Because of the infamy of our go-to Southern novels, gems like Off Magazine Street often go unnoticed. Though we may gorge our young on readings and re-readings of To Kill A Mockingbird , Beloved , Confederacy of Dunces , and As I Lay Dying β all excellent novels β our neglect of a certain kind of cult-classic Southern novel relegates novels like this one, Train Whistle Guitar , and The Dog Star to the literary backwaters, only to be discovered by chance or by recommendation.
The two desperately misguided wanna-be romantics conveniently excuse their laziness and their perversions with the insistence that their lifestyle, which centers around Popov vodka, casual sex, and literary storytelling, is a conscious choice based on an examination of existential truths.
The hotel room, which only has one double bed, is nothing more than a place to pass out, play cards, and have sex. But we get a sense of who they are. We have to understand these two men, and their relationship with Lorraine, to understand what will come next. Soon, Lorraine experiences a bout of unbearable pain but is refused treatment at the hospital, because of their inability to pay the bill. Bobby and Byron carry her home in the trunk of their beat-up car, since she is too big to fit in the car.
The trio continues their debauchery for another short while. Her death, which the two men take as casually as anything else they do, brings Hanna to New Orleans from Florida. Here she is, a pretty girl stuck in a cheap hotel in a strange town with two middle-aged drunks whose three main activities have been: swilling drinks, playing gin rummy, and molesting her mother. Bobby promises to forge it for her, so she can cash it. Of course, their real goal is to have her as a far more preferable replacement for Lorraine.
But the streetwise young girl knows better than to fall for their charming banter and long-shot promises. The remaining two thirds of Off Magazine Street turn Bobby and Byron from pure degenerates into somewhat admirable wastrels. The shift in the story comes when Hanna lets down her guard for a moment and perceives the real benefits of allowing these strange drunks to share their one meaningful gift: an understanding of great literature.
