Let’s Talk About It, Oklahoma!

Just because we are born into a set of family members doesn’t mean that we will like them, respect them, or even get along with them. The novels in this series can make readers cry or laugh or both. They show us problematic family relationships and how family members survive and even thrive amongst them.

The first book in the series is Joe by Larry Brown. In this novel, Brown delivers some powerful characters- all of them dysfunctional. Wade Jones is the worst man on the face of the earth: he pimps his daughter, beats his wife, drinks too much, and sells his infant son. He keeps the family traveling from town to town, from dilapidated house to dilapidated house. Teenage Gary is the linchpin of the family- the one who provides stability and finance and effort to keep the familial unit as one. He needs a decent male role model. He gets one, but probably no the best. He gets Joe.