"With this eruptive debut novel, Lee Durkee…has just kicked in the door of Southern literature." —Salon
Meet Mississippi teenager Noel Weatherspoon: ghost-seeing insomniac, endearing dopehead, wanna-be erotic photographer, and possible Baptist faith healer. Noel, who prefers The Exorcist to Ecclesiastes, must navigate a world of Bible-thumpers, born-again Christians, and a stepfather who bears an uncanny resemblance to Billy Graham. Darkly comic and lyrically moving, Rides of the Midway introduces a formidable talent in contemporary fiction.
About the Author
Lee Durkee is the author of Rides of the Midway and The Last Taxi Driver. His stories have appeared in Harper’s Magazine, Zoetrope: All Story, Tin House, New England Review, Mississippi Noir, and many other places. He lives in Mississippi.
Praise For…
Durkee has given the coming-of-age novel enough twists to make his version seem something else entirely—a ghost story, perhaps, mixed with a sexual comedy and slice-of-working-class Southern life. — Matthew Flamm - New York Times Book Review
Mississippi-raised author Lee Durkee portrays his hero’s feckless dissolution with considerable comic flair and a sharp eye for regional manners, good and bad…readers will finish the book feeling they’ve been treated to quite a ride. — Paul Gray - Time
Durkee writes with a southern accent that doesn’t smother a unique voice, and his roller-coaster ride of a story leaves a reader breathless and waiting for more. — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Durkee handles Noel’s odyssey with grace and style, crafting sentences so beautiful that you stop to read them twice…Rides of the Midway, Lee Durkee’s assured, richly imagined debut novel, is a raucous tour through this scorched landscape of faith.
