Geronimo Rex

By Barry Hannah

Book Overview

Geronimo Rex, Barry Hannah's brilliant first novel, which was nominated for the National Book Award, is full of the rare verve and flawless turns of phrase that have defined his status as an American master. Roiling with love and torment, lunacy and desire, hilarity and tenderness, Geronimo Rex is the bildungsroman of an unlikely hero. Reared in gloomy Dream of Pines, Louisiana, whose pines have long since yielded to paper mills, Harry Monroe is ready to take on the world. Inspired by the great Geronimo's heroic rampage through the Old West, Harry puts on knee boots and a scarf and voyages out into the swamp of adolescence in the South of the 1950s and '60s. Along the way he is attacked by an unruly peacock; discovers women, rock 'n' roll, and jazz; and stalks a pervert white supremacist who fancies himself the next Henry Miller.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B005GNLTL0
• ISBN13: 9780802135698
• Release Date: April 1998
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Geronimo Rex

Great reading by a good old fashioned southern writer. Gets right to the heart of the stories without much ado.

Simply the Best

The Best. Start here before moving on to lesser--but worthy--talents like Pynchon and Denis Johnson. Line-for-line, the best, most confounding American novel ever written.

strangely compelling

Barry Hannah is the most successful graduate of the English Department at Mississippi College, however, you will be hard-pressed to find his name mentioned there today. The main reason is this book. This book is largely an autobiography of Hannah, and who knows how much of it is true? The college in the book is Mississippi College, and Hannah's criticisms are honest and embellishing, as are the other observations that he makes in this journey of a book. Geronimo Rex is strangely compelling, and Hannah pulled me right into his head as he tells this story of growing up in the world. Good book, and a must read for anyone from Mississippi College.

What a find!

I am not a student of fiction (though I am an avid reader), but I have rarely enjoyed a book so much as Hannah's Geronimo Rex. His ability for phrasing is unbelieveable (limp, like a wet shoelace draped over a fence) and his ability to mesmerize you with his characters' thoughts made this book one of the best I've ever picked up.

Barry Hannah's Ham on Rye

This is Barry Hannah's coming of age novel and it is quite fine. The prose is more straigtforward, more traditional than most of his other stuff. It was his first novel and should not be missed by anyone who loves his work.