Written when John Kennedy Toole was 16 and published after he committed suicide in his early 30's this book is completely different in tone to 'Confederacy of Dunces' which is also a brilliant novel. 'The Neon Bible' is a simple but often incredibly moving tale of the coming of age of a teenage boy in the deep south. This is literary territory well trodden by the likes of Mark Twain, Harper Lee and even JD Salinger, but like 'Catcher in the Rye' there is something haunting and timeless about this story that I am unable to explain. There is no real emotive language, just a simple narration of events, and perhaps this is the key to the magic. Written at 16, this teenagers view of life in a small Southern town reads something like a diary. The main theme is I suppose, loss and coping with the absence of loved ones / security in one's life. Against the backdrop of American involvement in world war two, our narrator is pushed and pulled around the small, constricting town he lives in by the various adult characters around him. The neon bible stands outside one of the town's churches and is visible at night from Dave's house in the hills surrounding the town. For me it is a metaphor for the staid and stifling values of the church leaders, all seeing and relentlessly observing / judging those it looks over. Mr and Mrs Watkins personify this distinctly Southern outlook on life with their heavy handed running of the local school and church. They write reactionary letters to the local paper complaining about any semblance of activity that resembles 'life' that does not fit into their narrow view of how it should be lived. Aunt Mae is also a key character. Dave's Aunt comes to the town early in the book and is a failed showgirl of sorts, representing the life that might lie outside of the town. She is initially treated with suspicion by those in the community, but acts as a friend and eventually surrogate mother to Dave. She wins over the locals with her singing at an event in the town and ultimately stands together with Dave as one of the two characters that eventually break free from the confines of the town. Aunt Mae is one of the most likeable female characters in any book I've read. She is sexually aware, experienced, attractive, flamboyant and ambitious but also dependable and loving. Surrounded by narrow minded, curtain twitching locals, she really embodies a sense of 1940's feminism and her character will stay with me for a long time. The narrative takes us through a series of losses in Dave's coming of age. Firstly, his father is killed in Italy fighting the fascists, and as a consequence, his mother has a nervous breakdown leaving him as a carer, he meets a girl who has to move away, and finally Aunt Mae leaves to pursue her career in entertainment. Dave is left to care for his dying mother and the book culminates in the resolution of this strand, albeit in an unpredictable fashion. Overall, this is a touching, emotional book hinting at answers to bigger questions (secularism/religion, innocence, childhood, feminism, death, war, love) but never pushing it's stance down your throat. It's very subtle and as such, I found it to be quite overwhelming emotionally at times. Anyone who has dealt with disappointment / strife / loss and been unable to categorise the queasy mixture of feelings these life events can evoke will no doubt get something out of this book. I was nearly in tears at times, despite the author never really using any emotional language. The story and voice are enough here, and for that alone, irrespective of the fact that the author was 16, this is a remarkable piece of literature. There is hope here too. Both of the book's likeable characters eventually flee the town, albeit in questionable circumstances, and the spell of the neon bible is broken. A great read, and evidence that John Kennedy Toole is perhaps the great lost voice of 20th Century American literature. This and 'Confederacy of Dunces' are an impressive double whammmy and we can only wonder what heights may have been scaled by Toole had he not ended his own life.
“Thinking people feel sorry for you is something I guess you should appreciate, but I didn’t and never have." First of all, for anyone to have written a novel like this at age sixteen is nothing short of amazing. Granted, some of the description does not entirely ring true, but for a teenager to possess such acuity when it comes to people and society is remarkable. John Kennedy Toole was such a gifted observer of humanity’s foibles despite his young age that “The Neon Bible” contains truths and witticisms that most writers double, and even triple his age could only hope to aspire to. Tragically, there also seems to be a world-weary edge to the novel that no sixteen year-old should have to bear, a burdensome cynicism that undoubtedly contributed to Toole’s tragic suicide in 1969 at the age of thirty-two.Toole is best remembered for his Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, “A Confederacy of Dunces” – which his mother succeeded in publishing a few years after her son’s suicide. While he had tried (and failed) to get “Confederacy” published during his lifetime, Toole never intended for “The Neon Bible” to see print; he thought that it was too juvenile. But after “Confederacy” became a raging success Toole’s family began to see dollar signs and, following a crass legal battle with Toole’s mother, who sought to carry out her son’s wishes, “The Neon Bible” was cleared for publication in 1989. The legal ordeal is outlined in the novel’s introduction by W. Kenneth Holditch, who inherited the rights to “The Neon Bible” after Toole’s mother’s death, and who eventually lost the fight to respect Toole’s wishes.In his introduction, Holditch hopes that the two novels Toole wrote in his lifetime will “constitute testament to a genius,” and they certainly do. If nothing else, reading “The Neon Bible” will make you wish that its truly gifted author had had a long, storied career to explore the full range of his talent. Is “The Neon Bible” perfect? No. It is all promise – the promise of a developing talent that was broken with Toole’s unfortunate suicide. Despite its mature insights, it hews too closely to the tried-and-true. Toole had not yet found his confidence as a writer, and so he presented a somewhat clichéd coming-of-age tale that breaks few boundaries and remains steadfastly in the zone of ‘safe’ literature. It is worthy of note, of course, but primarily as the first effort of an author who would later break many of the rules he adheres to so strictly here.So let’s give Toole an A for being so skilled so young, but let’s give “The Neon Bible” a C+.
What do You think about The Neon Bible (1994)?
Se ve que John Kennedy Toole escribió 'La Biblia de neón' cuando tenía 16 años y que luego la rechazó porque el estilo le parecía demasiado juvenil. Pero a mí me ha encantado, precisamente por esa mirada infantil e ingenua que tiene. Como todo está narrado precisamente desde el punto de vista de un niño que luego se convertirá en adolescente, que encima siempre ha recibido una educación muy rudimentaria y que siempre ha vivido aislado, el estilo simple, directo, repetitivo y algo limitado funciona perfectamente. De hecho, yo todo el rato que lo he leído me he imaginado que lo había escrito a los 20 años imitando un estilo adolescente. Es un estilo efectivo y fascinante en su simplicidad. David es un niño que vive en un pueblo de mala muerte en el Sur, durante los años 30-50. Como pasa en todas las novelas sureñas, su familia es más pobre que las ratas. Hay los típicos padres: la madre muy buena e ingenua, y el padre un poco/bastante bruto. Y hay el típico personaje excéntrico de turno: Tía Mae, que había trabajado como cantante/artista, pero que ahora ya se ha hecho demasiado vieja y que todo el pueblo critica, por culpa de sus excentricidades (centradas básicamente en su forma de vestir), y que sin duda es una delicia de personaje. Pero también lo es, por supuesto, el señor Farney, el maestro culto que vive con otro hombre. La guerra inevitablemente tiene su papel importante y hay el no menos inevitable fracaso amoroso. Y aunque todo parezca típico en teoría, resulta realmente fresco a la práctica. Lo mejor probablemente es la lucidez con la que critica la hipocresía religiosa. Me gusta la idea de que la hipocresía religiosa es tan evidente que incluso un niño no muy avispado puede percibirla. En cambio, los que están metidos en ella no. Me encanta que critique la hipocresía religiosa con una ironía sutil. Aunque no sea hilarante todo el rato, tiene momentos muy divertidos, pero su ironía es muy diferente al sarcasmo de 'La conjura de los necios'. Por esto si me dan a escoger entre mamá y papá, creo que me quedaría con 'La Biblia de neón', porque su ironía sutil me gusta más que el sarcasmo agresivo y grotesco de 'La conjura'. Me encanta que el protagonista sea tan introvertido, a veces bordeando el autismo, que él se entere más o menos de lo que pasa a su alrededor, pero que casi nunca participe, y cuando participa no acabe de conocer las reglas y la pifie. Me encantan detalles como que sepa que sus compañeros están haciendo bromas sexuales pero que no acabe de saber qué significan. O que la maestra vaya de excursión al Palacio de Justicia y los gamberros se porten fatal y ella, que es medio sorda, no se entere de nada, de tal modo que cuando después reciben una carta del Palacio de Justicia quejándose del mal comportamiento de sus alumnos, ella se enfade y responda con otra carta diciéndoles que se deben haber equivocado de escuela. Y son detalles así que hacen que esta novela sea tan real y me encante tanto.
—Núria
I found the book very easy to read and each page seemed to promise something new and appealing. I intended to specify that it's easy to read because I was thinking of all the vampire novels people are reading because they want something easy, that flows and all that, and of this article about the issue: http://www.salon.com/books/laura_mill....This is a novel that you can finish reading pretty quickly. Yet, I suspect that people that go for Dan Brown and co. do it not for the unsophisticated phrase but for the escape from everyday issues these novels offer. "The Neon Bible" is very reader friendly but it is courageous as well because it deals with a rough period of history, The Second World War and the years immediately after, real social issues and family issues. The perspective is that of a narrator that has benefited from little education because of the lack of financial support and he always seems to be caught unprepared as his life unfolds. In the end, I liked that the novel goes very deep despite it's fast pace.
—Ovidiu
Daca este adevarat ca J.K Toole a scris Biblia de neon la doar 16 ani, atunci ne aflam in fata unui autor de calibru. Si imi place sa cred ca nu este simpla inventie retrospectiva, pentru a vinde cartea. Tinand cont ca a lasat doar doua romane si ambele au aparut postum, am pierdut un scriitor extraordinar, un scriitor nascut si nu unul artificial, unul care presupun ca simtea literatura adevarata pe limba si cand se spala dimineata pe dinti. Daca se spala. Si este extraordinar ca mama sa a reusit pana la urma sa publice si Biblia de neon. Cartea este de o dezarmanta autenticitate, genul de text in care te-ai teme sa tai sau sa adaugi ceva, pentru a nu distruge tot ansamblul. Ca ton si atmosfera iti trezeste nume precum Salinger - Noua povestiri (mai ales Omul care rade) sau Capote cu Harfa de iarba. Doar doua exemple. Sau ca sa trec in alt registru, IT, Stephen King, momentele in care grupul se strangea pe Maidan. Este acea nevoie de rememorare, pofta de inocenta copilariei, lumea privita prin ochii un copil care se afla la un pas de balansul periculos spre hormonal intens. Numai ca oficial Toole era inca un pusti, un adolescent care se impartea probabil intre scris si hormoni, varsta la care greu poti sa filtrezi totul de o asemenea maniera, daca nu ai talent cu groaia. - See more at: http://cinabru.blogspot.ro/2008/10/jo...
—Cinabru Hoffmann
