Hamilton Cain

I don't review books often without "having" to, but this one is really fabulously written, more so than one might be led to expect. It's a memoir mostly about the author's Southern Baptist childhood (though carrying over into his adulthood, too)---a description that could make it sound kind of like another ho-hum-once-religious-but-now-embittered story...but it's not. Cain has a wonderful narrative voice, and he doesn't waste it; though his story has its moments of being both tragic and funny, he doesn't play it for sympathy or cheap laughs: He just tells compelling stories, weaving each chapter into a meticulous and nuanced tale that is more than the sum of its parts. I read a LOT of books, memoirs in particular, but this one stands out for me as one of the best I've encountered in a long time.… (mais)