Hell of a Book

Reviews

Brilliant and inventive ... You'll cry tears of laughter. Beautiful and deeply moving . . . I'd go as far as to say it's an important book and everyone should read it. For all its moments of levity, Mott has written a deadly serious story ... Hell of a Book offers a disturbing portrait of a nation that's been lying to itself all its years. In this way, the novel feels like a plea - intense, moving, urgent, and vital. In a structurally and conceptually daring examination of art, fame, family and being black in America, Mott somehow manages the impossible trick of being playful, insightful and deeply moving, all at the same time. A highly original, inspired work that breaks new ground How to possibly describe Mott's fourth novel without simply borrowing from its moniker? It is, after all, a hell of a book. Hell of a Book more than lives up to its title. Playful, searching, raw and necessary, this writing, this voice, this novel twisted me up and turned me inside out, dazzled me, surprised me and moved me A black author embarks on a cross-country book tour to promote his new book, but he's followed by a (possibly imaginary) child. The author's story is intertwined with the narrative of Soot, a young black boy living in a rural town. Mott has written a clever meditation on race and violence in America. Maddening, disorienting and illuminating Powerful, timely and provocative Hell of a Book consistently proves itself to be more than the sum of its parts: a farce that provokes contemplation, a publishing parody that rings true; an honest and emotive meditation on systematic racial injustice and the myriad ways in which it breaks the human soul. Sharp, funny, evocative and never anything less than utterly poignant, Mott's novel chronicles the experience and cost of racism for black Americans with a clarity that is justifiably unsettling. Hell of a Book is distinctly American tale of racial trauma told with a dry, almost painful humour that scrapes at the reader's heart. A twisty and startling narrative about the blurry lines between reality and fiction Hilarious and moving, thoughtful and madcap . . . a hell of an accomplishment. A dizzying yet dazzling exploration of exploration itself. A profound exploration of love, friendship, and racial violence . . . A story that is at once a paean to familial love and friendship and a reckoning with racism and police violence. By turns playful and surprising and intimate, a moving meditation on being Black in America. Stunning . . . Mott's poetic, cinematic novel tackles what it means to live in a country where Black people perpetually "live lives under the hanging sword of fear." Absurdist metafiction doesn't get much better. Expand reviews