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Misdemeanor Outlaw: A Confession of Life
Jim McGarrah was born into the halcyon bubble of post-World War Two small town America, a bubble burst by the trauma of the Vietnam War in which he fought as a marine. His recall of his youth in Princeton, Indiana will take you through the looking glass of a Norman Rockwell magazine cover. His recall of a nighttime patrol in the MeKong Delta rice paddies will make your hair stand on end and bring you to tears. Misdemeanor Outlaw is a split personality of a memoir: part anecdotal paean to a seeming Paradise Lost, part wised-up epiphany about how things really work. It is a read you will come away from questioning even what you are most fond of.
188 pages, Paperback
Published June 3, 2017
About the author
Jim McGarrah
16 books30 followersJim McGarrah's poems, essays, and stories have appeared in many literary magazines over the past decade and the author of ten books. His play, Split Second Timing, received a Kennedy Center ACTF Award in 2001. He is the author of five books of poetry, Running the Voodoo Down (2003), When the Stars Go Dark (2009), Breakfast at Denny's (2013), The Truth About Mangoes (2016), and A Balancing Act: New and Selected Poems 1998-2018, a critically acclaimed memoir of the Vietnam War entitled A Temporary Sort of Peace that won the 2010 Legacy Nonfiction Award from the Eric Hoffer Foundation and the sequel entitled The End of an Era. His nonfiction account of life as a horse trainer, Off Track, was published in 2015 and Misdemeanor Outlaw followed in 2017. Jim is also co-editor of Home Again: Essays and Memoirs from Indiana and a founding editor of RopeWalk Press, as well as the former managing editor of Southern Indiana Review.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 13, 2017
This work really highlighted Jim's comedic timing and voice; the continued theme of his "outlaw life" remained entertaining throughout. His story about a town drunk nearly mowing down him and his grandfather was hilarious, and his continued valentines to his mother revealed his softer points. Two flaws in the design of this book: 1) not the author's fault, but the editors of this book needed to watch repeated phrases. Originally published as essays, there are some repetitive issues. 2) of Jim's two previous autobiographical works, this one drew too heavily on some of the material in them; I'm still awaiting Jim's take on fatherhood (especially in regard to the reflection he's given his parents roles in his life) and yet to see it. But I know Jim and maybe I'm just getting greedy for more stories;)
July 16, 2017
Jim McGarrah is a gifted writer who is spot on in giving readers the feel of a mid-western small town. It is funny and smart from childhood skirmishes, love of family to attempted adulthood.
Misdemeanor Outlaw captures growing up in this particular era. You can literally hear the music.
Swift read, making you want to hear more about some of the characters.
Misdemeanor Outlaw captures growing up in this particular era. You can literally hear the music.
Swift read, making you want to hear more about some of the characters.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews