Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9509010089
SECTION: BOOK PAGE: F-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY LARRY SHIELD
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
In this extremely readable novel, JP Miller explores the coming of age of an 18-year-old college student living in Depression-era Houston.
Like all boys of like age, Dub Johnson has two overpowering goals in life - breaking free of his mother's influence and getting lucky. Complicating Dub's life is his father who drinks a bit but comes home most nights; his Christian Science-believing Cherokee-blooded mother who radiates passive-aggressive evangelistic signals of salvation; his hard-living, hard-loving, hard-working best friend Chester; and Joy.
Joy, the totally wanton, amoral woman whose goal in life appears to be satiating the libido of friends and family. Joy, who seduces him to cut class. Joy, who seduces him to assume the nom de guerre of Tex Frontere and to box for $10 a bout against all comers. Joy, whose hard-shell Baptist mother hires Dub to tutor her daughter at night to pass high school Spanish. Joy, who causes Dub to question the direction of his life. Joy, who puts Chester in bed, paralyzed from the neck down.
The title "Surviving Joy" is deliciously ironic - can Dub survive Joy, the joy of Joy, or any joy at all. A fine read.
Larry Shield trains dogs and horses in Franklin County.
by CNB