“Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter” by Tom Franklin is a fictional story set in the late 70’s in rural Mississippi. The title comes from the way children in Mississippi are taught how to spell their state’s name (. M, I, crooked-letter, crooked-letter, I, crooked-letter, crooked-letter, I, humpback, humpback, I). The book is atmospheric and deals with the harsh punishment society deals to those they deem guilty (without proof) as well as racial elements.
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“Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter” by Tom Franklin is a sad and poignant story that has many elements and several focuses. The profound themes of friendship, bonding, racism, cruelty and community shunning are at the forefront of this well written novel.
The story is evocative but slow and centers on the relationship between two men (on a friendship level). The crime story is simply a background in which the themes of the book can show themselves. Mr. Franklin’s storytelling is wonderful and the novel resonates using believable characters and excellent dialog.
I would not categorize this novel as a mystery as the narrative moves back and forth in time with few characters and it’s obvious who the guilty party is. The book is more of a psychological examination and an intriguing study of the male psyche.
The strong characters are what make the book. The relationship between the characters is what keeps the book interesting more than the not-so-intricate plot.
The one thing that I didn’t like is how far the author goes to make the character of Larry Ott seems strange without cluing the reader into his intelligence. Larry is an avid reader of horror books and could basically learn anything except human interaction, he is an interesting character and I wished he would have been explored a bit more.
Larry Ott is the child of lower middle class parents, his childhood friend Silas “32” Jones is the son of a poor single black mother. For a few months the boys share a special bond until Silas, the jock, turns away from Larry, the school’s weird kid who is into horror books. On his first date Larry takes a girl to a drive-in movie and she’s never seen again.
The girl was never found, Larry never confessed and the case remained opened.
Twenty years later Larry has taken over his father’s garage but not a single person in town is his customer. He lives a solitary existence filled with whispers behind his back and suspicion to his face. Silas has become the town’s cop and is forced to cross paths with Larry once again.
Buy Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter from Amazon.com*
More Books by Tom Franklin*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I got this book for free
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
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What a great review. I am interested in why you highlight certain words, do they pick up better on search engines that way? Just curious. You also seem to have some well written and insightful books that you read. Well done, thank you for sharing them. They are not always my cup of tea but I have come across a few that I am now looking for.
Hi Leslie, thanks for the kind words.
I highlighted certain words so people would be able to skim the page and get my impression of the book without reading all of the text. That way if they're interested they can read the whole thing.
I thought the author did a good job making Larry into a strange but smart character, maybe not emphasizing his brain as he got older, but definitely as a kid. In any case, I agree with all the other parts of your review -- I liked this book a lot.
Thanks Kim, yes the author did a wonderful job creating the characters. Thanks for the great comment.