3 out of 4 stars
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Lucius McCray by Gary McPherson is a collection of five humorous short stories which give glimpses into his life on his homestead in North Carolina. The first story tells of the adventures of his crazy cat, Pumpkin, who spent most of his life avenging himself for having been given a stupid name. This is followed by Lucius having a vasectomy performed by a mildly sadistic doctor, and where he finds that the reactions of men and women to the situation are poles apart. Then there’s a hilarious look at international toilet facilities; his attempts to protect his chickens from coyotes, and finally his day of running moonshine across state borders.
I enjoyed the tales, but I think I would classify them as a collection of anecdotes rather than stories. “Bathroom Adventures” in particular is not one self-contained story but a collection of experiences in the bathrooms of Japan, India and Arkansas.
My delight in toilet humour made his bathroom escapades my favourite story. His misadventures while using the facilities on a moving train in India had me laughing out loud. I also enjoyed his bidet-spraying and bathroom flooding in Japan.
The story I liked least was “A Tale of Wobbly”. Being a bit of a pushover when it comes to animals, I didn’t appreciate him allowing his dog to terrorise the hens. In addition, his first dog was killed by coyotes because he was left to guard the hen enclosure which had a hole in the fence. The coyotes strike again later on, and that’s when I found out that there was still a hole in the fence. I understand that farmers need to protect their livestock but I would have thought that fixing the fence so the coyotes couldn’t get in would be more economical than killing them after they’ve raided the coop. I also found it odd that in “The Ballad Pumpkin”, he said, “I have a hard time harmin’ anything”, yet in “A Tale Of Wobbly”, he says of his .30-06 semi-automatic hunting rifle that “she” is “loved as well as I love my dog”.
The stories are told in the first person and in the vernacular, so I was unsure sometimes if I was looking at grammatical errors or local dialect. However, there were a number of typos like “hall” instead of “haul”, plus errors in punctuation. So I think that the book would benefit from the services of an editor. However, the style is relaxed, humorous, accessible and enjoyable to read.
This is a book that will appeal to anyone who likes gentle humour gleaned from everyday life. However, because of the typos, I can only give this book 3 out of 4 stars.
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Lucius McCray
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Great review, as always!
