The Holy Book of the Beard
Nan Talese, 1996
Agent: Sandra Dijkstra
A joyous, earthy, raunchy feast of a novel that calls to mind John Irving and Ken Kesey, The Holy Book of the Beard takes the classic tale of the young man in the big city out for a riotous, thoroughly nineties spin. Infusing the day-to-day and the mundane with the stuff of legend, deftly mingling farce and tragedy, Brenna has fashioned a contemporary tour de force.
Reviews:
“Amid unmistakable signs of physical, spiritual and social decay, an oddly hopeful sense of community endures among the motley cast of eccentric misfits captured in Brenna's enthralling second novel. [T]his alternately sad, funny, grotesque and sexy yarn centers on Jasper John, a 23-year-old busboy and part-time college student who left Colorado on an unreliable Harley to start a new life in California…Vivid characters, rich dialogue and spellbinding narrative make this odd mix of tragedy, myth and ribaldry memorable and often moving. [The Holy Book of the Beard] is sheer delight.
—Publisher’s Weekly
“This cult favorite in the making has a lot to offer. By turns, it's a vulgarly, howlingly funny and deeply poignant blue-plate special of a book.”
—Booklist