The Premise
In 1900, in the town of Galveston, Texas, a fight is scheduled to take place between 'Lil' Arthur John Johnson later known as Jack Johnson and a heavyweight fighter brought in to take out this young, black upstart. At the same time, the mother of all hurricanes swarms into being, and heads for the sleepy, sinful town.
In Review
The Big Blow is a mean, little book. Within its short span of pages less than 200, and all rendered in a large type that is easy on the eyes Lansdale crams in a story that covers history, race relations, family ties, and desperate acts of courage and survival that appear as myth in retrospect. He also writes in a lot of sex, racism, and violence so much that, at times, it can be overbearing. The story teems with malicious acts and selfish motivations. There are a host of tragedies, and then a massive tragedy that sweeps everything away, leaving rampant death and decay under a hot sun. Hence, the application of the word mean.
The book is also written in gorgeous prose. Word for word, Lansdale's writing is a worthy peer to that of Cormac McCarthy, Margaret Atwood, China Mieville, Khaled Hosseini, or any other writer that makes good prose look natural. Some sentences are so well put together, they deserve to be read over and over again.
Take this passage as an example:
Arthur stepped back and held out his broad, black hands and examined them in the moonlight. They were scuffed, but essentially sound. He walked down to the water and squatted and stuck his hands in, let the ocean roll over them. The salt didn't even burn. His hands were like leather. He rubbed them together, being sure to coat them completely with sea water. He cupped water in his palms, rubbed it on his face, over his shaved, bullet head.
Notice how every sentence that describes action contains a number of ands, chaining it all together. Descriptive sentences are short, and to the point. Metaphors are equally conveyed in less words than the ones in this very sentence. Most of these words are made up of two syllables or less. To do absolute justice to this paragraph, I would have to describe it in the same, concise language. Or cite it in its entirety, and let the reader see for themselves how well it reads.
Bear in mind that I had to hunt and peck through the first 20 or so pages to find a passage appropriate for this review. Otherwise, the story is full of dialog and inner narrative that is foul, racist, and just plain mean-spirited. The four star bad boy of the English language alone makes its appearance so many times it would be vain to keep count. Women are verbally and physically abused with a casual attitude that singes modern sensibilities. Race relations? Please, you'll be lucky to witness a conversation between a white man and a black man that doesn't contain that dreaded 'n' word.
Along with this frequent, coarse language, The Big Blow contains sexual content that is unromantic, sordid and sometimes bizarre. Lansdale has a penchant for describing a character through their appetites, and he does not shy away from the sexual act, regardless of orientation. Nor does he hesitate in portraying sexual abuse. Probably half the scenes would qualify as assault in today's world. Only one of the sex scenes involves a loving couple, and it stood out so much it was like a whiff of fresh, coastal air. The rest are anything but pleasant.
Just what is Lansdale up to? How can he write such coarse material in language that is readable in that rare, joyous way that die-hard readers and bookworms search for? Does he have an agenda, or is he just being gratuitous? I can't answer the former question, but I would argue that the answer to the latter question is a negative. The sex scenes may contain some uncomfortable details, but they are far from titillating. For all of the cursing that's in the dialog, it is never cool or hip the way that it is in contemporary crime cinema. Lansdale is willing to go there, so to speak, but he does not employ the affectation that inevitably leads to gratuitous content.
Far from being gratuitous, Lansdale's prose is straightforward, and unflinching. You won't find any high ideals or morals in The Big Blow. If you get any of that from reading the story, it's because you brought it yourself. The only agenda I could detect was a desire to tell a story, and that's exactly what Lansdale does. Yes, the story involves a heavy amount of meanness, but all of this negativity comes from the immense appetites of the characters. If I had to describe the mood of this story in one word, I would use hungry. Everyone wants something in this story, and these desires provide the motive force for the story.
And what a story. There's a pending boxing match that promises to be one hell of a fight. A local syndicate is intent on ruining a young, black boxer who dreams of something better. A humongous hurricane gathers force, and hurtles towards the unsuspecting town. In fact, it's easy to see a parallel between the hurricane and the boxing match, but the way Lansdale writes it, such a comparison is accidental at best. Again, any symbolism will come from the reader, not the writing.
This is a story of What Happened, told in a straight-forward style that doesn't rely on embellishment or tricks to earn people's attention. Characters stand in the clay and muck that we all step on, and everything they say and do is a consequence of who they are and what they want. Nothing feels forced or constructed. Events connect because people clash and argue and fight and love. A hurricane hits a small coastal town because the weather was right, and the town was there. In a way, Lansdale's story-telling is transparent, while the story itself breathes and beats and sweats and hurts. It is powerful stuff.
This is why I can recommend The Big Blow, and do so whole-heartedly. Invariably, some of the content is so base it will turn off some readers, and lead them to swear off Lansdale for all time. Nonetheless, it is a very vital story. The prose is robust, the characters are passionate, and the plot is thick with intrigue and desire and acts of nature that ignore the tinny pleas of the human race. Like the hurricane that the story describes, Lansdale picks all of these elements up, and whirls them around in a tight vortex of story-telling that yanks you in and drags you through the grime and sweat and laughter of a human drama.
If you can stomach the selfish appetites of some unscrupulous characters, then read this book. It will take you places you never dreamed of visiting, and at times you may be sickened I'm not gonna mince words here. Once you've made the trip, though, you won't regret it.
So let me repeat: read this book. Read Lansdale. He is a talented writer that will make you glad that you read for pleasure.
