Fay by Larry Brown is an intense coming-of-age story of a young woman who is forced to run away from her backwoods home by the unwanted advances of her father. Unfortunately she is destined to have men constantly watching her and trying to take advantage of her. This is not a pleasant story revolving as it does in the degradation and violence toward women but it is a very powerful one. Often labelled as Southern “Grit-Lit” I found that I was quickly caught up in unsavoury situation.

Like watching a car accident, we can see how Fay’s life is constantly going from bad to worse. We would like to root for her but it becomes obvious that as the author ups the tension and speed of the story, it is doubtful that we will see any redemption. Fay is naive and ignorant in that she has never had the opportunity to go to school but on the other hand she is very clever and is trying to improve her life. The men she meets along her way are not helpful, even the state trooper who tries to help her goes about it in the wrong way. Others, like the bar bouncer/drug pusher who deludes himself into thinking that he loves Fay, really just wants to control her.

The author builds his story around a strong sense of place. You can smell the barbecue, the salt of the ocean, the cigarettes and the cheap liquor. I did find that the pacing of the story was a little uneven but this is a Southern Gothic tale that is very dark, dangerous and damned. Violence hovers over every page of this noir thriller that exposes the seamier side of life in the strip clubs and bars of Biloxi, Mississippi. Sadly, we will never see the total potential of this author as he unfortunately passed away in 2004. ( )

In Brown's novel, Joe, Fay is the daughter of the destitute Jones family who runs away after another fight with her father. This book tells us what happened to her. Unlike her brother Gary, Fay is not illiterate, having finished the fifth grade, and she at least knows what a toothbrush is. But there's a lot she doesn't know about, such as sex, despite having had to fight her father off twice when he tried to rape her and having also watched another girl have sex with one man after another. She also doesn't know much about smoking and drinking as the story begins, but she makes up for that (and the sex part) pretty quickly. Without any spoilers, just let me say that this is typical Brown in so many ways. It seems to be impossible for anyone to drive and not drink at the same time. And smoke, too, of course. There are scenes here so real they hurt, such as an overturned tanker truck on the highway with the driver trapped inside, perhaps a story with some truth to it from Brown's days as a fireman. As the story proceeds, the anticipation of the next hurt to come is a bit too much at times. The book suffers from being about twice as long as it needs to be, and relies upon Fay making one bad choice after another to drive the plot forward. At first, these bad choices are understandable given how green she is, but as the book nears its conclusion, they appear more contrived by the author to set up a confrontation that isn't necessary.There are also too many loose plot ends that could have been trimmed to improve the story. Nevertheless, you won't soon forget Fay or the two men in her life. ( )

Book #1354 in my old book database. Rated "Good." I'm converting that to three stars. ( )

Fay Jones comes out of the hills of Mississippi as if she had just been born. Virginal in both mind and body. Beautiful, she turns heads and attracts attention everywhere she goes. She quickly learns that her beauty and her body are her primary currency, but she has a strength of spirit and personality to match the rest of her. Men fall in love with her, not just the physical her, even men who don't fall in love. But it is Fay's indomitable spirit that is her most remarkable attribute. She is a survivor, and woe to you if you threaten her survival.

There is more violence, sex and drinking in this novel than I have encountered in a book in a long time. But for the most part, it fits the world through which Fay travels. The dialogue is excellent, feeling just right in every scene. I did struggle a bit that almost everyone in the novel seems to be an alcoholic or headed quickly in that direction, and I still felt Brown's Father and Son was the better novel, but Fay was very, very good. ( )

I am becoming a big fan of Larry Brown. I do highly recommend reading the book "Joe" by Larry Brown before reading this one. Fay is a continuation of one character's plot line in Joe. ( )