Frederick Exley books

Last Notes from Home (1990)

Having finished the trilogy of Exley's novels first in high school--where, I think, Exley's indulgences in oral sex, cultural masculinity, substance abuse, et cetera, can seem to a teenager like a very raw reading of the psyche--I'm impressed overall how well the final book holds up, and though I...

Pages from a Cold Island (1988)

A Fan's Notes (1988)

Jonathan Yardley's introduction explains that Frederick Exley had intended to publish A Fan's Notes as a memoir, but was asked to novelize it by Harper & Row, who feared libel actions. We have this amazing book, Yardley writes, a caustic masterpiece by a man who was essentially an alcoholic bum ...