Dear Books ‘n’ Wine Club,
On a mild March evening we gathered to discuss
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. Wisely Allison decided not to cross the border on such a foggy evening and poor Ellen was under the weather (feel better!). We look forward to their return next meeting.
We dined on some Southern fare of Gumbo to set the Mississippi mood. I am not sure the book was loved, but was rather liked by many. What drew me to the book was its unique title. Learning that it was a mnemonic device to teach children how to spell Mississippi was new to me and many northerns in the room, but not for Charli and Sara who have southern ties!
For me this book was a well crafted piece of prose with wonderful imagery and sensory allusions. Marrie echoed this sentiment expressing how wonderful Franklin’s writing provided the tone and setting of the southern culture. There was fried food, cottonmouth snakes, catfish, drinking, tractors, even chickens. Charli loved how Larry moved the chicken pen around to give them fresh grass; I too loved this little detail.
Although the story centered around the two missing girls the real tension came from each of the main characters and their struggles to accept the truth about himself and make sense of events of the last 20 years and how it shaped their lives. This book was really about characters and so we spent a good deal of time discussing Silas and Larry along with the other supporting characters.
Mainly we felt for Larry. How is mother prayed to bring him a friend. As Karin pointed out it was like a role reversal with him being white, but being mistreated like a black child. A social outcast as a young boy it was fate that Larry would become the community’s scapegoat. It was heartbreaking to witness the father son relationship between Larry and Carl. Carl never believing in Larry and offering any sense of support. There was discussion on whether Larry’s mother even supported her son. She did intervene often between Larry and his father and advocated for him to be taken to the garage to work alongside his father. But it was mentioned that she too struggled to keep the family unit together.
Larry’s loneliness drove him to befriend Wallace Stringfellow. I loved this exchange between Roy French and Larry: “How would you characterize your relationship with him?” French asked.… “I thought he was my friend.” “You have strange taste in friends.” “I don’t know if you noticed,” Larry said, “but I ain’t had a lot of options.”….”You’ve been the only person inside my house since they come took Momma,” Larry said. “In a way you were the closest thing I had to a friend till Wallace came.”
Wallace and Larry did have a strange relationship. He showed good manners taught no doubt by his momma to stock beer in the fridge for his guest, but as Susan pointed out he never let him in the house. Was this a signal that Larry underneath knew he was a shady character or was it out of respect for his parent’s house? Sara asked what drove Wallace to attempt to murder Larry. The general consensus was that Wallace let Larry in on too much and feared he would be found out. The main hint was Larry’s unanswered calls to Silas that yes, Larry did suspect something.
Then there is Silas, the character you grew to love and then became so disappointed in. Even Charli was yelling at him not to go there as we went home with another woman! There was a line in the book that made reference to the fact that Silas had been letting himself off the hook had become a way of life. If he had manned up Larry wouldn’t have been made a pariah. It took a long time for Silas to come full circle and realize the connection ran deep between Larry and himself. How he not only hurt a friend, but a brother.
We spent some time discussing Carl and how the fight scene was difficult to bear. Larry, even years later, confessing what he always knew: “He wished you’d been the white one.” Another memorable scene was when Larry and his mother stopped on that cold and frigid day and provided coats but not a ride as Carl had done in the past. Poignantly Larry’s mother states to Alice she should have no trouble accepting the coats because she’d never minding using other people’s things.
Tom Franklin has provides his readers a well crafted novel with unforgettable characters; ones that are well developed, complex, yet flawed, realistic and honest. Franklin implies often and allows the readers to draw conclusions. Franklin has a wonderful writing style that creates such vivid images. I leave you with this last line referring to Larry seeing Silas’ mother, “She wore a cloth around her hair, breath torn from her lips like tissues snatched from a box.”
For our next book we will be going back in time with Jane Austen’s
Pride and Prejudice.
Until then I wish you all happy reading.
Best,
Jenn
