This is a lovely book, with a well described setting and nicely developed characters. It easy to forget the lawless Texan past, but Jiles does a great job making it harder to do so.

I wish that I hadn’t read a single footnote to this book, or else I would have been only slightly bothered by how preachy Rosenberg is. Instead, the near constant wailing about urine and capitalism makes the book painful. The success of this book and the warmth of its reception is clearly not reliant on any positive reading experience. I question the worth of a piece of art notable almost exclusively for its uniqueness. I hope it remains one of a kind.

I felt neutrally about the book in reading it for school several years ago, but upon rereading I realize now that it is simply not good. I give it 3 stars, rounding up only because Fitzgerald’s whiny prose is a little funny when tipsy. The whole thing is done roughly and seems more a collage of the resentments of an unhappy rich man than a piece of literature.