My Friend Jim by W. E. Norris
May 2022
Pay no attention to the title of this book, it is not so much about the narrator’s friend, Jim, as it is about an awful woman who rampages through the lives of first the friend, Jim, then another friend, along with a series of other men, leaving nothing but emotional detritus, financial ruin, and even death in her wake. Why the author did not title the book, instead of My Friend Jim, the more accurate Awful Awful Hilda, is a reasonable question.
The humor in this novel stands the test of time. William Edward Norris wields a well-honed dry wit like a rapier, in such an effective style that the subtlety and delightfulness of his barbs are not lost even a century and a half later. And after all is said and done, the story of Awful Hilda told and the detritus swept up as best as possible into a somewhat happy ending, the author finishes his little novel with one of the best final sentences in the history of fiction.
The humor in this novel stands the test of time. William Edward Norris wields a well-honed dry wit like a rapier, in such an effective style that the subtlety and delightfulness of his barbs are not lost even a century and a half later. And after all is said and done, the story of Awful Hilda told and the detritus swept up as best as possible into a somewhat happy ending, the author finishes his little novel with one of the best final sentences in the history of fiction.