Harry Crews - Breaking Your Bones with a Whisper

John Zeuli Photography 

I read.  Books.  Generally, I avoid the "murder and mayhem" aisle, but there are a few exceptions, most notably Harry Crews.  Harry is a brutal minimalist.  In shockingly few words, he transports you into the world of his bizarre, dark characters.  The world is grotesque, brutal, hard, harsh yet oddly touching.  The cast is maimed, scarred, emotionally ruined characters, but a few remain somehow adorable or worthy of nurture, at least at times.  (My curse).  These people of Harry's live in tough spheres.  No one grills steaks in the yard for friends, no one drinks a beer or glass of wine for refreshment, lawns are not mowed, cars are towed but not waxed. (well, one is, but even that is frightening).   No one is at peace.  Anywhere.  No one seems to understand that one can even seek peace.

I first was introduced to Crews by a non-reader via Feast of Snakes.  There were snakes, but not much of a feast.  Feast of Snakes - it's mayhem.  It's ruination.   It's ludicrous.  I had to take breaks to breathe some air. Then I waited over a year to pick up my second Crews.  Scar Lover.  I just finished it - I'm happy and sad to report it's a hair milder than Snakes.  Maybe 2 hairs.  The characters are equally confused, damaged, walking in emotional circles.   These are people who get lost in the space between love and hate, between a punch or slap and a caress.
The great difference between Feast of Snakes and Scar Lover is that in Snakes,  ultimately I despised every character.  And when I closed the book after the last page, I never ever wanted to see any of them again.  In Scar Lover, they are still dark and broken, but there are several I rooted for. In fact, most of them.  I still don't want to have them over for dinner anytime soon, but I rooted for them.  Snakes was page after page of being flabbergasted that Crews could create this overpowering sense of impending doom with so few words.  And then manage to surpass the dread.

I don't know if I would have sought out Harry Crews' world (repeatedly it seems) before the Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA).  I've always enjoyed the edginess of edgy people, but I'm not sure I would have wanted to get to know the characters that go so far beyond edgy.  Reading Harry is not for the faint of heart, but my heart is no longer faint.  When my heart stopped beating 2 years ago, I think I lost interest in being faint of heart.  So I found Harry.  And sundry non-readers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I need to thank a few people who contributed to this post: 
First, I lifted the title of this blog post from a wonderful writer:  Happy to have e-met you, J. Scott Grand, and his blog post about Harry: http://jscottgrand.tumblr.com/post/3496543542/harry-crews-can-break-your-bones-with-a-whisper
Second - the photo above is courtesy of  http://www.johnzeuliphotography.com/harrycrews1.shtml
Oh, and thank you to the non-reader who introduced me to Harry. (channeling his Moon). Beware the recommendations of those who do not read. 
And here is Harry himself, with a description I adore and could not have managed to write.  He is magnificent:
"I never wanted to be well-rounded.  I do not admire well-rounded people nor their work.  So far as I can see, nothing good in the world has ever been done by well-rounded people.  The good work is done by people with jagged, broken edges, because those edges cut things and leave an imprint, a design".