The Second Half of the Double Feature
Before it was renamedSideswipefor publication in 1987, Willeford called his penultimate Hoke Moseley novelThe Second Half of the Double Feature. It's a title deserving of resurrection, which makes it a fitting moniker for this posthumous collection of short stories and autobiographical sketches (including seven unpublished ones). A few of the pieces can be charitably described as holding only scholarly interest, but lots of good, lean prose lurks behind the fat. Willeford, who launched the legendarily acerbic Moseley series a few years before his death in 1988, delivers indictments of human nature more wry than withering in stories that explore such weirdly wonderful notions as trying to find a date at a drive-in theater and hosting a Tupperware party for men. But the memoir sections prove most satisfying, as Willeford recounts his Army life just after World War II. A highly decorated tank commander, he eschews war stories for perfectly pitched accounts of soldiers at loose ends that bring to mind the young Hunter S. Thompson.Frank SennettCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.