Allen Johnson Jr. is persistent.
He never gives up, and unlike most of us, he just keeps on ticking
away at the storyteller’s craft.
He’s at his best in My Brother’s Story.
This lively, witty, and real-feeling tale of twin brothers living
in parallel universes in the always-old Old South will gently get
under your skin and make its way into your heart.
Allen speaks from experiential memory—that’s why you
tend to forget that you’re reading . Your senses awaken. You can
smell the pine trees and honeysuckle, hear the relentless critters
in the swamp, and feel the Blackwater River flowing by under a
star-blended sky.
You start to feel your way through the pages. By the time you
run smack into the last line of the last chapter, you want to continue
anyhow. You wonder, What happens the next day? And the
next . . . ?
Savor the moment. You might not read any evocation of childhood
that’s this much fun for a long time to come.
(Writer, bookseller, film actor and lover of good books)
— Jim Reed