If you told me you hated Harry Crews and everything he wrote, I wouldn’t argue with you. But if you ever make Florida Man jokes, and maybe need to understand a little more, well, he’d be a good source. Harry Crews writes about toxic masculinity, and especially in the cases where said masculinities are not explored within the minds and hearts of its adherents.
Duff Deeter is a small town lawyer in Florida, cheating on his wife, who is cheating on him with his legal partner. Duffy needs to imagine scenes of death and carnage (the Holocaust is a common one for him) in order to maintain an erection and hold off orgasming. This is very important to him because his identity is tied up into this part of him. He also demands his son (a child mind you) play sports, lift weights, not be fat, and respond to Zen koans screamed at him at full volume.
Spiralling, Duffy agrees to a handball game in the park with a former pro football and in the fracas looses a tooth, and responds by kicking his opponent in the head. This sparks a series of events of both chaos and “personal growth” as the spiral moves toward some kind of end. Like I said, if you told me you hated all of this this, I get it.
(Photo: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24846.All_We_Need_of_Hell)