Yonder Stands Your Orphan (2001)

I could not finish this book. If this is what passes for great writing we are in more trouble than I thought. This book is so unique, at times exceptionally wordy and other times the sentences are clipped, but either way nothing of any meaning is ever conveyed, a remarkable feat. Not sure I will seek out another book by this author regardless of the amount of praise afforded to him, and this book had a bunch. ( )

Barry Hannah twists words around inside sentences so that they shouldn’t work – but do. Sentences coil and release, and a quietly stunning turn of phrase pops out more often than not.

Placed at a Mississippi lake, many people inhabit the story. Man Mortimer, a Conway Twitty look-alike and “small-town sinner living out a sneer established at seventeen” takes up the most space. He’s a pimp and child-pornographer, and is quick with a knife. Man and the rest of the lakeside inhabitants can “shock you with depravity and staggering kindness,” as Roman, a stoic fisherman, observes about life itself. There are retirees, murderers, prostitutes, orphans, drug runners turned clergymen, doctors turned casino jazz musicians, and a weak sheriff in love with a much older woman.

Like the catfish that Roman catches, the story, and writing, is “alive and squirming.” It’s not always easy to wrap your mind around, but is truly worthwhile. ( )