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Title: The Bottoms: Lettered Edition by Joe R. Lansdale, Alan M. Clark ISBN: 1-892284-61-8 Publisher: Subterranean Pub. Date: May, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $400.00

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Maybe Lansdale's Best Book
Comment: I've read all of Joe Lansdale's novels, and a significant percentage of his short stories. I believe that "The Bottoms" may be his best book yet. This novel finds Lansdale exploring new narritive and stylistic territory while staying within many of his traditional themes. This may also be his most accesible book to date, and should gain him some new readers whose sensibilities might be too fragile for some of Joe's earlier horror novels.

"The Bottoms" is indeed a horror novel, a genre that Lansdale has not explored for a number of years. Really though, it might be more proper to call this a hybrid of the crime/detective, horror, and traditional literary forms. There are elements of all of these, but no single aspect is overemphasized.

The story is set in 1930's East Texas and centers around a family living in a small town called Marvel Creek. The narration is from the point of view of an old man, near death, telling the story from the point of view of himself as a teenager. The author's narrative execution is truly masterful. Lansdale manages to capture both the point of view of the teenage boy and the elderly man, so that we see everything through both aspects of the same person.

The story itself is also constructed with a master's touch. This is a longish novel (more than 400 pages), and the gradual buildup, climax, and denouement are perfectly paced and executed. Many people are primarily familiar with Lansdale through his Hap and Leonard books, but "The Bottoms" is a much different animal. The pacing is much slower, and there is an innocence and wonder that pervades the whole book. As always, though, the best thing about a Joe Lansdale novel is the characters. I feel like I know these characters. It's the characters that will grab you and keep you there for the whole book.

Lansdale never disappoints. It's amazing to me the variety that I always find in his novels. In recent months, I have read "Freezer Burn", "Waltz of Shadows", "Blood Dance", and "The Bottoms". Each of these books is totally different from the others, yet they all have that Lansdale quality. "The Bottoms" is some of Lansdale's best writing to date. Don't hesitate.