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Katie's Reviews > Jesus’ Son
Jesus’ Son
by
by
All narrated by a recovering heroin addict these interrelated stories are vignettes of a world where normality as we know it has been completely expunged. In one story he obsessively spies on a married woman in the shower; in another he works as a porter in a hospital and meets a man with a knife impaled in his eyeball; in another he helps dump the dead body of someone his friend has accidentally shot. Johnson comes up with lots of fabulous images for this surreal underworld he has created. One that I especially loved was when the narrator on a night bus sees everything through the dark window as resembling symbols on a slot machine, as if for him a slot machine has come to represent the height of opportunity. Another very edifying read. 4+ stars.
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Quotes Katie Liked
“With each step my heart broke for the person I would never find, the person who'd love me.”
― Jesus’ Son
― Jesus’ Son
“We’d torn open our chests and shown our cowardly hearts, and you can never stay friends after something like that”
― Jesus’ Son
― Jesus’ Son
“Will you believe me when I tell you there was kindness in his heart? His left hand didn't know what his right hand was doing. It was only that certain important connections had been burned through. If I opened up your head and ran a hot soldering iron around in your brain, I might turn you into someone like that.”
― Jesus’ Son
― Jesus’ Son
“There was a part of her she hadn’t yet allowed to be born because it was too beautiful for this place”
― Jesus’ Son
― Jesus’ Son
“Its always been my tendency to lie to doctors, as if good health consisted only of the ability to fool them.”
― Jesus’ Son
― Jesus’ Son
“That world! These days it's all been erased and they've rolled it up like a scroll and put it away somewhere. Yes, I can touch it with my fingers. But where is it?”
― Jesus' Son
― Jesus' Son
“A bus came. I climbed aboard and sat on the plastic seat while the things of our city turned in the windows like the images in a slot machine.”
― Jesus’ Son
― Jesus’ Son
“I’d thought something was required of me, but I hadn’t wanted to find out what it was.”
― Jesus' Son
― Jesus' Son
“He was in his fifties. He'd wasted his entire life. Such people were very dear to those of us who'd wasted only a few years.”
― Jesus’ Son
― Jesus’ Son
“She was resting at a table between numbers in the Greek nightclub where she was dancing. A little of the stage light touched her. She was very frail. She seemed to be thinking about something far away, waiting patiently for somebody to destroy her.”
― Jesus’ Son
― Jesus’ Son
Reading Progress
December 1, 2020
– Shelved
December 1, 2020
– Shelved as:
to-read
December 15, 2020
–
Started Reading
December 19, 2020
–
Finished Reading
April 19, 2022
– Shelved as:
short-stories
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Elyse wrote: "Oh my gosh... yes, that story where he was watching the wife .... hoping to catch them having sex....
you could almost feel his disappointment that he didn’t get a show.
Great review Katie! Fas..."
Thanks Elyse. That story was great - I think she represented his craving to join the world of normality.
Oh, you've read another Denis Johnson! I want to read this one soon. Fabulous review, Katie :)
Candi wrote: "Oh, you've read another Denis Johnson! I want to read this one soon. Fabulous review, Katie :)"Thanks Candi. I liked this even better than The Stars at Noon though I seem to have got stingy with my stars this month!
I have a feeling I'll like this one better too, Katie. Well, it's okay to be stingy with the stars - save them for your true favorites!
Excellent review, Katie, I am happy to see that you enjoyed this even more than his The Stars at Noon, although I haven't read that one, either. More books to add!
Cheri wrote: "Excellent review, Katie, I am happy to see that you enjoyed this even more than his The Stars at Noon, although I haven't read that one, either. More books to add!"Thanks Cheri and thanks to Candi I discovered him.
Nice review - thank you!"
Thanks.