Denis Johnson devoted a sizable chunk of his literary career to examination of deeply flawed people considering their mortality. This book, written, or at least honed, when he was living with a terminal liver cancer diagnosis continued his earlier work,, built on it, and sharpened it. That is saying a lot because Johnson's writing is always sharp as a scalpel. The man can convey more in 7 words than most writers do in 7 books and does it with a spare beauty that dazzles. For those of us who love the writing craft, the prose in these 5 longish short stories is painfully perfect. For those who love Johnson's writing and mourn his passing the content of these stories is both an acid burn and a balm.

I listened to the audiobook because the choice of readers was so interesting, and I am glad I chose to listen. The titular story may be Johnson's best work ever, and I say that as someone who counts Jesus' Son in my top 5 short story collections. I hope this gets anthologized all over the place. The story is read by Nick Offerman who could not be more perfect. I will say that in each of the 5 readers you can hear their love of the material. I am not imagining it. It is pretty darn touching. Anyway, for me one of the cool things about the first story is that it covers events in the life of a man who has enjoyed success in his work and his marriage. I have not read all of Johnson's work -- the man is mightily prolific -- but in my experience he has never written about a person who has not been brought low by life. Turns out Johnson can write those people with breathtaking insight and love, just like the junkies and criminals who usually take center stage in his work. He finds the nobility in everyone while never end-running their failures. I have never read another writer who does that. It is so generous and human. Johnson also uses this last chance to tell us a thing or two about the writer's life, or at least his writer's life, in Triumph over the Grave. It is really freaking great. (This one is read by Will Patton, who was fine, but the least compelling of the 5 readers for me.)

There are no bad stories here, though some are better than others. Lest you think that Johnson lost his macabre sense of humor as he faced down metastatic cancer, I assure you he did not. Strangler Bob (brilliantly read by Dermot Mulroney) was probably the funniest of the stories, but Starlight on Idaho (read by Michael Shannon) which is a series of letters written by our narrator while in detox was close. There is black humor in every one of these stories, even the most tragic.

I may revisit this, but for now I will just say that Denis Johnson closed his literary career with a collection that serves as a worthy bookend to Jesus Son, and which left me understanding things I had not understood before.