From the Publisher
A novel about soccet
What People Are Saying
Sena Jeter Naslund
Kirby Gann's fearless first novel x-rays middle-class American youth as
neglected by parents and seduced by the woman-using values of American
sports. Far more distressing than The Catcher in the Rye but just as
well-written, The Barbarian Parade is a compelling and memorable
read.
— Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife
Robin Lippincott
Kirby Gann's exciting debut, a brave and buoyant bildungsroman, tells one
Kentucky boy's own story, with balls and heart and a fiery, hell-bent prose.
Rousing and brutal, tender and wise, The Barbarian Parade is an
original-a picaresque novel of and for our time.
— Robin Lippincott, author of Mr. Dalloway
Lee Durkee
Kirby Gann has written an evocative, gripping, and fearless first novel,
one that peers out of the eyes of a child upon a very adult world. If you
have ever watched a tornado snake out of a dark cloud, or a skydiver fall
with a tangled chute, then you know what it is like to be utterly
transfixed; Gann's novel holds the reader in much the same way; he turns us
into children watching mayhem, transfixed, horrified, and yet filled with
wonder, a part of us not wanting the tornado to recede, not wanting the
chute to open.
— Lee Durkee, author of Rides of the Midway
Edmund White
A great story: one that is by turns sensuous, carnal, tender, and often
brutal. With it's original theme and beautiful, yet effortlessly composed
language, The Barbarian Parade makes a striking debut for a novelist
of daring creativity and passion.
Bret Lott
Kirby Gann's first novel marks the debut of an important and vigorous new
voice in fiction. This is so very much more than a coming of age story-it's
real, and moving, and true in the sense that good fiction is true: we see
ourselves here.
— Bret Lott, author of Jewel
Silas House
The Barbarian Parade pulls off an astonishing feat: it's
simultaneously hilarious and heart-breaking, evocative but never nostalgic,
touching but never sentimental, and it manages to be not only poetic, but a
great page-turner. Kirby Gann is an author who can go the distance.
— Silas House, author of Clay's Quilt and The Cool of the Day
Mark Richard
A soulful excavation around the foundation of a young life teetering but
still standing, with all the requisite familial heartbreak, busted balls,
and self-inflicted wounds that would tumble lesser erections. The
acceleration of this first novel ramped up this reader to see the next
installment.
— Mark Richard, author of The Ice at the Bottom of the
World
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