There is a flow in the seemingly disjointed ideas and episodes. Minor events, such as picking up a book or looking at a table, unfold into discussions about experiences. Proof that nothing has to happen in a novel for it to be great. My favorite book. It really is....

Not just another story of privilaged teens at a New England boarding school.
.... features a soothing writing style that propells this story forward. This is a beautifully written novel.

His old testament prose and blunt vision have a chilly timelessness. I believe this novel will speak to readers as long as there are readers.

Woodrell creates a vivid protagonist in Sammy, whose speech patterns and world- view keeps you turning the pages. From the author that coined the phrase "country noir"

Delicously offbeat... A young Hermaphrodite. A sexy teacher. Drugs and Mitler... This is one of those books that found me. I can find nothing else from this author.

"Allegorical science fiction" The story is a fable of young girl growing up realizing that all adults around you are failing. Seen through the eyes of 14 year old Pella Marsh. With aliens and invisible deer. I love this book.

"The waking brain races, sampling the world after the world has turned away, touching it everywhere, refusing to settle, to join the collective nod. The Insomniac brain is sort of a conspiracy theorist as well, believing too much in its own paranoiac importance - as though if it were to blink, then doze, the world might be overrun by some encroaching calamity, which it's obsessive musings are somehow finding off."

I enjoyed it.... Provocative

Amazing

Must read memoir