The Last Worthless EveningAndre DubusDavid R. Godine Publisher, January 1st 1997 Full of drama in every story that shocks my view on his characters, The Last Worthless Evening by Andre Dubus creates enthralling stories that must be finished. This book contains six different stories each with their own cruel twists. Dubus is able to portray real believable people and creates for them their personal tormented history and future in a condensed but not rushed story so you get the full effect of their feelings, their uneasiness or their pain.The first story titled Deaths at Sea is a serious of letters from a naval officer to his wife back home. Gerry is set in an era where race is a healing bout still tender subject and he as a white southerner is given a black roommate named Willie Brooks. Although uneasy at first they become firm friends and over the course of the story become very close. Willie has to deal with various traumatic events while on board that range from possible murder to blowing up the entire ship he is stationed on but always is able to deal with them in a sense of removed humor. The next story, After the Game, is a quick story of a baseball team just after a win. The story is told from the perspective of Billy Wells, the teams successful pitcher, as he tries cooling down after the game. Soon after the story begins his fellow player Joaquin Quintana is found frozen in the locker rooms and no one knows why. The story is told like an episode of Family Guy but without the punchlines, constantly shifting to different scenes that emerge from a shred of the storyline then diving back in. Another short story but full of cruel worn men is Dressed like Summer Leaves. Told from a third person who likes to look into the small details of its characters, the story follows a young eleven year old Mickey Dolan as he is dragged into a bar by a veteran named Duffy. Duffy decides to pick on one of the bar mates, another veteran that Duffy sees as an inferior warrior who he constantly ridicules while playing it off in a jolly attitude. Before long things escalate into their own war Mickey retreats from. Land where my Fathers Died is the tale of a murder mystery. Though the perspective switches to two other characters it mainly follows behind the detective, Archimedes Nionakis, as he figures out who killed the doctor and tries solving his own personal issues along the way. We find out more about Nionakis as he discovers quirks out about his suspects. Molly, my personal favorite and very touching story is at first the struggle of a mother who tries raising her daughter after her negligent husband leaves them to work across the country. In the second and third chapters it follows Molly after she’s grown to fifteen years and the horrible lifestyle that I found almost unthinkable for a girl her age. I was torn apart as I read, discovering after what her mother had done to raise her, how the child fell so low. The last story, Rose is a story within a story. First from the perspective of a bar’s regular who daily listens to the stories and problems of the local college students as his interest is in deciphering why humans act the way we do and what a greater good we can do. He talks with another mysterious and legendary commoner, Rose. She reveals to him her story of a broken, lifeless, and abusive marriage, why she no longer has her three children, and why she constantly fears fire burning her. The Last Worthless evening is by no means a jolly book of happy endings but I find meaning in every story. Each is certainly worth a read through at least once to expand one’s mind. I get the feel of every character in a real setting and a real sense. In almost every story there is one thing that connects it to the next, mainly Timmy’s bar. This book is a passionate telling of non fiction that I already have suggested to my friends and I will to you as well.
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