Walking
Wounded
Jimmy
Carl Harris
Reviewed
by Sue Walker
For
the Alabama Writers Forum
To read this book of short fiction is to
think of Flannery O’Connor, who was known for her ability to write powerful tales
of truth and terror that cut to the core of being uniquely human, often flawed,
and in need of grace. As O’Connor says, "When the poor hold sacred history
in common, they have concrete ties to the universal and the holy which allow
the meaning of their every action to be heightened and seen under the aspect of
eternity..." Or as Harris puts it: "Church doors are open to saints
and sinners alike." O’Connor’s misfit in "A Good Man is Hard to
Find," who shot women and children, would be at home in the pages of Walking
Wounded.
Harris possesses an astute sense of
storytelling. His characterizations are masterful and his dialogue sure. He
writes of veterans, trailer dwellers, loose women, those at war with themselves
and others, fighting battles that lie beyond easy comprehension. With such
stark and memorable lines as "Blind girls’ eyes make tears just like
normal girls" in the story "Dark Dancing," Harris makes the
reader see up close and personal, and feel at home in places where there are
junctions that may have some permanent caustic effect on the brain and the
soul.
Although the author, a retired Marine Corps Sergeant
Major, writes of war and returning in order to figure out life, his stories are
steeped in Alabama. Harris creates a mythical Nall County, but he also mentions
Birmingham, the University of Alabama, and
Sue Walker is Chair of the English Department at the
