A Hall of Mirrors

This book is as wise and penetrating today as when it was written. In this age of predatory capitalists aligned with the Christian right, Stone's corrupt evangelists and attorneys come alive again in New Orleans. Amid this corruption, broken people try to live, love and survive. Stone's language is poetically compressed, and his range of imagination uncovers detail and image that lesser writers would never discover. It is astonishing that this is a first novel. It is truly a "Great American Novel" on par with anything Faulkner ever wrote. If we did not live in an age of cultural lobotomy, he would certainly get the attention that he deserves. How often do we read something that leaves us changed? Not often. Read this book if you want to go home to the best part of yourself.

This book consumes the reader with its ideas and its poetics. It is Apocolyptic literary fireworks, man. Morgan Rainey, the warped Jehovah. Rhienhardt, the suffering Judas. Geraldine, the sacrificial Virgin whore. New Orleans tranformed into a Dantean Inferno, a Boschian landscape of demonic avian fascists, lecherous, dragon like, regal homosexuals like Lester Clotho, shimmering toothed Hollywood vagabonds and ice-evil Capitalists with frozen souls. This book is pure inspiriational genius. A 60's morality tale that reads like an insane, surreal masterpiece hybrid of Conrad's & Chandler's novels.

I'm a fan of New Orleans literature in general, and this is my favorite NO novel. Stone captures the Quarter like no one else can, and wrings the stink of misery from the cobblestones. Those of us who didn't live during Southern desegregation are terrified of scenes like the ones in this novel. We see quasi-fascist racists, who are contrasted only with Rheinhardt (who works for them) and his neighbor Bogdanovich who can only smoke pot and utter meaningless exclamations. If America was really Stone's nightmare vision, my parents' generation should've been happy Vietnam was distracting them from the slow disintegration of the USA. Read it. You'll quote it, I promise. You'll read passages to your friends.

I've read (and liked) all of Robert Stone's books and even though this one is more sprawling and overwritten than the others (after all, it was his first novel and it feels like he wanted to include EVERYTHING about America he could think of), it's my personal favorite. I read it during some nasty days in New York and it really got into my psyche. For a time, I was even making decisions (like whether I should have another drink or go home to bed and safety) by asking "What would Reinhardt [the main character] do in these circumstances?" -- and if you're familiar with Reinhardt, you know what a bad idea that was. It's sometimes scary and sometimes depressing and really, really funny. The sequence where Reinhardt smokes dope with his neighbors and then he and Bogdanovich walk to the laundry is one of the greatest in all literature. Most people I've recommended this novel to didn't get through it, but they all admitted it's beautifully written. Maybe not a book for everyone, but I loved it!

I've read (and liked) all of Robert Stone's books and even though this one is more sprawling and overwritten than the others (after all, it was his first novel and it feels like he wanted to include EVERYTHING about America he could think of), it's my personal favorite. I read it during some nasty days in New York and it really got into my psyche. For a time, I was even making decisions (like whether I should have another drink or go home to bed and safety) by asking "What would Reinhardt [the main character] do in these circumstances?" -- and if you're familiar with Reinhardt, you know what bad judgement that was! It's sometimes scary and sometimes depressing and really, really funny. The sequence where Reinhardt smokes dope with his neighbors and then he and Bogdanovich walk to the laundry is one of the greatest in all literature. Most people I've recommended this novel to didn't get through it, but they all admitted it's beautifully written. Maybe not a book for everyone, but I loved it!