Bad Jobs and Poor Decisions

These pages contain a cutting, insightful, and addictively readable slice of sociological rabble-rousing-a literary feat that takes a rare talent to pull off. Luckily for us, J. R. Helton has that talent in spades. He fires on all cylinders, speaking truth after truth, and taking no prisoners. -- Tony O'Neill I can't help but fall for the way the rough and the poetic combine...Helton's language will eat you up. His characters are wonderful and they are awful. They are so human, just like the rest of us. -- Erika T. Wurth, author of Crazy Horse's Girlfriend and Buckskin Cocaine J. R. Helton is my favorite contemporary American writer. He has a gift for writing well in plain language, and he can't seem to help but write with total honesty. I eagerly devoured Bad Jobs and Poor Decisions, as I do all his writing. Everything he puts down on paper ought to be printed and disseminated to the reading public. -- R. Crumb Somewhere between literary tinctures reminiscent of Charles Bukowski and Harvey Pekar, Helton conjures an intoxicating voice that mines mordant memories of abject and downtrodden moments to reveal hilarious, gobsmacking, and often haunting, epiphanies. When it doesn't break your heart, this book might bust your gut from laughing. -- John Philip Santos Both funny and sad, this book illuminates the hard work and unrelenting tenacity of people who scratch a living with manual labor. -- Jan Reid, author of Sins of the Younger Sons Bad Jobs and Poor Decisions is Helton at his best, as he recalls trudging through the lower depths working a myriad of menial jobs. With an abundance of humor, sharp observation, and a terrific ear for dialogue, he makes the bleak and tragic subject matter something to be savored. -- Terry Zwigoff, director of Crumb, Louie Bluie, Ghost World, Bad Santa, and Art School Confidential Helton writes with an honest, gritty, straightforward style about ugly things and somehow manages to make them beautiful...A great book. -- Terry Zwigoff