Think of the Hell's Angels, bikes replaced by baseball bats, and you have an idea of what they're like. It's the story of a sexist, homophobic, racist factory worker so numbed by his life and times that he lives only to inflict rage on others during the weekend. It's a collection of short stories set in Orkney - not a location that gets a great deal of attention in America. The reviewer, Nicholas Lezard, says Brown takes sparse and stark details and weaves simple tales with a snap and a twist. I don't know what he means, but I'd like to read the book.
Wife falls in love with airman.
But the reviewer says Shreve's treatment of this worn plot is remarkable with precise recreations of the freezing landscapes, cravings for scarce cigarettes, and the emotional intensity shared by people living in danger. Maybe that's why these struck me as interesting.