Jesus' Son

Denis Johnson's new novel "Tree of Smoke" just came out last month to rave reviews. I've been meaning to read something of his for a while and since the new book is almost 30 dollars, I opted for "Jesus' Son," a collection of stories that takes its name from a Velvet Underground song called "Heroin."

The collection is good. Really, really good.

For a long time I had no time for short stories. Turns out I was just reading the wrong ones. In the last year I've read and loved collections by Raymond Carver, George Saunders and now Denis Johnson. Since I'm trying to put together a few stories of my own, it's really refreshing to read all this stuff. It's also a bit depressing in that banal way everything is when you realize you have a long way to go before you're any good at it.

Anyway, this collection has a narrator whose only given name is Fuckhead. The stories are insane, drug-addled tales about the narrator and his companions' lives, but there is something really beautiful about the imagery and language in the pieces -- not to mention a captivating look at what redemption means, something I find fascinating and refreshing. His progression isn't romanticized. It is simply chronicled in beautiful, sonorous tones. I really like this book. Since it's 15 years old, this was probably a waste of my time, but if you enjoy honest, visceral writing that does something more than that run of the mill, postgrad student fiction does, pick this up.