Of Mice and Minestrone by Joe R. Lansdale

 

(pb; 2020; story/vignette anthology)

Overall review

Excellent anthology that fills in some of the timeline gaps in the Hap and Leonard oeuvre, a timely (with its social underpinnings) work that entertains even as it provides a brief, page-turning antidote to current real-life events.

 

Review, story by story

“The Kitchen”: Hap-POV vignette about him and his family visiting his grandmother’s house when he was six or seven years old. Fuzzy-warm, and vividly described.

 

“Of Mice and Minestrone”: Sixteen-year-old Hap tries to help a woman (Minnie) escape her abusive husband (Dash) when she turns up dead in a ditch, setting off a new chain of tragic events in the small Texas town of Marvel Creek.

Excellent two-part tale with all the elements of a worthwhile Hap and Leonard work—well-written, relatable and hissable characters, memorable bouts of violence, with strong social underpinnings.

 

“The Watering Shed”: Hap and Leonard, young men, go to the story-titular backwoods bar where Joe Shank, a no-nonsense barkeep-owner, holds sway. Of course, a racist idiot turns Hap and Leonard’s coming-of-age visit into something more violent.

 

Good, fun read, one that sets the tone for future adventure for the two heroes.

 

“Sparring Partner”: Leonard and Hap eat in a whites-only diner. Leonard enters a boxing ring and fights a gigantic bruiser (Hedge), who may knock more than wind out of Leonard. Another good, fun read.

 

“The Sabine was High”: Leonard, just back from Vietnam, goes fishing with Hap, freshly divorced from Trudy (from Savage Season) and just out of prison (for being a conscientious objector).

“Sabine” is well-written (a Lansdale trademark), solid, one of the quieter/non-action-oriented Hap and Leonard works.