From Publishers Weekly
In this slender new novel by the author of Airships, the story line advances casually, but in Hannah's wonderfully original, distinctive fashion. The setting is a sleepy Mississippi college town, where there is lots of time for tennis and gossip. The narrator, Homer, is 56, a veteran of Korea, literate and enviously well off. He spends hours at a time with his friend Jack, a cafe owner, talking, for the most part, about the debauched local rock star, Ronnie Foot. Nothing about Ronnie is good, but the worst thing he has done is take up with Jack's daughter, the schoolteacher Alice. Much of what goes on herelust, violence and eccentricityis familiar in Southern literature. There is nothing hackneyed, though, in Hannah's telling. The story and characters are brought into sharp focus by the resonant imagery. From Homer's vibrant new wife, with "hair charging blond from her head," to the black-comedy description of the Foot mansion, every word is fresh and precise. Hannah's wry voice is spellbinding.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Hannah's latest novel (others include The Tennis Handsome, LJ 3/1/83) is the chronicle of a friendship that thrives amidst the lunacy and tragi-comic violence of a small Mississippi town. The narrator, Homer, is a Korean war veteran who has become a successful writer. His friend Jack is a former war correspondent, sheriff, college professor, and farmer who now runs a small cafe. Since both men have already been crazy, they can readily understand the madness of those all around them. Seeking love that can restore, Hannah's characters frequently fall prey to passions that destroy. The book contains striking proof of Hannah's verbal ingenuity, but his story is disappointingly sparse. He provides intriguing characters and anecdotes but little sustained narrative. Albert E. Wilhelm, English Dept., Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
