bottoms is an excellent writer, and his portrayal of the flawed main character is subtle and almost poignant. The path he takes is littered with misunderstandings and miscalculations. I feel like the book ends in the middle though. At the end of the book, he's facing his biggest life challenge yet, and I'd like to have seen how he handles it.
June 7, 2008
"Hey, you have your bougie, word-fetsih Updikean prose in my gritty, Southern tale of the down-trodden."
Hey, you have your gritty, Southern tale of the down-trodden in my bougie, word-fetish, Updikean prose."
"Nah, it's OK."
"Yes, it will be OK."
It was OK.
Hey, you have your gritty, Southern tale of the down-trodden in my bougie, word-fetish, Updikean prose."
"Nah, it's OK."
"Yes, it will be OK."
It was OK.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews