From the Bookshelf of On the Southern Literary Trail…

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

Tom Franklin

Start date: July 1, 2025

Finish date: July 31, 2025

Discussion: Now Reading: Post-1990

Why we're reading this: From Goodreads:

Tom Franklin's narrative power and flair for characterization have been compared to the li…more
[close] From Goodreads:

Tom Franklin's narrative power and flair for characterization have been compared to the likes of Harper Lee, Flannery O'Connor, Elmore Leonard, and Cormac McCarthy.
Now the Edgar Award-winning author returns with his most accomplished and resonant novel so far—an atmospheric drama set in rural Mississippi. In the late 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas "32" Jones were boyhood pals. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry, the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, single black mother. Yet for a few months the boys stepped outside of their circumstances and shared a special bond. But then tragedy struck: Larry took a girl on a date to a drive-in movie, and she was never heard from again. She was never found and Larry never confessed, but all eyes rested on him as the culprit. The incident shook the county—and perhaps Silas most of all. His friendship with Larry was broken, and then Silas left town.

More than twenty years have passed. Larry, a mechanic, lives a solitary existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has returned as a constable. He and Larry have no reason to cross paths until another girl disappears and Larry is blamed again. And now the two men who once called each other friend are forced to confront the past they've buried and ignored for decades.
Chosen by the group to read as the post 1990 read, July 2025

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 2 topics — 36 comments total

Now Reading: Post-1990

* Initial Impressions: I am not Sidney Poitier, by Percival Everett – September 2025
By Tom , "Big Daddy" · 20 posts · 41 views

last updated Sep 08, 2025 03:07PM

* Final Impressions: I am not Sidney Poitier, by Percival Everett – September 2025
By Tom , "Big Daddy" · 1 post · 15 views

last updated Aug 29, 2025 01:13PM

showing 10 of 13 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Mar 21, 2014 Amanda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, thought-provoking, favorites, read-in-2014, southern-lit

I don't have much to say that hasn't been said in much better ways, but I can't just give this a star rating and move on without at least saying something about it. It was such a beautifully written book and was only improved in the audiobook version narrated by Kevin Kenerly.
I love books with a lot of character development, and this had several very memorable characters. I identified with Larry, who was always a little too weird for everyone else, loved to read, and spent his days exploring the ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 20, 2012 Franky rated it really liked it

I was sort of in the “what’s the big deal about this book” camp when I started reading Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. The prose seemed tedious to decipher, clauses thrown everywhere in sentences, and it was difficult to follow exactly what was taking place in the first chapter or two. The story and characters develop slowly during the first half of the book. The reader is hit numerous times with depictions of bullying and racism in the South. We feel for Larry Ott (aka “Scary Larry”), who is mi I was sort of in the “what’s the big deal about this book” camp when I started reading Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. The prose seemed tedious to decipher, clauses thrown everywhere in sentences, and it was difficult to follow exactly what was taking place in the first chapter or two. The story and characters develop slowly during the first half of the book. The reader is hit numerous times with depictions of bullying and racism in the South. We feel for Larry Ott (aka “Scary Larry”), who is mistreated, picked on, and finally ostracized from the community because of a girl’s disappearance. He’s the bookish, aloof, socially-awkward type who is completely misunderstood. We meet Silas, a black man who is constable of the area, who knew Larry and befriended him during their childhood days. There are also plenty of ornery, degenerate, rough types as well, those kinds of folks your parents told you not to associate or make eye contact with.

However, once we get to the major event in the novel, the flashback of Larry taking Cindy out on a “date” and the subsequent disappearance, the story really moves along and we really become invested in Larry and Silas’ fates. Franklin creates meaningful main characters in Larry and Silas, building these characters slowly, but effectively. Larry and Silas aren’t perfect by any stretch, and their weaknesses have a lot to do with why things are so confused in the present. The two have had vastly different paths in life, yet their lives converge when another girl goes missing in the present and Larry, once again, is suspected.

There is certainly a mystery in the novel, but it is probably overstated and secondary to Larry and Silas’ fates. This is more a coming of age story. Larry and Silas make this novel tick, and Franklin has a way of slowly drawing you in to their lives and making you feel for them. This novel questions the stigmas we put on those who are different or are labeled scapegoats as well as examining the effects and consequences of racism.

After initially feeling lukewarm about this novel, I ended up really enjoying it. To those who have given up on the novel in the first part, I recommend staying with it. This is a novel that stays with you for awhile.

...more

2 likes · Like · see review

May 22, 2012 Thing Two rated it really liked it

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is an entertaining mystery set in rural Mississippi, also known as M, I, crooked-letter, crooked-letter, I, crooked-letter, crooked-letter, I, humpback, humback, I. Franklin writes a story of two men, children together in the seventies, brought together as adults after a young woman goes missing.

Larry Ott is the son of white, working-class parents, while Silas "32" Jones was raised in a black, single-parent household. In some ways, the conflicts are predictable ...more

Like · see review

Apr 03, 2013 Janice rated it really liked it

A good book with a mystery at its core but more importantly about friendship and loneliness. Its style put me in mind of other southern writers I love.

Like · see review