The Best. Start here before moving on to lesser--but worthy--talents like Pynchon and Denis Johnson. Line-for-line, the best, most confounding American novel ever written.

Barry Hannah is the most successful graduate of the English Department at Mississippi College, however, you will be hard-pressed to find his name mentioned there today. The main reason is this book. This book is largely an autobiography of Hannah, and who knows how much of it is true? The college in the book is Mississippi College, and Hannah's criticisms are honest and embellishing, as are the other observations that he makes in this journey of a book. Geronimo Rex is strangely compelling, and Hannah pulled me right into his head as he tells this story of growing up in the world. Good book, and a must read for anyone from Mississippi College.

I am not a student of fiction (though I am an avid reader), but I have rarely enjoyed a book so much as Hannah's Geronimo Rex. His ability for phrasing is unbelieveable (limp, like a wet shoelace draped over a fence) and his ability to mesmerize you with his characters' thoughts made this book one of the best I've ever picked up.

This is Barry Hannah's coming of age novel and it is quite fine. The prose is more straigtforward, more traditional than most of his other stuff. It was his first novel and should not be missed by anyone who loves his work.