Somewhere between comedy and tragedy lies the second installment to Crandell's Beauty Knows No Pain trilogy (after The Flawless Skin of Ugly People
). Brad Orville is stuck in a rut in the middle of Witchfield County, Ga. He lives with his brother, Compton, a former playboy turned mildly brain-damaged dependent after his head was cracked open by a man angry at him for sleeping with his wife. Bald Brad, meanwhile, must look after Compton while coming to terms with a betrayal Compton committed years ago. His days are frequently a blur of booze, bad hairpieces and interactions with strange women he meets online. As forest fires and real estate developers encroach on the brothers' family land, Compton and his pregnant wife, Peaches, spend their summer fixing the family farmhouse in preparation for the new addition. The story is painfully believable—from the characterization of two brothers who can't quite connect to the description of what happens to a man's skin when a toupee is left on too long—and has the perverse charms readers of Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris will recognize. (Aug.)
