Sentimental, Heartbroken Rednecks: Stories from the New South

by Greg Bottoms

Provocatively blurring the lines between autobiography, short fiction, and essay, Greg Bottoms presents a series of fifteen honest and beautifully spare tales of class, poverty, violence, and racism set in the margins of the urban and suburban New South.

An ode to Pulitzer-nominee Breece D'J Pancake's life and untimely death, the title story deftly interweaves Bottoms's personal history to insightful result. In the transformative “The Metaphor,” the narrator proclaims, “when the world looks like every little promise has been lanced and bled out, you need a story to tell yourself.” So we move seamlessly between the lives of people both real and imagined and the life of the author, and what emerges is not only a composite of sharply drawn and revealing moments, but also a book-length meditation on the nature of, and necessity for, storytelling itself. Including three new stories — “Sam at the Gun Show,” “Strangers and Dreams,” and “Heroism #2” — this revised edition announces an understated, arresting new voice in literature.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Phoenix · Rating 5 out of 5]

so far so what is otherwise known as beautiful.

greg bottom's writing is soooo sharp.

his drawl is sparse

his sentimentality is for and from those of us in our early 40's or 50's..which is of course, the new 40.


seriously lovely fictionalized memoir

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please immediately find a copy of this book and read "Secret History of Home Cinema."

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

so far so beautiful...he rambles in a way that is sparse and pointed...i stay right with him...perhaps i identify.

it's like terry eggleton's photos in many places...just when he's in empty space and starts to muck through self-absorbed sentimentality, he rinses with abject pontification, then dries with literary consciousness and political assertions.

mainly he's just honest.

we'll see after i'm through....

[J. Ewbank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I am not much of a fn os the short story genre, this particular book was in our library and I picked it up to read. Each story is a story unto itself about Southerners. I think he has found many true Southerners and has written their lives and stories with an excellent touch. It is well worth the read--enjoy.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" and "To Whom It May Concern"

[Myocardialarrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greg Bottoms writes so beautifully! Read this [http://www.utne.com/issues/2002_110/v...] for a sample. I was so jealous when I originally read his stories. Wow! If you can get your hands on a copy, buy it! I've been searching the used book stores & so far haven't found one myself. But someday, I will!

[Acolyte · Rating 2 out of 5]

has a voice, but keeps telling you. at times heartfelt, profound, but mostly feels like an exercise, like the pages were lifted for printing before they were ready to reach out. and, most of all, parts of it don't feel genuine. writers should strive to be a conduit, not the light itself.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked all the stories that are collected in this book. The essay about Pancake and the story "Intersections" were the pieces which I probably enjoyed the most.

I first came across Greg Bottoms work through the journal, Texas Review, where he served (and might still be) as editor. I knew I had to read more.
The title was an attraction and when I saw the book cover (I read the Context edition) it was instantly on my "to-read" list. I have noticed that the stories I have read are all monologues. It is a form that works for him.
I can't wait to read more of his work. I may save the book about his brother for the last.

[Safiyya Haider · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for another book but the title struck me in my homesickness. The simple, sharp moments are refreshing. Just the right amount of sparseness vs poetry. 4 stars instead of 5 bc it’s annoying when writers write about writers writing

[Jeff Garrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first posted this review in my blog...

Greg Bottoms, Sentimental, Heartbroken Rednecks: Stories (New York: Context Books, 2001), 216 pages, no pictures.

When I came across the title of this book, I knew I had to read it. I wanted to make sure that one of the stories weren’t an unauthorized biography of me! I couldn’t be so lucky.

This is a fine collection of 13 short stories by a young southern author from Virginia. A number of these stories are essays about real people an events such as the title story which is about Breece D’J Pancake, a young promising writer and graduate from the University of Virginia (Bottom’s alma mater), and who committed suicide. Another is about an obscure artist receiving what he took as a call from God to create a work depicting the final judgment. Another is about the author’s great-grandfather, who was baptized a second time at the age of three in 1902. He slipped from the preacher’s (his father) hand and thought to have drowned. They were all mourning and when it turned out he wasn’t dead, people too it as a sign. The boy grew up into a man and becomes a “lying, hypocritical, womanizing preacher.â€Â

There are many themes that run through this collection: death, love, abandonment, suicide, hopeless, poverty, drugs, race and religion. A sense of loss and a Kafkaesque helplessness fill most of the characters. Several of the stories remind me of Jack Kerouac’s search for his father. In a way, these stories are like those of Richard Ford, but removed from the American West and into the mid-Atlantic region (they mostly take place in Virginia, with North Carolina and Washington DC receiving token mentions).

I love the way Bottoms explores a relationship between a man and woman, hinting what will happen to the two of them later in the relationship as he describes them infatuated with each other in the present moment. I also enjoyed his last story, where the “hero†is a fat homeless man. Most of these stories are a pleasure to read. Many of them made me thankful, some made me wonder why I’ve been so blessed.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Greg Bottoms' first book, but I wasn't incredibly impressed with this one. While I still enjoyed it, it didn't nearly live up to Angelhead. I hope he continues to write more books though, because I find his writing style incredibly fascinating.

[Nicholas Montemarano · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of fiction or nonfiction - not sure, but it doesn't matter much to me. Let's call them stories, true or not, and leave it at that. What matters is this: the prose is music, the writer is unflinching.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title essay is about the wonderful short story writer, Breece Pancake, and it breaks my heart every time I read it.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

[sigh]i can't even begin to tell you how much i really, really love this book-i have read it more times than i can count-and sometimes i wonder where i would be now if i had never read it

[Douglas Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title story/essay rings in my ears like a gunshot in a sparsely furnished room.