And the Ass Saw the Angel

Nick Cave’s first novel is more style than substance, but the style mostly works: a dark and violent and sporadically very well-written Southern family drama in the American Gothic tradition of Flannery O’Connor. (The book was reissued in 2009 for its 20th anniversary and claims to be “completely revised... cut down and reorganized by the author so the plot is clarified and the characters stand out more clearly. The book retains all its brilliance but is more accessible to the general reader.” Based on this description, the revised version is very likely a better book than the original.)