Dirty Work by Larry Brown

This is a hell of a book, in both the figurative and the literal sense of the word. In the figurative sense, it is a novel of tremendous power and impact, one apt to stay in my mind for a long time. In the literal sense, it is a story of the living hell of two Viet Nam vets twenty-something years after the conflict, one a poor white boy/man from Mississippi who has a disfigured face and is subject to periodic blackouts as a result of a head injury, the other a poor black boy/man from Mississippi who is paraplegic and has lain helpless in a hospital bed for 22 years.

Brown tells their stories through their conversations in a VA hospital, mainly through one long night of drinking beer and smoking joints. The ending is predictable to the reader (and inevitable) almost from the first page, due to references to the novels Johnny Got His Gun and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Anyone who has read those books now knows the ending, but that little matters in the effect the conclusion exerts over susceptible emotions.

Brown's narrative voice of the two characters is perfect, showing their sameness rather than their difference, despite being black and white. One of the sadnesses of Viet Nam was that the war was fought mainly by the very young and the very poor, boys who had no choice, but who did their best.

This is a novel which can be read in one sitting, and should be, if possible. It is, obviously, an anti-war novel. For that reason, some would not like it, and some would like it even more. Nevertheless, it has to be acknowledged as a literary accomplishment.