Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410140048
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY NEIL HARVEY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Set in a small, East Texas town, "Graveyard Working" is the story of two elderly women preparing for the Big Caney festival, the town's annual cleaning of the cemetery. During the days before the event, relatives arrive from out of town, several misadventures occur, and old arguments and secrets are dredged up.
You can tell that Gerald Duff, who grew up in Texas, is familiar with these people and knows the places he's writing about. His writing has a vividness and a sense of authenticity that can't be faked, and he has a sharp ear for provincial dialogue.
Unfortunately "Graveyard Working," which would otherwise be a very good rural novel, has a major problem: the author seems to have nothing but contempt for every single one of his characters. They are, for the most part, portrayed as unhappy, unhealthy, self-righteous, envious, greedy, hypocritical, vehemently racist, guilt-ridden, depressed and irredeemably foolish. Duff doesn't cut them any slack.
In the book, a preacher tortures his Dobermans and German shepherds with an electric cattle prod in order to make them fiercer guard dogs; an elderly woman has too much to drink and passes out in a nest of fire ants; one character (named Bubba, no less) spends the book discussing septic tanks and sewage with the other characters; a slow, profoundly obese man is so moved by a revival that he urinates in his pants; these aren't really situations to laugh about, yet they're drawn broadly, in the manner of dark comedy.
Dark comedy and satire are fine, but Duff's harsh characterizations and sincere tones just don't leave room for the reader to feel any humor or sympathy.
Of course, none of this would make any difference if the book was written by a bad writer, which it wasn't. Had Duff shown something other than just the unsavory sides of his characters, he wouldn't have come off like he was attacking them. Since he only shows these people as idiots and buffoons, "Graveyard Working" is a little like what might've happened had Faulkner traded his Yoknapatawpha County for Hazzard County and Boss Hogg.
Neil Harvey lives in Blacksburg.
by CNB