Shine Hawk

by Charlie Smith

Book Overview

Critics have compared Charlie Smith to Faulkner, Hemingway, Whitman, and Wolfe. In a front page review, The New York Times Book Review hailed this astonishing novel as a work of appalling brilliance . . . a heartrush of memory and association. . . . Rich. . . . Awesome.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671684981
• ISBN13: 9780671684983
• Release Date: September 1990
• Publisher: Washington Square Press
• Length: 367 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

SHINE HAWK:Southern Gothic about love & memory

What are we but the sum of our memories? In SHINE HAWK, Charlie Smith updates Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING and puts me in mind of Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim (who was also unstuck in time). His viewpoint character, Billy, returns home to help a couple of old friends because Frank's little brother Jake has died alone in a trailer (alcoholism), but Billy's still in love with Frank's wife Hazel (and, truth told, with Frank). But the novel's not told strictly chronologically, though the floating in time is easy to understand. The language is gorgeous, with stupendous imagery. The story is about love--eternal love, brotherly love--and faithfulness. However, if you are going to be offended by graphic sex (threesome, peeping. . . ), you'll have to decide for yourself whether you'll want to read SHINE HAWK.