Stopped Rocking
, the final screenplay in Tennessee Williams' eponymous compilation, is bitter and brutal--at least I thought so. Williams, in his preface (which I don't advise reading until after after you finish the screenplay, because it contains a major spoiler), seems to differ, at least to an extent.
The play centers around Janet, who has spent five years in a sanitarium; her husband, Olaf Svenson (also known as "Stone Man"); and his common-law wife, the manipulative, lubricious (Williams' word, and what a spectacularly incisive one it is) Alicia Trout. Janet lives for Olaf's visits, while Alicia nags him to divorce Janet--whom she accuses of "moral blackmail"--and marry her.
Janet is incarcerated in a Catholic institution. The attitudes of the two nuns who attend her, Sister Grace and Sister Grim, provide a strong counterpoint: Sister Grim acts out of grudging duty, while Sister Grace has a true calling to work with the residents, toward whom she shows genuine love and gentleness. Williams also paints a contrast between the kindly Father O'Donnell, the recently deceased chief of staff, and his successor, cynical psychiatrist Dr. Cash.
Like
The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond and
One Arm,
Stopped Rocking has the potential to be a poignant, powerful screenplay, with the right direction.
, Poppy Z. Brite's first short story collection. Most of the stories are set in the rural South, although there are also some New Orleans entries. Brite was between 18 and 24 when he wrote these stories, and that comes through in both positive and negative ways--there's freshness, enthusiasm, and excitement, but also an overly dramatic and adjective-ridden prose (these are faults I still fight, so no harsh criticism here). I first read this collection as a goth graduate student at Penn State, which isn't the South but does have lush vegetation, humidity, and quirky, isolated mountain towns, so I could kind of relate to the world in the stories. I'm not sure I'd ever read the book in its entirety since then. Rereading it was a fun little jaunt into nostalgia and also helped me wrap my head around a few issues in my own writing.
multiple times before finally succeeding, and I was disappointed in the book because I'd expected to love it. So I tackled 
with some uncertainty but an open mind. I ended up enjoying it very much. It's the tale of adolescent Frankie, an imaginative and not entirely sane girl growing up motherless in a Southern town. When her older brother becomes engaged, she convinces herself she's going to be in the wedding and then will accompany the couple on their honeymoon and subsequent exotic, exciting life. She's mad and devilish and is like a younger version of some of Tennessee Williams' mad and devilish heroines.
, Bailey White's first book of essays about her eccentric family and life on the edge of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, is entertaining in some ways and disappointing in others. Some of the anecdotes are belly-laugh-inducingly hilarious; others meander to weak endings or vaguely Aesop-like morals. It's a fast read and entertaining, and enough of the essays were quirky, funny, or insightful enough that I'll keep it on my shelf, although I don't plan to read the sequel.
, are stronger and more intense reads.
