What do you think?
Rate this book
Deliver Me from Nowhere
Based on Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album "Nebraska," Tennessee Jones—who was three years old when the album came out—uses interlinked short stories to explore the changing face of America over the two decades since its release. From the closing of the auto plants to the coming of age of the GLBT movement, the forces behind Americans' changing lives find expression in Jones’ diverse characters. From the portrait of a man laid off an auto plant—who fantasizes about eating the car he helped build—to the twelve year old boy who watches his father’s red-river baptism and understands the connection between work and death, Jones' uncompromising visions present a brave new view of the shifting territory between gender and class, power and death. A testament to how rock music and literature influence and borrow from one another, Deliver me from Nowhere is as much influenced by Flannery O’Connor and John Steinbeck as it is by Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Patti Smith, and traditional gospel hymns. Infused with the urgency of rock n’ roll and the restraint of poetry, Tennessee Jones' unforgettable stories manage to extract the thread of religion that runs through the American experience of rock and roll.
168 pages, Paperback
First published February 10, 2005
202 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 1, 2024
"In 1982, Bruce Springsteen departed from upbeat rock and roll to release Nebraska - a spare, haunting album populated by deadbeats, desperadoes, and the poor souls unfortunate enough to fall in love with them. In 'Deliver Me From Nowhere', Tennessee Jones re-imagines these shadowy folk fables as stories that trace a proud but perilous journey across the racial, economic and sexual badlands of Middle America.
"The stories in 'Deliver Me from Nowhere' pass quickly beyond the 'universal' themes - salvation, redemption, the search for joy - that have transformed Springsteen's songs into anthems. As Tennessee Jones's unforgettable people question whether redemption is possible or even desirable, they extract - sometimes to their own awe and bereavement - the thread of religion that runs through rock and roll." From the back cover of the 2005 Soft Skull Press paperback edition - as the synopsis on Goodreads is extremely mediocre.*
I finally got hold of a copy of this collection of stories in 2023 after many years of searching for a copy (copies aren't hard to come by, I just couldn't find a copy in the UK and didn't want to pay as much, if not more, as the cost of the book in postage) and, although I do not know (or don't think I know), this particular Springsteen album (which did worry me) I was exceptionally pleased and happy when I finally did read the stories. They are everything the synopsis I quote above promised and maybe even more. I must admit that I like stories about the poor, drifters, outsiders, down and outs all those who have fallen by the wayside of the world my generation has allowed, or encouraged, to be created out of the flawed post WWII consensus. It is a world free of practical idealism and one that has individualism in the form of selfishness at the centre of concern. All that is to say that I am prejudiced in favour of the subject matter of these stories, something which not all Goodreads reviewers are - some find the subject matter distasteful.
I am really happy with this collection and look forward to reading more by this author. My only caveat, and it is not with the book or author, is the LGBT shelving suggestion. I am somewhat baffled why it has been described like this - there are LGBT characters in one story but that hardly seems sufficient for the book to be singled out as of LGBT interest.
As no information is given on Goodreads about the author I quote the following from the book's author profile:
"Tennessee Jones lives in Brooklyn, New York. His work has appeared in numerous publications including Lodestar Quarterly and LIT. He is also the author of the zine 'Teenage Death Songs'. He was raised in the mountains of East Tennessee."
*Please find below Kevin Killian's review from Amazon which I reproduce because, despite my reservations about some of Mr. Killian's work his views deserve wide distribution:
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 9, 2005
The characters in DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE are sick, sick of themselves, sick of the broken promises of America, and sick to death of the violence that pervades our rusty and misshapen air. Based on ten songs by Bruce Springsteen from his 1982 LP Nebraska, these stories depart from Springsteen's lyrics in numerous ways, some of them significant. For example, in "Nebraska" the story the basic outlines of the Starkweather-Fugate murders remain the same, but Jones changes the narrator from Charles Starkweather himself to Caril Ann Fugate--here stripped of a name, as though to signify that in 1950s America women had better hold on to every thing they've got. The killer is called George here . . . for reasons unclear, but it's terribly suggestive. Switching narrative genders, as it were, brings the story back closer to the female-centered (and narrated) film version BADLANDS (1973), directed by Terrence Malick, in which the homicidal pair were called "Kit" and "Holly," another pair of androgynous names. Sissy Spacek played Holly, and spoke the most banal lines while Malick's irony-saturated imagery tore holes into the screen.
Jones is equally skilled. His language is stripped down like a fine machine, glistening with oil, but he knows how to rise to the occasion, when only a swatch of the lyric will save the day between tedium and shock. Reading this collection put me in mind of the Faulkner of "Barn Burning" and the crazy, irrational swerves of James Purdy's 50s and 60s storytelling. It seems to me that the stories get better the further away they get from Springsteen's lyrics. In "My Father's House" a farmgirl grows up, transitions and changes from a girl to a man, and returns back home to confront the haunting specter of the father. The boy, now called "Caleb" in sort of a parody of a country name, reflects on the spirit of masculinity that had united the two, father and son, even back in the day when he had passed as a she. Caleb thought the father would recognize and acknowledge this tie--a fatal miscalculation, one born of a wildly frenzied naturalism. "Caleb stared up at his father, blood running down his chin from a broken nose."
The tale just gathers heartbreak like a rolling stone. "This loneliness stretched out and covered him, like the shadows of the clouds he remembered from childhood. A person's heart will pound for the things he thinks he has forgotten." Finally Caleb learns how to live with his own knowledge of his own life, his own times, and the hormones in the needle. "Some experiences," reflects the narrator, :are so far from universal that talking about them makes them seem even smaller." How important the word "seem" in the last-quoted sentence! How important the smallest detail in Jones' triumphantly mournful debut of short fiction.
"The stories in 'Deliver Me from Nowhere' pass quickly beyond the 'universal' themes - salvation, redemption, the search for joy - that have transformed Springsteen's songs into anthems. As Tennessee Jones's unforgettable people question whether redemption is possible or even desirable, they extract - sometimes to their own awe and bereavement - the thread of religion that runs through rock and roll." From the back cover of the 2005 Soft Skull Press paperback edition - as the synopsis on Goodreads is extremely mediocre.*
I finally got hold of a copy of this collection of stories in 2023 after many years of searching for a copy (copies aren't hard to come by, I just couldn't find a copy in the UK and didn't want to pay as much, if not more, as the cost of the book in postage) and, although I do not know (or don't think I know), this particular Springsteen album (which did worry me) I was exceptionally pleased and happy when I finally did read the stories. They are everything the synopsis I quote above promised and maybe even more. I must admit that I like stories about the poor, drifters, outsiders, down and outs all those who have fallen by the wayside of the world my generation has allowed, or encouraged, to be created out of the flawed post WWII consensus. It is a world free of practical idealism and one that has individualism in the form of selfishness at the centre of concern. All that is to say that I am prejudiced in favour of the subject matter of these stories, something which not all Goodreads reviewers are - some find the subject matter distasteful.
I am really happy with this collection and look forward to reading more by this author. My only caveat, and it is not with the book or author, is the LGBT shelving suggestion. I am somewhat baffled why it has been described like this - there are LGBT characters in one story but that hardly seems sufficient for the book to be singled out as of LGBT interest.
As no information is given on Goodreads about the author I quote the following from the book's author profile:
"Tennessee Jones lives in Brooklyn, New York. His work has appeared in numerous publications including Lodestar Quarterly and LIT. He is also the author of the zine 'Teenage Death Songs'. He was raised in the mountains of East Tennessee."
*Please find below Kevin Killian's review from Amazon which I reproduce because, despite my reservations about some of Mr. Killian's work his views deserve wide distribution:
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 9, 2005
The characters in DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE are sick, sick of themselves, sick of the broken promises of America, and sick to death of the violence that pervades our rusty and misshapen air. Based on ten songs by Bruce Springsteen from his 1982 LP Nebraska, these stories depart from Springsteen's lyrics in numerous ways, some of them significant. For example, in "Nebraska" the story the basic outlines of the Starkweather-Fugate murders remain the same, but Jones changes the narrator from Charles Starkweather himself to Caril Ann Fugate--here stripped of a name, as though to signify that in 1950s America women had better hold on to every thing they've got. The killer is called George here . . . for reasons unclear, but it's terribly suggestive. Switching narrative genders, as it were, brings the story back closer to the female-centered (and narrated) film version BADLANDS (1973), directed by Terrence Malick, in which the homicidal pair were called "Kit" and "Holly," another pair of androgynous names. Sissy Spacek played Holly, and spoke the most banal lines while Malick's irony-saturated imagery tore holes into the screen.
Jones is equally skilled. His language is stripped down like a fine machine, glistening with oil, but he knows how to rise to the occasion, when only a swatch of the lyric will save the day between tedium and shock. Reading this collection put me in mind of the Faulkner of "Barn Burning" and the crazy, irrational swerves of James Purdy's 50s and 60s storytelling. It seems to me that the stories get better the further away they get from Springsteen's lyrics. In "My Father's House" a farmgirl grows up, transitions and changes from a girl to a man, and returns back home to confront the haunting specter of the father. The boy, now called "Caleb" in sort of a parody of a country name, reflects on the spirit of masculinity that had united the two, father and son, even back in the day when he had passed as a she. Caleb thought the father would recognize and acknowledge this tie--a fatal miscalculation, one born of a wildly frenzied naturalism. "Caleb stared up at his father, blood running down his chin from a broken nose."
The tale just gathers heartbreak like a rolling stone. "This loneliness stretched out and covered him, like the shadows of the clouds he remembered from childhood. A person's heart will pound for the things he thinks he has forgotten." Finally Caleb learns how to live with his own knowledge of his own life, his own times, and the hormones in the needle. "Some experiences," reflects the narrator, :are so far from universal that talking about them makes them seem even smaller." How important the word "seem" in the last-quoted sentence! How important the smallest detail in Jones' triumphantly mournful debut of short fiction.
June 24, 2022
Frustratingly good. Tennessee Jones seems to be a younger writer and yet his prose screams of an understanding for the changing spirit of the age. The little deaths of every day life. How an ordinary life simply isn't enough for some folks. The constant anxiety of not doing more. Where routine is poison and stagnation is death. He reminds me of this generation's Donald Ray Pollock, without the shock and bile.
Read
May 30, 2014I'm either the best audience for this book or the worst: I'm not a Bruce Springsteen fan and I've never listened to Nebraska. But I wanted to read it, since I'm working on a project sort of in the same vein, concerning song titles.
In a lot of ways, the concept for this book of short stories seems doomed from the start: how do you compete with Bruce Springsteen? How do you make your stories stand on their own, without making the reader wish they were just listening to the songs instead?
This problem is especially apparent in the first story in the collection, which I realized 1/4 the way through shared the same plot as the movie Badlands. It was a well-written enough story, but c'mon, it's competing with Badlands. And a Bruce Sprinsteen song. One thing's for sure, this author certainly has some chutzpah.
Some of these stories I would be reading and liking and then all of a sudden some violence would creep in and I would think maybe this collection is miscattegorized, maybe it should be considered literary crime, as some of the stories could be published as such. The author is very capable of adapting different voices, of everyone from little girls to old men, but for the most part the types of people remain the same: drifters, losers, the working poor. They are all interesting characters but way too often there is too much exposition to the stories and not enough drama, not enough action or dialogue or scenes. It's as if the stories are writing exercises for the author, or else they feel tied down by the plots of the Springsteen songs and fails to breath any new life into them. I think the author of this book is a good writer, they are just in need of a good story to tell, and a story deserving of telling.
(I acknowledge this is superficial, but I read a review copy and the pages were too long and filled with too many paragraphs that they seemed a chore to slog through).
In a lot of ways, the concept for this book of short stories seems doomed from the start: how do you compete with Bruce Springsteen? How do you make your stories stand on their own, without making the reader wish they were just listening to the songs instead?
This problem is especially apparent in the first story in the collection, which I realized 1/4 the way through shared the same plot as the movie Badlands. It was a well-written enough story, but c'mon, it's competing with Badlands. And a Bruce Sprinsteen song. One thing's for sure, this author certainly has some chutzpah.
Some of these stories I would be reading and liking and then all of a sudden some violence would creep in and I would think maybe this collection is miscattegorized, maybe it should be considered literary crime, as some of the stories could be published as such. The author is very capable of adapting different voices, of everyone from little girls to old men, but for the most part the types of people remain the same: drifters, losers, the working poor. They are all interesting characters but way too often there is too much exposition to the stories and not enough drama, not enough action or dialogue or scenes. It's as if the stories are writing exercises for the author, or else they feel tied down by the plots of the Springsteen songs and fails to breath any new life into them. I think the author of this book is a good writer, they are just in need of a good story to tell, and a story deserving of telling.
(I acknowledge this is superficial, but I read a review copy and the pages were too long and filled with too many paragraphs that they seemed a chore to slog through).
October 23, 2019
This book is a collection of short stories based on the titles (and, to varying extents, lyrics and storylines) in Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska album. It's a very ambitious undertaking, as the album itself is some of the best storytelling from one of the all-time greatest storytellers. At times, the deviations from the songs themselves became a distraction, as some people's actions seem out of character or details can appear incorrect. I guess that's one of the risks with this type of work.
Some stories stood out for me as particularly strong. "Atlantic City" was probably my favorite. It followed the song enough to warrant its inclusion, but it went in a different direction that kept me guessing until the end. I enjoyed "Johnny 99" and how it added a backstory to the main character's actions. "Mansion on the Hill" had some strong moments, and it was nice to see someone's interpretation of what secrets the mansion might have held. I found the swearing in "State Trooper" to be distracting (I like to use other methods of characterization, but that's just personal preference), but I was happy to see the storyline continue in "Open All Night"--I appreciate when artists can portray a situation from different perspectives.
I wasn't sure what to hope for when I ordered this, but I'm glad I read it. While it's obviously not canonical with the stories contained on the album, I think Jones did a good job of developing the characters and throwing in some original twists. I'm interested to see how it influences my interpretation the next time I listen to Nebraska. I can't speak to what this collection would be like for someone unfamiliar with Nebraska, but I would think that the stories could stand on their own.
Some stories stood out for me as particularly strong. "Atlantic City" was probably my favorite. It followed the song enough to warrant its inclusion, but it went in a different direction that kept me guessing until the end. I enjoyed "Johnny 99" and how it added a backstory to the main character's actions. "Mansion on the Hill" had some strong moments, and it was nice to see someone's interpretation of what secrets the mansion might have held. I found the swearing in "State Trooper" to be distracting (I like to use other methods of characterization, but that's just personal preference), but I was happy to see the storyline continue in "Open All Night"--I appreciate when artists can portray a situation from different perspectives.
I wasn't sure what to hope for when I ordered this, but I'm glad I read it. While it's obviously not canonical with the stories contained on the album, I think Jones did a good job of developing the characters and throwing in some original twists. I'm interested to see how it influences my interpretation the next time I listen to Nebraska. I can't speak to what this collection would be like for someone unfamiliar with Nebraska, but I would think that the stories could stand on their own.
Read
January 28, 2021On some level it would have been better to keep this perpetually on my WTR shelf so I could just listen to “Highway Patrolman” on repeat instead, wondering what happens when Frank crosses the Canadian border. I think I like the outskirts of my imagination more. The beauty of “Nebraska” is all its carved-out spaces; I’m not convinced they needed to be filled in.
“Atlantic City” was the only story that gave me something beyond the scope of the eponymous song, but likely would’ve been more striking without the referent, which is perfect.
“Atlantic City” was the only story that gave me something beyond the scope of the eponymous song, but likely would’ve been more striking without the referent, which is perfect.
Read
June 25, 2007From the portrait of a man laid off from an auto plant--who fantasizes about eating the car he helped build--to the chilling first person account of a killing spree, the stories in Deliver Me From Nowhere illuminate the changing forces behind American discontent. Set against the expansive emptiness of the American landscape, Deliver Me From Nowhere presents a brave new view of the shifting territory between gender and class, power and death.
As the stories pass quickly beyond the "universal" themes--salvation, redemption, the search for joy--that hae transformed Springsteen's songs into anthems, its characters question whether redemption is possible or even desirable. In doing so Tennessee Jones' unforgettable people extract--sometimes to their own bereavement and awe--the thread of religion that runs through the American experience of rock and roll.
As the stories pass quickly beyond the "universal" themes--salvation, redemption, the search for joy--that hae transformed Springsteen's songs into anthems, its characters question whether redemption is possible or even desirable. In doing so Tennessee Jones' unforgettable people extract--sometimes to their own bereavement and awe--the thread of religion that runs through the American experience of rock and roll.
July 1, 2015
I'm a bit of a rock snob. I will admit it. Generally speaking I am not a fan of The Boss. A few years ago when I was listening to Suicide, I found out that Springsteen had written a song influenced by their "Frankie Teardrop." His song was called "State Trooper" and I went and gave that a listen. I liked it. It was from an album called "Nebraska" and I listened to the rest of the record and just loved it. So when I found out someone had written short stories based off the songs I secured myself a copy as fast as I could. A few of the stories are great, most of them good, with a couple of mediocre. This would have made a good 33 1/3 title.
October 19, 2019
Questo libro di Tennessee Jones mi è piaciuto per ben due motivi: i racconti in esso contenuti sono scritti molto bene e raccontano perfettamente la provincia americana e successivamente perché rappresenta un esperimento molto originale poiché la scrittrice parte dall’album Nebraska di Bruce Springsteen e ne fa una sua personale rivisitazione attraverso la scrittura che non risulta mai sbiadita, sconclusionata o priva di identità.
Recensione completa: https://www.librofilia.it/tennessee-j...
Recensione completa: https://www.librofilia.it/tennessee-j...
January 14, 2008
fiction/memoir. a quick read. nice writing style. as far as i recall, some gender issues involved, though i could be i came up with that because it's written by a genderqueer person.
March 5, 2009
I was tempted to give this 4/5 stars on the premise alone, but I wanted to be fair. Still, it's a good, quick read, probably even if you're not into Springsteen.
Read
February 8, 2011If your as much as Big Boss Man fan as I am, then this heartbreaking collection of blood and tears will only help your heart grow more.
August 4, 2013
Short stories. Some better than others. Lost interest after a while. Die hard Springsteen fans will eat this up.
May 12, 2014
Vivid and compelling. Almost every story stands out in my memory.
December 8, 2014
A beautiful, if disturbing, anthology of semi-connected stories. Well written and rather haunting. In many ways these reminded me of the stories of William Faulkner.
August 15, 2015
What Raymond Carver would read like without all that pesky 'hope'.
Desperate people in desperate circumstances find answers in whatever way they can.
Desperate people in desperate circumstances find answers in whatever way they can.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews