Sentimental, Heartbroken Rednecks

"Like Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, Joyce's Dubliners, or Isherwood's Berlin Stories, these stories about loss and redemption possess an evocative sense of place and society as they are transformed by the author's nervous relationship with the world. In the title story, the narrator imagines his way into the dark, elusive world of southern writer Breece D'J Pancake; "Imaginary Birds" flawlessly renders the reverie of a senile old woman to make the world anew; in stories such as "Nostalgia for Ghosts," "The Metaphor," "Intersections," and "A Seat for the Coming Savior," the quiet desperation of urban places gives way to moments of beauty, profundity, even holiness, in the midst of devastation and heartbreak."--BOOK JACKET.