I absolutely loved The Oxygen Man, so I was eager to pick up Visible Spirits, the the second novel by Steve Yarbrough. It is elegantly-written and impossible to put down. I would recommend it to everyone out there!

Set in the racially charged atmosphere of turn-of-the-century Mississippi, Steve Yarbrough's compelling and subtle "Visible Spirits" is a nuanced investigation of the tortured, conflicted relationship between two dissimilar brothers. Secrets, many of them swirling around sexual assault and compulsion, dominate the life of erstwhile Leighton Payne, the conscience-driven mayor and newspaper editor of Loring, a small town which steadfastly refuses to relinquish its past and defiantly adheres to racist principles. Leighton grapples with his family's past, his wife's elusive affections and the sudden reappearance of his reprobate brother, Tandy, whose inability to hold a job is equalled only by his appetite for gambling, deceit and sexual satisfaction. It is not an accident that Leighton uses a cockroach to "author" newspaper columns which admonish the community for its perverse commitments to ignorance, bigotry and hatred. Nor is it an accident that the malevolent Tandy seizes a racist political opportunity to advance his own interests.

The central focus of "Visible Spirits" on the seething antagonism between Leighton and Tandy matches the novelist's perceptive inclusion of a series of fully-realized African-American charactes. Loring's postmistress, Loda, proudly discharges her responsibilities, despite confronting the daily pressures of a culture determined to minimize her and the constant awareness of connection to the Payne family. Her husband, Seaborn Jackson, a diligent insurance salesman, symbolizes not only the development of an African-American bourgeoisie, but the inherent fragility of social mobility in the South for any Black who dared tamper with the social rules of Jim Crow. In turn, their lives quietly rotate around the quietly defiant Blueford, whose single act of rebellion ignites a firestorm of racist reprisal.

"Visible Spirit" gains its intellectual stature from the seemingly insoluble moral problems it dissects. To what degree does a son tolerate or repudiate his father's legacy? How strong are the bonds of brotherhood, and what consequences result from blood ties? What occurs to a man when he discovers he has never fully obtained his wife's affection? What is the cost of racism, both on the victim and the victimizer? What constitutes an act of heroism, an act of resistance, an act of love? Yarbrough is nothing less than brilliant as he steps back from his own writing and permits his characters to wrestle not only with their own lives, but the vexing moral dilemmas they constantly encounter.

This talented, spare novel contains exceptional dialogue, vivid atmosphere, deft description of physical environments and absolutely believable characterization. "Visible Spirit" is also subtle and multi-faceted. It is a novel whose pace gradually accelerates and whose conclusion leaves the reader chastened but thankful. Those concerned about the issues of racial justice and historical responsibility will welcome the addition of this novel to a national dialogue.

And I mean that. It is a shame. The fact is that Southern writers like S Yarbrough, L Brown, B Hannah, and southern-ish writers like J Lent and D Durham are the best, most important writers we have out there right now. I guess the NY lot has all the power and makes up the winners of the awards, but as far as I'm concerned it's the brave few outside of the city that are truly writing about our race, our history, our future.

Hale these great storytellers! Maybe time and the wisdom of distance will finally give them their due.

In Sunflower County, Mississippi, Steve Yarbrough has delivered a wonderful setting for his first novel, Oxygen Man. The characters are diverse, and richly drawn. The countryside is beautifully described. The economic situation is fully understood because of his descriptive writing, though he doesn't go into any specifics. As you delve further into the book, Mr. Yarbrough goes back and forth from 1972 to 1996. Through the two different periods, looked at through a single generation, you get a feel for the general community. In this community, he has also given us the potential for his own Yoknapatowpha County. Just what every "southern" writer prays for, and hopes to never hear; the comparison to Faulkner.

There are numerous stories to tell in Sunflower County and while a couple are told in great detail, specifically the stories of Ned Rose and his sister Daisy, there are many others that we are given just enough of to hope that Mr. Yarbrough plumbs the area again. There are the stories of the cotton farmers turned catfish farmers: the Bells, Salters, and Morellis; the story of the Gautreaux family, bankers from generation to generation. There are also Beer Smith, owner of the lounge Daisy works at as well as an entire population of slaves turned indentured servants living on the Bell property (leading the reader to assume there were such populations on the Salter and Morelli property as well). All of these stories would be similar in one nature, they would be stories about both our destiny due to fate, as well as our futures stemming from decisions made.

The story we are given by Mr. Yarbrough in this effort is mainly that of Ned and Daisy Rose. He works for Mack Bell, mainly checking the oxygen levels in his catfish ponds each and every night, but also doing whatever else Mack demands. He follows these instructions, seemingly without even thinking over the potential ramifications of his actions. She works as a bartender at a local lounge, going out of her way to avoid her brother, though they live together in the house they grew up in. This is the Ned and Daisy Rose of 1996.

We are also treated to the Rose family circa 1972, when their parents have Ned and Daisy go to the local private school, thanks to a local scholarship organization, in order to keep them in a segregated environment. Ned fits in better than Daisy, mainly due to his athletic ability, in an area of the world where Saturday Night Football comes second only to breathing. Daisy is looked down upon by the wealthier girls of the school due to her K-Mart clothing.

The story line in 1996 has Ned and Daisy living together in silence. They don't speak to each other and for the most part, their schedules leave them from seeing each other all that often. Ned isn't often found without a beer, and his sister has an unhealthy obsession with the actions of her mother during Ned and Daisy's childhood. Early in the novel, the reader may believe that the actions of their parents may be the eventual reason behind whatever problem the later Ned and Daisy have.

The 1972 story line has the kids in high school. Their father is a hard drinker who moves from job to job as a painter (after a failed effort at farming). Their mother has a deserved reputation as a woman willing to bed down with any man when her husband is away. There is only one event that can be considered a family event; the other three go to watch Ned play in a football game. They sit together near the top of the stands, the father yelling frequently when Ned does something good. After halftime, he comes back from a visit to the ground with a flask of alcohol. He has already had some, begins making accusations to his wife, cursing frequently which draws the ire of gentlemen near him. He nearly gets in a brawl, and he and the mother begin to make up right there in the stands. Daisy is actually relieved when he falls over a few rows of people as it stops the two of them from going too far in the making up process out in public.

Ned does run with the money crowd as he plays football with Mack, and Rick among others. Daisy on the other hand, is so sure she doesn't want to be like her mother that she ignores her growing beauty and really only associates with a friend named Cindy Riggins, who was also on scholarship to the school. We see Ned's violent side begin to be exposed in visits back to 1972; killing a Black store owner, nearly choking Mack to death in his car, as well as other incidents. At the same time, we begin to see the development in Daisy's self-respect, as Denny Gautreaux goes beyond just showing interest in her. While he is the whipping boy of the football team, she gets to see a much more athletic side of him.

By 1996, Ned is doing Mack's bidding. He still socializes with Mack, Rick, and Al but it is much more obvious that he is of a lower class then they are in terms of their status within their group. He is obsessed about his mother and her whereabouts and who they're with. He is also obviously concerned about his relationship with Daisy, or lack thereof. Daisy is quietly passing the time. She doesn't leave the house much. When she does, she goes into areas of town that she knows in advance who she might run into. Not Ned, not Mack, not anybody she doesn't want to see. She begins to go out with Beer Smith, owner of the lounge she worked at. It started out as a couple of lonely people going out to dinner, and progressed; very similar to the way she and Denny started out.

It is Beer talking with Daisy, and another visit to 1972 that finally brings up the source of the siblings relationship problem. Needless to say it has to do with Ned and Mack and Denny. Explaining it would ruin an important part of the book. It is the reliving of this, as well as the burgeoning relationship with Beer that gets Daisy to decide to come to an initial level of forgiveness with Ned. It is at about the same time that Ned has finally developed enough shame of his relationship with Mack that he decides to act out upon it.

Decisions. Decisions and their ramifications. That is what Yarbrough's story is about. How our decisions lead to actions and how these actions have ramifications on the rest of our life. Some things we cannot control, race, class, when we are born all have effects as well, but it is our decisions and actions that have the longest lasting effect on the rest of our lives. This story is powerful and should be read.

What a wonderful surprise this book was! Something about the characters and their intricate yet unfulfilling lives is so compelling. I cared about Daze and Ned, but was never quite sure as to what was driving them. Yet Yarbrough's story is so well woven, things come together in a startling, yet perfectly plausible fashion toward the end. And what an ending! Very round, completely developed characters, expertly crafted. The sense of setting is also superb, with central Mississippi becoming a character in itself. I am excited to have come across this novel, and am sad that it's over.

Just finished reading this book--couldn't put it down. An intriguing story, strongly drawn characters, and lively language. If this is Yarbrough's first novel, I'm waiting for more.

Veneer is a collection of nine short stories, eight of which have previously been published in various literary periodicals, and it is another winning effort by Steve Yarbrough. The bulk of his previously published work, two collections of short stories and the fantastic novel Oxygen Man, have been set in Mississippi where Yarbrough grew up. Some of the stories in this collection are set there as well, but he also branches his settings to California.

What he shows us in his writing is that setting only matters in terms of background material. The human condition is the same in Mississippi as it is in California, and one suspects we'd find it the same if Mr. Yarbrough set his next collection in Cuba, Russia, or Canada. We are flawed individuals with needs, wants, and varying levels of the confidences necessary to acquire those needs and wants.

As in his past work, decisions and actions make up a great deal of explanation for results. The title story should have more than one previously published listing, as there couldn't have been more than 10 stories this good whichever year it was originally published. It has the narrator and his friend, Emily, dining in a window seat of a café. He is married with two children, but away from his family as the Fourth of July is approaching as they are visiting his wife's relatives in Prague. There is some great foreshadowing early in the story when Emily asks him if he isn't worried about being seen together, won't people see them as having an affair. He says he only worries about reality, not appearances.

The story has him telling her the story of his worst Fourth of July ever. It involves cooking steaks on a grill for his mom, dad and grandmother. It involves disappointments for each of them. It also gets into the relationship between his mother and father. The story comes alive between the narrator and Emily and he ends the story with a thought that this will be his daughter's worst Fourth of July as reality and appearances are about to converge.

The story does not hit you over the head with the similarities between the various relationships. It also brings fourth small decisions throughout that the reader sees leading to the final results. As is typical in Yarbrough's fiction, the characters are well aware that they are making these decisions at the time they do so.

While this is the best story of the collection, there are at least five others that are just barely a notch below. These could have been mentioned at the back of an anthology the year they were published as just misses to being added to the collections. None of the stories seems unfinished; each has been refined to the best possible version they could be. They are all written with the skill and subtlety of the title story.

Yarbrough doesn't nearly have the readership he deserves. Do yourself a favor and pick up this 4.5 star effort.

The author writes, with a typical southern style, about life in a small southern town. The author illustrates a life in the "new south" that seems more akin to the "old south". Is the author another Faulkner...not yet. The author does exhibit a knack for characterizations.