The novel "Dirty Work" by Larry Brown is selling at the discounted price of $1.99 at amazon and Barnes and Noble.
http://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Work-ebo...9317892&sr=1-1
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dirt...rk+larry+brown
Overview
Larry Brown's shattering first novel is the story of two men—strangers—one black, the other white. Both were born and raised in Mississippi. Both fought in Vietnam. Both were gravely wounded. Now, twenty-two years later, both men lie in adjacent beds in a VA hospital. Over the course of a long day and night, they recount their memories, reveal their fears and their dreams, and ponder their fates, until each is irrevocably touched and transformed by the other's life. With great vision, humor, and courage, Brown writes of human tenderness in an unforgettable story about the waste of war.
Braiden Chaney lost his arms and legs in Vietnam. Walter James lost most of his face. And when they meet 22 years later--in adjoining beds in a V.A. hospital, their wounds still hurt. As these two men--one black, one white--tell their stories, they tell the story of the war itself and of all the lives--poor black lives in particular--it consumed.
Reviews
"An unforgettable, unshakeable novel"
-- The New York Times Book Review
"A novel of the first order...gripping and virtually seamless....The writing, the characters, and the plot are so compelling that you can't help but stay with the book until its conclusion."
-- Washington Post Book World
"One sure way to deromanticize tomcat is to show its long-term effects. That's what Larry Brown does in this fine...first novel."
-- Newsweek
"Brown probes the hard luck of the down and out, the grim realities at the bottom of the scrap....His prose has a dark, horrific urgency. ...a real knockout."
-- Newsday