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Blood and Water
After discovering a body in a local fishing hole, two brothers come to terms with their own poverty as they're inescapably drawn into a surreal world of dangerous criminals.
Set against a rural Oklahoma backdrop, Blood and Water is a story of family responsibility, the lure of easy outs and even easier scores, and our own violent impulses.
Set against a rural Oklahoma backdrop, Blood and Water is a story of family responsibility, the lure of easy outs and even easier scores, and our own violent impulses.
266 pages, Paperback
First published February 13, 2013
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484 people want to read
About the author
J. David Osborne
24 books211 followersJ David Osborne lives in Oklahoma with his wife and son.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
April 2, 2013
Just a great, great book. JDO's Oklahoma setting is grimy and dirty and real and fantastic, as are the characters that inhabit the place, especially Danny Ames.
I love Danny Ames. He's more than a simple badass strongarm. He's got a momma and a little brother. Thomas was the good boy in the family, and Danny takes so much pride in that. When Thomas goes missing, Danny is hellbent on finding him. It becomes just as much of a search for the only good part of himself. Danny put Thomas through school, and let people know that whenever he could. But now Thomas is involved in some shady dealings, and Danny knows that his own bad influence is to blame. That he's just as responsible for Thomas's disappearance as those behind it. His pain is as much over losing his brother as it is for being his mother's surviving son, the bad one that she failed at raising up right.
As the narrative goes on, Danny begins to lose teeth. One by one, they come loose and he nonchalantly spits them out. JDO doesn't bother explaining this, but he doesn't have to. For me, losing his teeth represents Danny's own rottenness. Danny's a violent man, so deep into drugs and their surrounding world that he can't see the other side anymore. And once Thomas goes missing, it's like the final piece of him that had any redeeming value is gone, and he begins to rot away.
J. David Osborne is in select company after this one. Sallis, Piccirilli, Donald Ray Pollock, JDO - all must-buys and must-reads from here on out. He's that good, and LDDRE is the proof. It reads like it was written by a young Cormac McCarthy who grew up in the age of cellphones. This isn't bluster, it's truth. I implore you to check it out and decide for yourself.
I love Danny Ames. He's more than a simple badass strongarm. He's got a momma and a little brother. Thomas was the good boy in the family, and Danny takes so much pride in that. When Thomas goes missing, Danny is hellbent on finding him. It becomes just as much of a search for the only good part of himself. Danny put Thomas through school, and let people know that whenever he could. But now Thomas is involved in some shady dealings, and Danny knows that his own bad influence is to blame. That he's just as responsible for Thomas's disappearance as those behind it. His pain is as much over losing his brother as it is for being his mother's surviving son, the bad one that she failed at raising up right.
As the narrative goes on, Danny begins to lose teeth. One by one, they come loose and he nonchalantly spits them out. JDO doesn't bother explaining this, but he doesn't have to. For me, losing his teeth represents Danny's own rottenness. Danny's a violent man, so deep into drugs and their surrounding world that he can't see the other side anymore. And once Thomas goes missing, it's like the final piece of him that had any redeeming value is gone, and he begins to rot away.
J. David Osborne is in select company after this one. Sallis, Piccirilli, Donald Ray Pollock, JDO - all must-buys and must-reads from here on out. He's that good, and LDDRE is the proof. It reads like it was written by a young Cormac McCarthy who grew up in the age of cellphones. This isn't bluster, it's truth. I implore you to check it out and decide for yourself.
June 19, 2015
This is a tough novel to get a bead on initially because of its stylistics - I'll get to those shortly - but if you embrace them the novel really comes into its own at the end. Small town drug dealing is the milieu. And following two pairs of brothers through an arc is the story. Danny Ames, bouncer and enforcer, is a great conflicted character and ultimately it is his arc that makes this such a strong story. On the other hand, there is a bewildering amount of characters and names to keep track of, particularly at the beginning and I thought that really made it hard to settle in and get attached.
As for the stylistics, Osborne has taken some creative writing and screenplay chestnuts and maximized them: (1) Show don't tell; you are on your own here as he tells you nothing. There is a succession of scenes and you have to absorb them and figure things out as it progresses. (2) Enter scenes at the last possible moment and exit them at the earliest possible moment; many great scenes but you don't always know how or why the characters got there or what it means. (3) Dialogue that is not on the nose; the dialogue is total verisimilitude with the characters speaking as real people do when talking to someone who already knows what the conversation is about, with the result being that a lot of the dialogue does not move the story forward. This list could be expanded, but those three are enough to indicate how the reader must be willing to hang out without guidance and allow story and meaning to accumulate scene by scene without any explicit hand holding from the author. It is a screenplay style adapted to fiction and won't appeal to a lot of readers. Overall, I think Osborne does this style quite well. Fewer characters to keep track of would have made it exceptional, but too many characters, coupled with the oblique techniques, makes it all confusing early on. Saying you have to soldier through is not the best recommendation, but you will be rewarded.
As for the stylistics, Osborne has taken some creative writing and screenplay chestnuts and maximized them: (1) Show don't tell; you are on your own here as he tells you nothing. There is a succession of scenes and you have to absorb them and figure things out as it progresses. (2) Enter scenes at the last possible moment and exit them at the earliest possible moment; many great scenes but you don't always know how or why the characters got there or what it means. (3) Dialogue that is not on the nose; the dialogue is total verisimilitude with the characters speaking as real people do when talking to someone who already knows what the conversation is about, with the result being that a lot of the dialogue does not move the story forward. This list could be expanded, but those three are enough to indicate how the reader must be willing to hang out without guidance and allow story and meaning to accumulate scene by scene without any explicit hand holding from the author. It is a screenplay style adapted to fiction and won't appeal to a lot of readers. Overall, I think Osborne does this style quite well. Fewer characters to keep track of would have made it exceptional, but too many characters, coupled with the oblique techniques, makes it all confusing early on. Saying you have to soldier through is not the best recommendation, but you will be rewarded.
August 20, 2016
I have to admire the wit and gracefulness in delivery here. LDDRE (for the initiates) is definitely a "working class tragedy" kind of noir, yet it doesn't come off as pompous and melodramatic as most of the genre's novels are. The reason is simple: J. David Osborne delivered his novel in a series of interlaced vignettes that each expose a crude and unpleasant reality that's both the motor and the inevitable endgame of LDDRE's deceptively intricate plot. The fun and fast flowing structure of this novel keeps the heartbreak always raw and immediate.
I recognized a lot of where I grew up in this novel. The inevitability and finality of adult age in small towns. The fatality of being a good citizen vs. the mindless thrill of pursuing dangerous and ultimately meaningless fortune. The otherworldliness of drama. LDDRE is both powerful and accessible. Raw and real. I loved it.
I recognized a lot of where I grew up in this novel. The inevitability and finality of adult age in small towns. The fatality of being a good citizen vs. the mindless thrill of pursuing dangerous and ultimately meaningless fortune. The otherworldliness of drama. LDDRE is both powerful and accessible. Raw and real. I loved it.
May 15, 2023
Took a little bit to get the characters and the story straight but once I did really enjoyed it. This is a story about family, specifically brothers, drugs, poverty, parole, fishing, mistakes, revenge, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Very cinematic writing style, felt like a movie.
February 10, 2016
read this on kindle unlimited. been reading a lot of garbage on KU lately so this was a breath of fresh air. it's a book i would like to own one day in paperback. third book i've read by J. David Osbourne. i thought this was a 3.75 stars. thought his book Black Gum was a 4.25 stars so i would recommend starting with that one. i didn't care much for the other one i read of his called 'Our Blood In Its Blind Circuit'.
negatives for Low Down Death Right Easy were that at times it was hard to follow and certain passages were weak or cuttable. positives were i thought lots of passages were well written or straight up brilliant. it's been a few days since i've read it and i've found myself remembering some of the scenes and smiling. would recommend.
negatives for Low Down Death Right Easy were that at times it was hard to follow and certain passages were weak or cuttable. positives were i thought lots of passages were well written or straight up brilliant. it's been a few days since i've read it and i've found myself remembering some of the scenes and smiling. would recommend.
June 15, 2019
Really enjoyed this. There is something natural about Osborne's writing that makes the characters' lives feel real. The scenes feel vivid and easy to conjure. The characters just people trying to get by - no good/bad guy distinctions.
The chapters form vignettes of the various characters' lives and it takes time before we get into the plot outlined in the synopsis. The noir framework keeps things in the crime genre, but there is more here with touches of existentialism and even supernatural to keep things interesting.
Look forward to my next JDO book.
The chapters form vignettes of the various characters' lives and it takes time before we get into the plot outlined in the synopsis. The noir framework keeps things in the crime genre, but there is more here with touches of existentialism and even supernatural to keep things interesting.
Look forward to my next JDO book.
February 22, 2013
With Low Down Death Right Easy, J David Osborne catalogs the descent into the poverty line. There are voices, plenty of voices – like the voice that belongs to Danny Ames as he spits out teeth and searches far and wide for his missing brother. There’s the voice of Arlo Clancy doing his best to stay straight – no more crime – but ultimately, their voices collide into a gritty tapestry of subversive drama the likes of which I’d compare to Harmony Korine’s Gummo packed in with the short, terse lines of Bukowski all rolled up with death metal and other deadly beats.
It’s the one spliff that you’ll do well to light up and smoke until everything, even the impossible, seems muted, and downright easy.
It’s the one spliff that you’ll do well to light up and smoke until everything, even the impossible, seems muted, and downright easy.
December 4, 2018
As a FYI this is republished version (new title) of Low Down Death Right Easy.
This is my style right now. Dialogue heavy, flowing style. Giving nothing away. First of JDOs which has so many characters, it was interesting to see how he intertwined them all.
It's a lazy review to say but it is gritty, solemn and raw and I would highly recommend it.
This is my style right now. Dialogue heavy, flowing style. Giving nothing away. First of JDOs which has so many characters, it was interesting to see how he intertwined them all.
It's a lazy review to say but it is gritty, solemn and raw and I would highly recommend it.
September 13, 2017
Holy fuck, this is amazing.
July 31, 2018
A strange, creeping neo-noir. The hazy, blown out atmosphere, compelling characters, and punctuations of devastating, often surreal violence make BLOOD AND WATER feel like the pocket of a irreparably damaged world. Bleak, but frequently quite funny too.
April 8, 2015
Shooters in basketball never shoot 100%. Batters in baseball are considered amazing if they bat .300. What does it mean then that every single book that Swallowdown press the mutant literary children of Jeremy Robert Johnson has ruled. I mean 100% badass dark bizarro novels from the man himself, Cody Goodfellow, Forrest Armstrong and now two from J. David Osbourne.
The first one was bleak mind fucker about a Russian prison. Osbourne has chosen nother disney world local full of sunshine and rainbows in the meth infused rural Oklahoma backwaters. This novel to me feels a bit like Gummo crossed with Winter's Bone.
I mean the McGuffin in this novel is a random decapitated human head found by the characters during a hand fishing trip. Yikes this is not the kinda place I would ever like to hang out. What makes it a readable experience is Osbourne's ability with the written word.
The prose is the special effect here. The characters and descriptions are sparse at times leaving alot to the readers to fill in. Other times random sentances over achieve in character and world building. No one will accuse JDO of over writing.
This book is a must for word smiths with a fondness for dark tone. Big thumbs up.
Shooters in basketball never shoot 100%. Batters in baseball are considered amazing if they bat .300. What does it mean then that every single book that Swallowdown press the mutant literary children of Jeremy Robert Johnson has ruled. I mean 100% badass dark bizarro novels from the man himself, Cody Goodfellow, Forrest Armstrong and now two from J. David Osbourne.
The first one was bleak mind fucker about a Russian prison. Osbourne has chosen nother disney world local full of sunshine and rainbows in the meth infused rural Oklahoma backwaters. This novel to me feels a bit like Gummo crossed with Winter's Bone.
I mean the McGuffin in this novel is a random decapitated human head found by the characters during a hand fishing trip. Yikes this is not the kinda place I would ever like to hang out. What makes it a readable experience is Osbourne's ability with the written word.
The prose is the special effect here. The characters and descriptions are sparse at times leaving alot to the readers to fill in. Other times random sentances over achieve in character and world building. No one will accuse JDO of over writing.
This book is a must for word smiths with a fondness for dark tone. Big thumbs up.
The first one was bleak mind fucker about a Russian prison. Osbourne has chosen nother disney world local full of sunshine and rainbows in the meth infused rural Oklahoma backwaters. This novel to me feels a bit like Gummo crossed with Winter's Bone.
I mean the McGuffin in this novel is a random decapitated human head found by the characters during a hand fishing trip. Yikes this is not the kinda place I would ever like to hang out. What makes it a readable experience is Osbourne's ability with the written word.
The prose is the special effect here. The characters and descriptions are sparse at times leaving alot to the readers to fill in. Other times random sentances over achieve in character and world building. No one will accuse JDO of over writing.
This book is a must for word smiths with a fondness for dark tone. Big thumbs up.
Shooters in basketball never shoot 100%. Batters in baseball are considered amazing if they bat .300. What does it mean then that every single book that Swallowdown press the mutant literary children of Jeremy Robert Johnson has ruled. I mean 100% badass dark bizarro novels from the man himself, Cody Goodfellow, Forrest Armstrong and now two from J. David Osbourne.
The first one was bleak mind fucker about a Russian prison. Osbourne has chosen nother disney world local full of sunshine and rainbows in the meth infused rural Oklahoma backwaters. This novel to me feels a bit like Gummo crossed with Winter's Bone.
I mean the McGuffin in this novel is a random decapitated human head found by the characters during a hand fishing trip. Yikes this is not the kinda place I would ever like to hang out. What makes it a readable experience is Osbourne's ability with the written word.
The prose is the special effect here. The characters and descriptions are sparse at times leaving alot to the readers to fill in. Other times random sentances over achieve in character and world building. No one will accuse JDO of over writing.
This book is a must for word smiths with a fondness for dark tone. Big thumbs up.
December 15, 2013
J. David Osborne's latest novel is going to make you work. LDDRE is an easy read in terms of length of chapters as well as the overall narrative itself. Terse sentences leave a lot for the reader to weave together. This novel is a far cry from your basic sequential story.
Osborne's strength is his ability to write simple sentences that imbue the reader with a sense that each chapter is more like a short scene from a play. Dialogue is crisp. Character development is sparse, but not as subtle as I thought in the beginning. It wasn't until I finished the last few pages that I began to revisit earlier parts of the book and most things made sense.
Osborne has written a different type of noir. Ames is a drug addled murderous local enforcer. Arlo Clancy and his brother Sepp, two relatively normal guys, trying to make sense of lives unfulfilled. Arlo struggles through his marriage while Sepp attempts to live the straight and narrow. Their worlds come to loggerheads with one another, but only after a cast of junkies, bouncers and murders are introduced.
This was the challenge for me--the introduction of so many characters was hard to follow. It wasn't that the story itself was a challenge, it was the relevance placed in Ames, Arlo and Sepp that rendered others to wallflower territory. One of the least significant characters wound up being the main perpetrator in the story. This leaves me wondering if he was more relevant than I had thought, and maybe that's my call to make.
In the end, I must give props to Osborne for taking Bukowski-like sentences and packing them full of rich scenes. LDDRE was like reading a meth'd up version of The Pillowman. Osborne is a good writer, but you're going to work while reading this book. I do not recommend reading this book in your spare time. Two, maybe 3, sit down sessions will help streamline many of the details that are easy to forget. But, it will be worth your time.
Osborne's strength is his ability to write simple sentences that imbue the reader with a sense that each chapter is more like a short scene from a play. Dialogue is crisp. Character development is sparse, but not as subtle as I thought in the beginning. It wasn't until I finished the last few pages that I began to revisit earlier parts of the book and most things made sense.
Osborne has written a different type of noir. Ames is a drug addled murderous local enforcer. Arlo Clancy and his brother Sepp, two relatively normal guys, trying to make sense of lives unfulfilled. Arlo struggles through his marriage while Sepp attempts to live the straight and narrow. Their worlds come to loggerheads with one another, but only after a cast of junkies, bouncers and murders are introduced.
This was the challenge for me--the introduction of so many characters was hard to follow. It wasn't that the story itself was a challenge, it was the relevance placed in Ames, Arlo and Sepp that rendered others to wallflower territory. One of the least significant characters wound up being the main perpetrator in the story. This leaves me wondering if he was more relevant than I had thought, and maybe that's my call to make.
In the end, I must give props to Osborne for taking Bukowski-like sentences and packing them full of rich scenes. LDDRE was like reading a meth'd up version of The Pillowman. Osborne is a good writer, but you're going to work while reading this book. I do not recommend reading this book in your spare time. Two, maybe 3, sit down sessions will help streamline many of the details that are easy to forget. But, it will be worth your time.
January 15, 2014
Brothers. Younger brothers. Older ones. If you’ve got one then this novel is going leave you with a few gaping wounds you’re going to be carrying around for a while. They’re not going to heal quickly.
Or at least that’s how I felt when I closed this one.
What we’ve got here is the story of two sets of brothers in West Texas. Their lives are going to become tangled up in a net of drugs and murder and the question you’re left with is - what can you do to protect someone who can’t be protected from themselves?
You know that things aren’t going to end well. You can feel it. It’s in the writing. In the the pared to the bone prose that swallows you up and sets you down somewhere dark. Kind of like the lives these characters inhabit.
You know things aren’t going to end well, but you want them to. You want good things to happen to them. For their futures to be different futures. For their decisions to be different decisions.
But for the people in this book there’s no escaping those dark clouds that have been lurking on the horizon since the day they were born. It’s like they’ve been waiting for it their whole lives. And now it’s here and they’re not surprised.
It was always going to happen.
That’s how some lives are. A lot of lives. They don’t end well and they were never going to end well. And sometimes you can try to make it different, you can do your best to change the course of someone you love, but people aren’t boats. And even if they were the sea sure as shit ain’t calm.
This is what it’s like to watch someone you love fuck up. This is what it’s like to not be able to do anything about it. You’re just there in the aftermath, wondering if you did enough. But it’s never really enough, is it?
This is a book I’ll be reading again. One of those books like Dennis Johnson’s Angels I’ll return to every couple of years just so I can reopen the wounds it gave me the first time. Some wounds are essential.
Or at least that’s how I felt when I closed this one.
What we’ve got here is the story of two sets of brothers in West Texas. Their lives are going to become tangled up in a net of drugs and murder and the question you’re left with is - what can you do to protect someone who can’t be protected from themselves?
You know that things aren’t going to end well. You can feel it. It’s in the writing. In the the pared to the bone prose that swallows you up and sets you down somewhere dark. Kind of like the lives these characters inhabit.
You know things aren’t going to end well, but you want them to. You want good things to happen to them. For their futures to be different futures. For their decisions to be different decisions.
But for the people in this book there’s no escaping those dark clouds that have been lurking on the horizon since the day they were born. It’s like they’ve been waiting for it their whole lives. And now it’s here and they’re not surprised.
It was always going to happen.
That’s how some lives are. A lot of lives. They don’t end well and they were never going to end well. And sometimes you can try to make it different, you can do your best to change the course of someone you love, but people aren’t boats. And even if they were the sea sure as shit ain’t calm.
This is what it’s like to watch someone you love fuck up. This is what it’s like to not be able to do anything about it. You’re just there in the aftermath, wondering if you did enough. But it’s never really enough, is it?
This is a book I’ll be reading again. One of those books like Dennis Johnson’s Angels I’ll return to every couple of years just so I can reopen the wounds it gave me the first time. Some wounds are essential.
May 23, 2015
I absolutely loved this book. This guy is the future, he's the evolution of fiction novels, taking writing to the next level. Every word in every sentence was accurately chosen, no matter how short the chapter may be, it's like bullseye, getting the point across. One sentence sets the atmosphere, the relationship between characters and the normal flow of events (and I'm using the word "normal" quite wrongly). It gets confusing because some important details might be overlooked in the first read, I found myself going back and forth a lot and actually when I finished it I skim read it a second time to connect some dots. There are still some unanswered questions and some things I need explaining but I realise that's not the point, as I believe they're that way for a reason.
If I were to describe this book in two words, it's "sweet torture". You'll laugh and cry reading this, you'll love and hate all the characters, the ambiguity will make your head spin but you won't be able to put it down.
Unlike the characters of BY THE TIME WE LEAVE HERE, the characters of this book are lovable. No matter how bad, they still have a soft side. They're more real and relatable. Their dialogues and interactions are not heavily detailed, but he'll throw in a couple of words to let you know exactly how they feel about one another and it will be enough. Moments with Jen and Arlo or Daniel and his mother were just pure genius.
I feel like I can't do it justice, it needs to be experienced. I fail to explain just how good it is as I lack the talent of writing, which is made more clear to me whenever I read anything by this guy... I just can't recommend him enough. Really can't wait to get Black Gum!
If I were to describe this book in two words, it's "sweet torture". You'll laugh and cry reading this, you'll love and hate all the characters, the ambiguity will make your head spin but you won't be able to put it down.
Unlike the characters of BY THE TIME WE LEAVE HERE, the characters of this book are lovable. No matter how bad, they still have a soft side. They're more real and relatable. Their dialogues and interactions are not heavily detailed, but he'll throw in a couple of words to let you know exactly how they feel about one another and it will be enough. Moments with Jen and Arlo or Daniel and his mother were just pure genius.
I feel like I can't do it justice, it needs to be experienced. I fail to explain just how good it is as I lack the talent of writing, which is made more clear to me whenever I read anything by this guy... I just can't recommend him enough. Really can't wait to get Black Gum!
April 15, 2013
J D Osbourne is proving himself to be a strong voice in the torrent of 21st century media. I may write more on it in the future, but suffice to say, he uses language masterfully, his characters are all well thought out and believable; Danny Ames is one of the best/most interesting characters I have read about in a long while. If you enjoyed Osbourne's first book By The Time We Leave Here, We’ll Be Friends then you already know how brilliant he is and you shouldn't even be hesitating to read this one. His prose is sparse, but packed with meaning and intent. I loved it. I look forward to the next book by him, and I'm sure you will too once you've read Low Down Death Right Easy.
November 14, 2015
Low Down Death Right Easy is a meandering, strange, dark trip with drug addicts, gangsters, and brothers that often times turns brutal and sad. I enjoyed Osborne's minimalist style a great deal, although there were quite a few times the prose was so skeletal that I wasn't sure what was happening in the scene. The ending for instance felt like the story just dropped off as if the author wasn't sure what else to say. There was also a scene in which Danny Ames has an altercation with some trailer trash drug dealers that I had to read twice to understand it. I still don't know what exactly happened. Aside from those things it's a good book. JDO's writing style is a little bit George Pelecanos and a little bit Chuck Pahlinuick. Minimalist, surreal, and gritty. I liked his short story collection better, but this is well worth your time.
March 22, 2013
I am actually finding it hard to write a review of this book.
I loved it.
It was great, and you should totally read it, but there is just something about it that I feel cannot be expressed in a review.
You have to read it, experience it, for yourself.
It really is a great book, and all the characters have (at least) some redeeming qualities.
I found myself pulling for everyone, in the end.
I just wanted everything to work out for all of these characters.
The writing is quick and sharp, and parts are funny and sad and real.
And I can’t recommend it enough.
If this book is anywhere on your to-be-read list (and it for sure should be) you need to do yourself a favor and put it on the top.
I loved it.
It was great, and you should totally read it, but there is just something about it that I feel cannot be expressed in a review.
You have to read it, experience it, for yourself.
It really is a great book, and all the characters have (at least) some redeeming qualities.
I found myself pulling for everyone, in the end.
I just wanted everything to work out for all of these characters.
The writing is quick and sharp, and parts are funny and sad and real.
And I can’t recommend it enough.
If this book is anywhere on your to-be-read list (and it for sure should be) you need to do yourself a favor and put it on the top.
January 30, 2015
J David Osborne does not waste words. In Low Down Death Right Easy, Osborne weaves together a gripping tale of a compelling cast of characters battling through the difficulties of living and making ends meet no matter what the cost. With a minimalist eye for description, this book chugs along in a haunting way, not letting go of the reader until long after the final word is devoured. It's a quick read that you won't want to put down, and every word will serve as a powerful gut punch until you have no air left to breathe. But you'll find a way to keep reading.
I actually started reading this over a year ago and quit after a couple chapters. I'm not sure why. This time around, the story immediately sucked me in. I'm quite glad I gave this another chance.
I actually started reading this over a year ago and quit after a couple chapters. I'm not sure why. This time around, the story immediately sucked me in. I'm quite glad I gave this another chance.
August 18, 2020
Once I started reading this novel I couldn't stop. Had to call in to my work, so worth it! I just finished reading Black Gum, and A Minor Storm, and I love that one of the characters in this novel, Arlo, is the main character in both of those novellas. The characters were people I'd hate to know in real life, which is a huge draw for anyone who enjoys reading dark novels.
Without a doubt this is a novel for anyone who loves Neo-Noir mixed with Bizarro, which I'm finding is one hell of a combination. I wish all to hell that Osborne would release another story real soon.
I am curious about the albino character ... dude just kind of appeared and disappeared a few times and I was hoping to see how he tied into all of it.
Without a doubt this is a novel for anyone who loves Neo-Noir mixed with Bizarro, which I'm finding is one hell of a combination. I wish all to hell that Osborne would release another story real soon.
I am curious about the albino character ... dude just kind of appeared and disappeared a few times and I was hoping to see how he tied into all of it.
October 2, 2017
I can take or leave the over arching narrative in Osborne's story but I stayed for the occasional glimpses of haunting imagery (See: "The God with The Jackal Head") and the reflections that bring a world that's pretty far from my own just a little bit closer.
September 21, 2016
If "By the Time We Leave Here, We'll Be Friends" was J. David Osborne's take on David Lynch, "Low Down Death Right Easy" (easily one of the best titles I've ever heard) is his take on Cormac McCarthy, only less pretentious and more interesting to read.
Arlo and Sepp are brothers who enjoy fishing. Sepp recently got out of jail for a drug related crime and is trying to keep on the straight and narrow. Danny Ames is an enforcer for a part of the local meth trade who goes out looking for those responsible when his brother disappears. He also likes to take care of his mother, who believes her sons are both good. When Arlo and Sepp go hand fishing and find a severed head in the lake, they both go down different paths that will inevitably lead to nowhere good.
First things first is that Osborne is an absolute master at language. His sentences are short and punchy, telling you exactly what happens and leaving you to piece together character relationships, emotions, and whatever. It's all showing and no telling, and he does this with an unbelievable air of confidence and efficiency. He manages to say so much with so little, and this makes the book incredibly well developed despite it being less than 200 pages long. You really get to understand the people in the book.
That leads me to Danny Ames. Usually, his type of character are big, intimidating dudes who don't take shit from anyone and often feel larger than life. And while it's true that Ames doesn't take shit from anyone, he comes across as a regular guy who just happens to be good when it comes to being violent. His relationship with his mother feels real, and that makes HIM feel real.
This book does fall into the bizzarro genre, and while this is nowhere near as outlandish as "We'll Be Friends" (no throat demons and placentas here, thank you), it still has its fair share of strange happenings, such as an albino with shark teeth, Wayne Static hair, and pink tattoos. There's also a part near the end involving a pregnant stripper that wouldn't be out of place in a ludicrous Jeremy Robert Johnson story. The bizzarro elements are less opaque than in "We'll Be Friends" and while it's unclear sometimes about what is real and what isn't due to all the drugs the characters take, there are hints throughout that allow the reader to piece things together without having to take copious notes.
The end result is a wonderfully low key crime story set in a nowhere, back woods town that features superb clean writing and well fleshed out characters. Maybe it'll leave you scratching your head, but what's the fun in having all the answers? Low Down Death Right Easy is a master work from J. David Osborne, a nightmarish and horrifyingly real piece of grimy crime fiction. It'll make you want to wash your hands and hug everyone you meet. Read it.
Arlo and Sepp are brothers who enjoy fishing. Sepp recently got out of jail for a drug related crime and is trying to keep on the straight and narrow. Danny Ames is an enforcer for a part of the local meth trade who goes out looking for those responsible when his brother disappears. He also likes to take care of his mother, who believes her sons are both good. When Arlo and Sepp go hand fishing and find a severed head in the lake, they both go down different paths that will inevitably lead to nowhere good.
First things first is that Osborne is an absolute master at language. His sentences are short and punchy, telling you exactly what happens and leaving you to piece together character relationships, emotions, and whatever. It's all showing and no telling, and he does this with an unbelievable air of confidence and efficiency. He manages to say so much with so little, and this makes the book incredibly well developed despite it being less than 200 pages long. You really get to understand the people in the book.
That leads me to Danny Ames. Usually, his type of character are big, intimidating dudes who don't take shit from anyone and often feel larger than life. And while it's true that Ames doesn't take shit from anyone, he comes across as a regular guy who just happens to be good when it comes to being violent. His relationship with his mother feels real, and that makes HIM feel real.
This book does fall into the bizzarro genre, and while this is nowhere near as outlandish as "We'll Be Friends" (no throat demons and placentas here, thank you), it still has its fair share of strange happenings, such as an albino with shark teeth, Wayne Static hair, and pink tattoos. There's also a part near the end involving a pregnant stripper that wouldn't be out of place in a ludicrous Jeremy Robert Johnson story. The bizzarro elements are less opaque than in "We'll Be Friends" and while it's unclear sometimes about what is real and what isn't due to all the drugs the characters take, there are hints throughout that allow the reader to piece things together without having to take copious notes.
The end result is a wonderfully low key crime story set in a nowhere, back woods town that features superb clean writing and well fleshed out characters. Maybe it'll leave you scratching your head, but what's the fun in having all the answers? Low Down Death Right Easy is a master work from J. David Osborne, a nightmarish and horrifyingly real piece of grimy crime fiction. It'll make you want to wash your hands and hug everyone you meet. Read it.
April 25, 2013
I must admit, this feels like a book I've been waiting on for a long time. Having grown up in an isolated small town in West Texas, I get excited when writers try and bring that type of world (and its inhabitants) to life. They mostly fail. This does not. Moreover, the razor sharp writing style, suspense, and all around great story transcend genre easily. Reading this, I felt respected as a reader, not having my hand held. Best book I've read this year.
May 20, 2013
My employer asked me the other day, in that casual work chatter sort of way, what I was reading. I told him it was this book, where two brothers go handfishing and find a rotten head, and that chapter was one that i'll never forget.
...didn't say much after I told him that.
...didn't say much after I told him that.
July 12, 2014
Characters you've always known and just met. Dark, gritty and clever. The author writes in a sparse, unrelenting gait that drags you along page by page. The start of an obsessive reading jag I still haven't kicked..
June 15, 2016
Too many characters. Too many similar sequences. Good writing, but difficult to keep track of who is who and who killed who and who is hunting who. Not enjoyable. You get the overall jist of the story but if you put the book down for more than 15 minutes, you easily lose track of who anyone is.
March 22, 2013
Hear our complete review on our website: http://www.bookedpodcast.com/2013/02/...
April 6, 2017
Terrific rural noir.
March 4, 2015
THIS ONLY LOSES A STAR BECAUSE IT FEELS LIKE THE FIRST THIRD OF A LONGER BOOK I WILL ADJUST MY SCORE ACCORDINGLY AS SOON AS I READ THE REST END
December 7, 2015
A dark, Spartan narrative flensed of every ounce of fat, arguably a screenplay in disguise, twitching with pitch-perfect dialogue.
July 17, 2015
Osborne's so sly he thinks he can slip a sub-175 IQ character name of Robert Beck into this slim, pulp narrative.
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