The Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.97 You Save: $7.03 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.16 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Neon Bible
Book Review: The beautiful culmination of a strange and ironic chain of events
Summary: 5 Stars
W. Kenneth Holditich tells us a sad and beautiful story in the introduction to the novel "The neon Bible", published twenty years after its author, John Kennedy Toole, killed himself. The story behind this book is a story worthy its own book. As Kenneth Holditich says the publication of "The neon Bible" is `culmination of a strange and ironic chain of events'.
"The neon Bible" and "A confederacy of Dunces" are the only works written by Kennedy Toole that were published - both posthumously. Judging by the quality of these two novels, the world lost a great writer capable of diving deep in the darkest side of the human soul and behavior.
Reportedly written when Kennedy Toole was in his teens - after a travel -, "The neon Bible" is both sad and funny, exhilarating and depressing but, above all, very beautiful. By telling the story of a boy growing up in hard times, whose father is sent to the war, and the mother gets insane, the writer allows his readers not only to feel, but to experience all the protagonist's joys, fears, melancholy and growing pains. His only friend is the aunt of his mother who is sent to live with them.
"The neon Bible" may not be pitch-perfect as "A confederacy of dunces", but, it is a deep and honest tale of rites of passage, of a boy being forced to become a man, and emerging above all this.
Book Review: The genius is a genius no matter his age...
Summary: 5 Stars
and it`s amazing he can make words become an explosion of pyrotecnics.His knowledge of English and his inborn talent and sensibility drove him to leave a Heritage to Humanity: Confederacy of Dunces, and also Neon Bible... If you look deeply into the lines of this man, you`ll cry in grieving for his tragedy expressed in LAUGHING....
God must have him writing upstairs....
Book Review: This Book Was Written By A Kid
Summary: 4 Stars
Before you read THE NEON BIBLE, realize that the author was about 16 or so (maybe younger!) when he wrote this book. Then, after you've finished contemplate that fact once again... You'll be dumbfounded!
ps. This book is a quick read.
Book Review: Toole's Many Tools
Summary: 5 Stars
Toole wrote only two books in his short life, and what markedly differing books they are! THE NEON BIBLE, although published last, was the first of Toole's novels, written when he was just a teen. While it lacks the much-touted satirical humor found in A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, THE NEON BIBLE is a valiant first effort, one deserving of the praise which came to Toole too late to provide the publishing opportunity he longed for. Author Florence King has likened this novel to TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. And while it has much in common with the storytelling approach of Harper Lee's book, it more accurate to call THE NEON BIBLE a short, Southern version of A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, told from the male perspective, of course. We listen, interested, as David tells us the story of his childhood in an isolated valley community. In his own way, David learns what Christianity is and is not. And as a young man he makes a difficult but realistic discovery: "They used to tell us in school to think for yourself, but you couldn't do that in the town."
I gave THE NEON BIBLE a 9, not a 10, primarily because of some unexplained anomolies in the plot. For example, he knows his Aunt Mae is not coming back for him, yet he quits his good job anyway, and we never know why. Plot points such as that one make you feel that the character has stopped thinking like a real person for a while.
Vastly different from his second, Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, THE NEON BIBLE shows us that Toole had many tools, and that he refined them over the years of his short, unrecognized career. People who speculate about his potential as an author are more than justified. I, too, find myself wondering what we've missed by his absence . . . .
Book Review: When I was 16, I was riding in Kevin McTernan's van...
Summary: 4 Stars
and listening to Journey. When John Kennedy Toole was 16, on the other hand, he was creating this sad, sweet tale that will charm and delight you. It is a first effort, true, but I would put it against any other 16-year-old's effort without worry. Read this and you'll see how the man who brought us "A Confederacy of Dunces" saw the world as a boy. Can you imagine what his third book would have been like?Do read Dunces first. If you don't appreciate that, never mind this book. Just go get professional help for your humor/insight deficiency.