Smarter Than Elvis - Couverture souple

Davis, Matt

Couverture souple

ISBN 13 : 9798712750382

Editeur : Independently published, 2021

Synopsis

"Smarter than Elvis" is both a comedy and a tale of redemption rooted in the 1960’s south, detailing the unique life of beer-swilling Alabama townie Derlin Spurlock and his haphazard attempts to better himself upon impregnating a local teenager, Mavis Clapp. Amid a burgeoning romance and after their inevitable 1967 shotgun wedding, the couple has dreams of a normal life. However, once Mavis gives birth to twin boys Randy and Ollie, everything changes. Due to an unfortunate and vivid birthmark shared by the boys on the tops of their heads, the rumor mill of the small, superstitious southern township begins to run amok and the family is forced from their home by a torch and pitchfork-wielding mob. The little family spends the next several months living in an abandoned 250-year-old windmill in the forest near where Derlin used to play as a child, while he keeps things afloat via a series of rake-brandishing, masked "armed robberies" of grocery stores around town. Once he's eventually captured and jailed, Mavis returns home to her parents and Derlin's long, strange tale of redemption begins in earnest as he vows to win back her love and become the respectable husband and father his family deserves. His road to respectability takes him through various odd jobs, imprisonments and a stint in the army. In his travels, he experiences and reacts to history happening around him in real time, with his off-kilter worldview often leading to hilarious results. His path to betterment leads him to encounters with Lyndon Johnson, Satchel Paige and a cavalcade of other characters while Mavis fills the void left by his absence with televangelism and writing her own detective-style Everly Brothers fan-fiction, which she submits in installments to the local newspaper. We meet generations of Derlin’s bizarre, back-country extended family, all with a certain “reputation” earned and finely-honed in their small town of Coverdale as they cling to the fringes of regular society. Derlin’s Grandpa Hoyt is a local hunting legend who uses the report of his missing grandchild as an excuse to comb the forest for a long-lost treasure of the French Army. His Uncle Vern once flipped a pickup truck into a pond while trying to drag race a future NASCAR star for the affections of a young girl and now lives in a trailer next to the same pond, fishing around the truck which still sits at the bottom. His mother Tina is the longtime sole waitress at a “gentleman’s club” on the outskirts of town that the entire town aside from her seems to know has secretly been a gay bar for decades. His father Clovis mows grass for a living (sometimes), and spends most of his days drinking beer and heckling the family. His Grandma Vondene makes her own bathtub whiskey and, like most Spurlock women, drives a “Henderson,” a brand of car designed by one of Hoyt’s friends on his Mississippi farm. The Spurlock family tree goes back into the early days of America and family lore from the “olden days” is peppered throughout. This book is the first in a series with a planned decades-long timeline that will span forward to present day as well as further into the past, as the Spurlock clan winds their way into many major moments in American history. As such, it's a laugher for any history buff or pop culture lover. Bounding through life with a furrowed brow and a slackened jaw, Derlin's tale of love and personal enrichment is something that can resonate in readers from all walks of life. It's easy to find yourself rooting for Derlin and his family as they carve out their own strange little slice of American life. In his debut novel, Davis creates a peculiar and unique cast of characters in the fictional town of Coverdale recalling John Kennedy Toole's visions of 1950's New Orleans or the early Carolina roadside travels of David Sedaris. With moments of genuine poignancy seamlessly aside scenes of remarkable slapstick comedy, it is a worthy first effort from a promising new voice.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Independently published
• Date d'édition: 2021
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 13: 9798712750382
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 273
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Printed by Amazon on behalf of the author; https://www.amazon.fr/hz/contact-us; ; c/o Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l., 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; L-1855; Luxembourg