Book Review – Bubba Ho-Tep

Author: Joe R. Lansdale
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: October 2005

The prominent theme throughout the book is how we cast our old to the curb and view them as a burden in a society that favors the young. Youth vs. Wisdom, an age old battle. But on its surface it’s a lot of fun where Elvis and JFK team up and kick a mummy’s ass.

This is going to be a short review as the original story is only 40 pages long. If you are familiar with the term “B” as in B movie then you will have an idea what Joe Lansdale’s style is like. He is proudly a B-movie writer and very good at it. His only intention is to entertain the pants off of you and by the end of this story you’ll be sitting there in your underwear. Lansdale deserves more recognition and hopefully he gets it.

Bubba Ho-Tep is about an aging Elvis and a black JFK defeating a mummy that is killing patients at a retirement home. Elvis, years ago, was tiring of his life so he hired an Elvis impersonator to take his place. It was this impersonator that died on the toilet in 1977 and the real Elvis was able to live his life. But since the only thing he knew how to do was be Elvis, he became an Elvis impersonator. During a concert performance he fell off the stage, broke his hip and was placed in the rest home.

The story opens with Elvis contemplating his life and how impotent he feels. While wandering the halls one night he meets and becomes friends with Jack, a black man who believes that he is JFK. He claims to have survived the assassination attempt, been died black to hide his true identity, screwed over by LBJ and left to rot in the nursing home. They begin to suspect that something is amiss at the nursing home and set out to investigate.

Through the amazing conciseness that only a short story can provide they quickly figure out that there is a mummy haunting the nursing home and killing off the residents, stealing their souls to draw power. Since the residents are old and dying the mummy only has nominal strength. The mummy has certain logic to his chosen hunting ground, rather then go after younger bodies and who could potentially destroy it, he kills the elderly since they can’t fight back. Once they die everyone suspects natural causes and the bed is filled again with a new body.

Elvis and JFK, now having a purpose in life, become visibly stronger. They plan a showdown to kill the mummy and set about implementing their plan. The climax of the story is sufficiently packed with tension, suspense, action and in one simple, touching moment between Elvis and JFK a lot of emotion and sub-text.

Except for the show down there isn’t a lot of action in Bubba Ho-Tep. It has a lot of internal dialog and exposition and every aspect of it is handled deftly. The prominent theme throughout the book is how we cast our old to the curb and view them as a burden in a society that favors the young. Youth vs. Wisdom, an age old battle. But on its surface it’s a lot of fun where Elvis and JFK team up and kick a mummy’s ass.

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