Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The Neon Bible

3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 · rating details · 2,586 ratings · 221 reviews

John Kennedy Toole, who won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for his best-selling comic masterpiece A Confederacy of Dunces, wrote The Neon Bible for a literary contest at the age of sixteen. The manuscript languished in a drawer and became the subject of a legal battle among Toole's heirs. It was only in 1989, thirty-five years after it was written and twenty years after Toole...more

Paperback, 176 pages

Published January 12th 1994 by Grove Press (first published 1989)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

They Died too Young

93rd out of 181 books — 51 voters

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The saddest book I have read so far

37th out of 76 books — 118 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Apr 29, 2013 Edith Wasco rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Edith by: Amanda

La historia me llamó la atención desde la reseña de la parte de atrás y al comenzar a leerlo no me decepcionó. El pueblo que Toole describe se me antojo casi real. Más que el estilo de la prosa (bueno a secas), resalta el tema de la obra y la crítica social que hace al fanatismo religioso dominante en los pequeños pueblos estadounidenses antes y durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Me dejó pasmada el hecho de que fue escrita cuando Toole tenía apenas 16 años. La juventud del escritor y lo corto de...more

3 likes · like · see review

Sep 23, 2007 Núria rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2007, mios, 5-favoritos, literatura-en-ingles, siglo-xx

Se ve que John Kennedy Toole escribió 'La Biblia de neón' cuando tenía 16 años y que luego la rechazó porque el estilo le parecía demasiado juvenil. Pero a mí me ha encantado, precisamente por esa mirada infantil e ingenua que tiene. Como todo está narrado precisamente desde el punto de vista de un niño que luego se convertirá en adolescente, que encima siempre ha recibido una educación muy rudimentaria y que siempre ha vivido aislado, el estilo simple, directo, repetitivo y algo limitado funcio...more Se ve que John Kennedy Toole escribió 'La Biblia de neón' cuando tenía 16 años y que luego la rechazó porque el estilo le parecía demasiado juvenil. Pero a mí me ha encantado, precisamente por esa mirada infantil e ingenua que tiene. Como todo está narrado precisamente desde el punto de vista de un niño que luego se convertirá en adolescente, que encima siempre ha recibido una educación muy rudimentaria y que siempre ha vivido aislado, el estilo simple, directo, repetitivo y algo limitado funciona perfectamente. De hecho, yo todo el rato que lo he leído me he imaginado que lo había escrito a los 20 años imitando un estilo adolescente. Es un estilo efectivo y fascinante en su simplicidad.

David es un niño que vive en un pueblo de mala muerte en el Sur, durante los años 30-50. Como pasa en todas las novelas sureñas, su familia es más pobre que las ratas. Hay los típicos padres: la madre muy buena e ingenua, y el padre un poco/bastante bruto. Y hay el típico personaje excéntrico de turno: Tía Mae, que había trabajado como cantante/artista, pero que ahora ya se ha hecho demasiado vieja y que todo el pueblo critica, por culpa de sus excentricidades (centradas básicamente en su forma de vestir), y que sin duda es una delicia de personaje. Pero también lo es, por supuesto, el señor Farney, el maestro culto que vive con otro hombre.

La guerra inevitablemente tiene su papel importante y hay el no menos inevitable fracaso amoroso. Y aunque todo parezca típico en teoría, resulta realmente fresco a la práctica. Lo mejor probablemente es la lucidez con la que critica la hipocresía religiosa. Me gusta la idea de que la hipocresía religiosa es tan evidente que incluso un niño no muy avispado puede percibirla. En cambio, los que están metidos en ella no. Me encanta que critique la hipocresía religiosa con una ironía sutil. Aunque no sea hilarante todo el rato, tiene momentos muy divertidos, pero su ironía es muy diferente al sarcasmo de 'La conjura de los necios'. Por esto si me dan a escoger entre mamá y papá, creo que me quedaría con 'La Biblia de neón', porque su ironía sutil me gusta más que el sarcasmo agresivo y grotesco de 'La conjura'.

Me encanta que el protagonista sea tan introvertido, a veces bordeando el autismo, que él se entere más o menos de lo que pasa a su alrededor, pero que casi nunca participe, y cuando participa no acabe de conocer las reglas y la pifie. Me encantan detalles como que sepa que sus compañeros están haciendo bromas sexuales pero que no acabe de saber qué significan. O que la maestra vaya de excursión al Palacio de Justicia y los gamberros se porten fatal y ella, que es medio sorda, no se entere de nada, de tal modo que cuando después reciben una carta del Palacio de Justicia quejándose del mal comportamiento de sus alumnos, ella se enfade y responda con otra carta diciéndoles que se deben haber equivocado de escuela. Y son detalles así que hacen que esta novela sea tan real y me encante tanto.
(less)

6 likes · like · see review

Mar 22, 2013 David Harris rated it 3 of 5 stars

* astounding that a 16-year old could write this, December 14, 2004 *

The author, John Kennedy Toole, is famous for A Confederacy of Dunces, of which I know little. He committed suicide before that book was published. Much later, the manuscript for The Neon Bible was discovered.

I wasn't wowed by the book or anything, but when I consider the fact that it was written by a fifteen- or sixteen-year old during the 1950s, it strikes me as a pretty amazing piece of work. It astounds me to think that suc...more

like · see review

Aug 29, 2011 David added it

The neon bible by john Kennedy toole

I would like to comment on the composition o f the book written in the opposite
Of the colour metaphors that are used in the scripts of movies & TV series
It mentioned the book …TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD...
I love the crispness of the characters the clarity of the grammar I could recall my fav parts of the book ( the neon bible) but, then that would be reciteting and not reviewing ..My other favotite was A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN pre 1920 a another story of...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 21, 2011 Pat McCay rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was honestly hard for me to read at times. I abandoned it the first time I tried to read it, about 6 years ago. It just oozes sadness and it can get to be a bit unbearable at times, but after I got into the heart of the book this second time I started reading it, I also found it to be really compelling and it really drew me into this world. The young boy telling the story uses perfectly believable language to describe his world in clear detail. I've found that books with a young narrator ca...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 20, 2011 bobbygw rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Toole committed suicide at the age of 32, leaving behind two unpublished novels and an impressively determined mother who succeeded – after much badgering – in gaining the novelist Walker Percy’s interest and support in the manuscript of A Confederacy of Dunces. As we know, this was then published to instant and great acclaim and has been continuously in print ever since, and translated into numerous languages.

While The Neon Bible was in fact written before A Confederacy of Dunces, it only came...more Toole committed suicide at the age of 32, leaving behind two unpublished novels and an impressively determined mother who succeeded – after much badgering – in gaining the novelist Walker Percy’s interest and support in the manuscript of A Confederacy of Dunces. As we know, this was then published to instant and great acclaim and has been continuously in print ever since, and translated into numerous languages.

While The Neon Bible was in fact written before A Confederacy of Dunces, it only came to light during the successful reception of the later novel, and its publication was delayed by some years because of legal wrangling involving Toole’s mother, the publishers and the courts.

Nonetheless, the novel is an astonishing achievement, not least because it was written, it seems, when Toole was barely a teenager. It will arguably become regarded as a classic of contemporary American fiction, and a classic of Bildungsroman literature. It is a haunting and poetic evocation of a boy’s loss of innocence in the rural America of the 1930s and 40s. There are echoes of Mark Twain, John Cheever, J. D. Salinger and S. E. Hinton, to name but a few and, impressively, the ‘voice’ and identity of the central character, the young boy, Dave, are as distinct and compelling as any by those others.

In a series of linking memories we learn about Dave and his painful trials and tribulations growing up. His mother becomes emotionally unstable when her husband returns in a coffin, from fighting in Europe during the second world war; his Aunt Mae, an eccentric, once-travelling singer, and Dave’s only real friend and companion, discards him for the sake of her infatuation with a 70-year-old fiddle-playing boyfriend and the temptations of Nashville; and his local preacher inflicts a destructive hypocrisy upon him (in fact, it is this preacher’s church that displays the tacky, monolithic, ‘neon bible’). As if these weren’t enough, yet more troubles ensue, accumulating to the point that he is compelled to escape to the city, leaving innocence in his wake, and only the memory of bitter experience for reflection.

Juxtaposed, Toole’s two novels differ in style, language and humour – understandably, as he was just 13 or so when he wrote The Neon Bible, whereas he wrote A Confederacy of Dunces as an adult. In the latter novel, we have the fantastic figure of Ignatius J. Reilly, a towering, Rabelaisain and Falstaff-like figure, battling against the dim-witted and the short-sighted in his quest for truth, beauty, and a bountiful supply of hot dogs, his favourite food. The language therein is rich and boisterous, the style sweeping in its intensity. In The Neon Bible, Dave is the centre, holding the novel together with his rural speech; his gentle, graceful and easy language complementing the impression we have of him and his world. Even so, their lives and their principles are, arguably, the same: both value Platonic ideals above all else; both are outsiders, most often alone – feeling the loss of their innocence – and reflect a pervading sadness that is at the very heart of their lives. There is no question that the publication of this, his only other fiction, underlines the awful tragedy of Toole’s death.(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Jul 04, 2010 VJ rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: YA, students of film

Recommended to VJ by: Movie: The Neon Bible

Shelves: fiction, film

I looked for this book after seeing the movie with Gena Rowlands portraying Aunt Mae. The movie seemed somehow disorganized or disjointed, but the story was interesting enough for me to follow up with the book.

It is the author's story that most intrigued me. Toole wrote Neon Bible when he was 15 or 16 years old. He was a suicide at 31.

The Neon Bible tells, very straighforwardly and without mawkishness, the story of a boy growing to young adulthood in a small southern town. The family lives well...more

like · see review

Mar 01, 2012 Sam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Neon Bible follows the story of David, a boy growing up in a small Mississippi town during and after the second world war. It is written from David's perspective beginning when he is only three. The prose is appropriately simple, but manages to convey the author's deep understanding of human relations and human cruelty. Bigotry is probably the central theme, but Toole deals with a variety of complex issues. He does a fascinating job of revealing the paradoxical way in which music is central to b...more

like · see review

Dec 17, 2010 Ovidiu rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found the book very easy to read and each page seemed to promise something new and appealing. I intended to specify that it's easy to read because I was thinking of all the vampire novels people are reading because they want something easy, that flows and all that, and of this article about the issue: http://www.salon.com/books/laura_mill....

This is a novel that you can finish reading pretty quickly. Yet, I suspect that people that go for Dan Brown and co. do it not for the unsophisticated phr...more

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 16, 2012 Howard added it

I happened on this book in the library recently. The author's story intrigued me, so I checked it out. Toole wrote only one published work and then took his own life at the young age of 31. "The Neon Bible" was published posthumously. Strikingly, it was written when he was only 16. That alone makes it a compelling read. How such a young boy could grasp such depth of feeling!

It's a short read and I was drawn along easily. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say that there is much food for thoug...more

like · see review

Oct 31, 2009 Chad rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

"The Neon Bible" is a remarkable work in many respects, most notably because it is the early work of an author still in the embryonic stages of becoming a writer, and while it bears almost no tonal or stylistic resemblence to the work that would make Toole famous, it is still a quite solid read.

Whereas "A Confederacy of Dunces" seemed almost hyper-obnoxious with its lead character, Ignatius Reilly, as its figurehead, "The Neon Bible" is a marathon of calm observation. In the former, Toole channe...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 12, 2012 Nick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Toole fascinates me, less out of voyeuristic curiosity about his mysterious short life, but more out of a desire to dig into the literary treasure trove he left behind. Both stylistically and plot-wise, The Neon Bible is very different from A Confederacy of Dunces, but the same unrepentant cynicism appears in both. It would be so easy for this kind of novel to turn out sickeningly sweet, like To Kill a Mockingbird (and I liked that book!), or to become so maudlin it's laughable. This book did ne...more Toole fascinates me, less out of voyeuristic curiosity about his mysterious short life, but more out of a desire to dig into the literary treasure trove he left behind. Both stylistically and plot-wise, The Neon Bible is very different from A Confederacy of Dunces, but the same unrepentant cynicism appears in both. It would be so easy for this kind of novel to turn out sickeningly sweet, like To Kill a Mockingbird (and I liked that book!), or to become so maudlin it's laughable. This book did neither.

The Neon Bible, a coming-of-age story with more than a hint of Southern Gothic influence, is about the Depression-era childhood of David, a young boy who documents his family's struggles in rural Mississippi. David observes his own family drama as well as the goings-on of the nearby small town. He tells his story simply and innocently, and his innocence gradually fades as he becomes aware of the weaknesses of his own loved ones as well as the hypocrisy and bigotry behind the comforting machine that is the church. Things get much, much worse before they can get better.

Though I already knew Toole was in his teens when he wrote the book (and this is why I wanted to read it in the first place), I had some doubts when I started reading it because it seemed like such a simple melodrama, probably not unlike the kind of crap I would have written at that age (or in college, or after college). Ultimately, though, this story packs a punch. The characters are largely stock characters, but they behave realistically, and the youthful, unadorned voice of David is perfect for this story. Likewise, the ugliness that gets exposed as the story moves on is fairly one-sided at times, but still clearly the work of a keen observer of people--not all the bad guys are always bad, and if there are any good guys at all, they are the people the rest of the society has cast off as bad.

In The Neon Bible, Toole has managed to capture an authentic flavor--that of the sleepy Southern town where people judge out of one side of their mouths and lie out of the other, where folks look the other way when bigotry and violence rear their heads.

It really amazed me to read this book already knowing and loving Toole's best known work. The style of The Neon Bible is very different, of course, but it's still definitely a product of an astute mind. And though the humor is much less overtly scathing than in A Confederacy of Dunces--if anything, it's more subtle at times--it's there. This book did not disappoint.(less)

like · see review

Apr 19, 2012 Aaron Arnold rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, read-in-2012

This was okay, a little reminiscent of the kind of "literary" writing that you read in high school English classes though. It's nowhere near the book that A Confederacy of Dunces is, but I think Toole knew that, and if it didn't bother him much it didn't really bother me either since it's such a quick read. The main character is a simple Southern boy who relates his memories of growing up in a tiny, stereotypically churchy Mississippi town during the Depression and World War 2 era. It's basicall...more

like · see review

May 03, 2010 Linsey rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've tried writing this review a few times because I can't quite find the words to capture my thoughts on it. I'll try again today...

It's a story about a boy who is trying to grow up but has no one to depend on, no one to lead him, and no one to trust while he makes this journey.

It really goes beyond your typical "coming of age" story. It elicits an emotional response from the reader but in no way is it written in an emotional way. It's almost stoic in the way the main character copes with what...more

like · see review

Dec 02, 2011 Morgan Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

its been a few years, and i picked it up for two reasons, i had just finished confederacy of dunces, and i'd inexpicably been on some sort of southern gothic trend, the damned things kept falling in my lap; they still are. what bothers me about all roads leading south, is i am a stone cold yankee, i live and breathe the north. but yessun, i keep loving the stories of the south 1960 and below. at the time i was desperate for more j.k.t. and neon bible was my only, very short, option.
the second re...more

like · see review

Aug 02, 2010 Mike Frost rated it 3 of 5 stars

Following the posthumous publication of A Confederacy of Dunces, which won Toole the Pulitzer Prize, the author's mother sought to also publish The Neon Bible, written by the author as a teenager. Due to some legal disputes, the book languished for more than a decade before it was finally set to print. If nothing else, this book solidified my respect for John Kennedy Toole. The power of observation illustrated here concerning religion, family and life in a small town are nearly unbelievable when...more

like · see review

Jun 06, 2011 Noah Gittell rated it 5 of 5 stars

"The Confederacy of Dunces" was the book that made me love books, so I knew that my opinion of this book would be cursed by high expectations. I must have waited just the right amount of time because I was very moved by "The Neon Bible." It couldn't be more different than "Dunces." Written when Toole was just 16, "The Neon Bible" follows the adolescence of a boy in a small town in the South during the Depression and World War II. This is a simple story about a simple boy in a simpler time, but i...more

like · see review

Mar 10, 2010 Gracie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Try comparing this book to John Kennedy Toole's Pulitzer Prize winning "Confederacy of Dunces," and you will find yourself asking, "are you sure the same guy wrote these books?" It is startlingly different -- stark, grim, dusty, simple, self-conscious, and low on dialogue. Basically, everything his other novel isn't. But this book was written by an adolescent Toole for a novella contest, and the fact that he was a high school student when he wrote it makes its simple beauty all the more amazing....more

like · see review

May 08, 2011 Ron Pemberton rated it 3 of 5 stars

John Kennedy Toole, wrote this when he was only fifteen - a great book for a fifteen year old kid. I felt obligated to read this after reading 'Confederacy of Dunces'. The John Toole story is a sad one. He stuck the manuscript for Confederacy in his desk when finished - then killed himself. Ten years later his mother found it, and turned it over to a publisher. It won the Pulitzer that very first year. The poor guy will never know what he had accomplished. Sad really. What if it was the answer t...more

like · see review

Jul 22, 2011 Kathleen rated it 2 of 5 stars

I am a huge fan of A Confederacy of Dunces so I was excited to give this book a try. This book was written by Toole when he was only 16 years old which is quite impressive. However, I can't say that I really enjoyed the book. It was an ok read which at times was hard for me to get through. The ending seemed to come out of nowhere and did not seem to fit with the rest of the book. The style is nothing like Dunces which wasn't a problem for me but if that is what you are looking for you won't find...more

like · see review

May 29, 2012 Caitlin rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was sad in a quiet way, and ended unexpectedly. I really have to give Toole props as a writer. Although he was sixteen when he wrote this, he really paints a vivid picture of small town life - the reminscings of a young boy going on a train to somewhere. He navigates this dark world with a sort of naivete, hinting at these awful things but doesn't quite know what they mean due to his sheltered life. Yet we do. And he does sense the awfulness.

The prose is shaky in some parts, because pf the...more

like · see review

Oct 09, 2009 hirtho rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm finishing this in a few minutes, I can't really see there being some twist or reveal which will escalate it in my mind, it's good if not great in that Confederacy of Dunces way, altho heavier on the perdiod-piece Southern-ness, maybe too heavy for my taste (I'll never understand why that's such an overrated sub-genre) - I do love all the inference of what's going on outside this narrator's naivete/worldview/understanding, that's pretty timeless and universal, but all the -ism-ness and Ghosts...more

like · see review

Jan 26, 2009 Michael Scott rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This was a strange read: on the one hand, a story that does not move until the very end, on the other, glimpses of fine writing and intense feeling. In the end, the glimpses were too few and far between, so I can't say I enjoyed (much) this book; the difference between the writing of the sixteen year-old John Kennedy Toole and the mature and wonderful A Confederacy of Dunces (a five-star) was just too big.

like · see review

May 25, 2012 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this and Confederacy of Dunces many years ago and remembered liking both, but couldn't remember much about either. This one is a quick read, with writing that is both evocative and streamlined. There isn't a whole lot of plot other than the coming of age of the main character, but his voice is straightforward and true and kept me reading. My main complaint about the book is the unexpectedly bloody ending, which seemed false to me. However, I am still amazed at the talent, insight, and emo...more

like · see review

Jan 01, 2013 Ali Ünal rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Neden olduğunu şimdi hatırlayamasam da bana Çavdar Tarlasında Çocuklar kitabını anımsatıyor. Kendini arabasına kilitleyip egzoza bağladığı bir boruyu da arka pencereden sokarak intihar eden Toole'un asıl ve diğer kitabı Alıklar Birliği. Öldükten sonra Pulitzer Ödülü olan ilk (ve hatırladığım kadarıyla tek) yazar.

like · see review

Dec 04, 2012 Tfitoby rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: lit

I really wanted to like this, I really don't want to criticise the writing of the teenage John Kennedy Toole, but the fact is that this is a book that was only published because of greed. It could have used an editor but mostly it could have used not being written by a 16 year old. He was clearly a very talented young man, his writing is beyond anything I can imagine a 16 year old writing today lololololjkjkjkjkjk but still this reads as though written by a naive boy.

Neon Bible has been compared...more

9 likes · like · see review

Aug 19, 2011 Aaron rated it 4 of 5 stars

John Kennedy Toole, most notable for his authorship of A Confederacy of Dunces, died far too young and tragically. It also is unfortunate that there are only two novels posthumously published by this talented writer. I read A Confederacy of Dunces earlier in the year and my mind was completely blown. It it is one of the best works of fiction I've read in my entire life. The Neon Bible was published nine years later, though it was written at a considerably earlier time in Toole's life: AT THE AGE...more

like · see review

Dec 11, 2010 abo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Difficile accostarsi a "La Bibbia la neon", esordio di Toole datato 1953, senza pensare al successivo e travolgente "Una banda di idioti" (voto 5 su 5).
L’ingombrante figura di Ignatius O’Reilly e il carnascialesco carrozzone che gli fa da contorno sono una pietra di paragone decisamente pesante per David, protagonista di cui ne "La Bibbia al neon" si segue con trasporto la vita dai 3 anni all’adolescenza.
Siamo in una cittadina della provincia americana, così efficacemente riassunta dalla voce...more Difficile accostarsi a "La Bibbia la neon", esordio di Toole datato 1953, senza pensare al successivo e travolgente "Una banda di idioti" (voto 5 su 5).
L’ingombrante figura di Ignatius O’Reilly e il carnascialesco carrozzone che gli fa da contorno sono una pietra di paragone decisamente pesante per David, protagonista di cui ne "La Bibbia al neon" si segue con trasporto la vita dai 3 anni all’adolescenza.
Siamo in una cittadina della provincia americana, così efficacemente riassunta dalla voce narrante di David:
“A scuola ci raccomandavano di pensare con la nostra testa, ma nella nostra città era impossibile. Ciascuno doveva pensare come aveva sempre pensato suo padre, il che voleva dire pensarla come tutti gli altri. ”
Un ambiente bigotto che guarda con sospetto, e condanna senza appello, tutto quello che non risponde alla sua religiosità di facciata. Basta un abbigliamento stravagante o la follia data dalla mancata elaborazione di un lutto per essere additati dal pastore come persone non desiderate dalla comunità.
A farne le spese è un ragazzino, un innocente per definizione.
La povertà, la condizione di orfano, l’abbandono, tutti riportati in prima persona in una riuscita resa della meraviglia, dello stupore proprio dei bambini anche nelle situazioni più tragiche. La dissacrante ironia che fa di "Una banda di idioti" un capolavoro qui è attenuata, ma similmente presente più nelle situazioni che nella visione del mondo del singolo personaggio. E ad emergere è una malinconia di fondo, un senso di solitudine che troverà la sua consacrazione nella fuga di David, già preannunciata all’inizio del libro e di cui si spiegheranno le ragioni nel drammatico finale.
Toole si suicidò nel 1969, all’età di 32 anni.
Non aveva proposto a nessuno la pubblicazione de "La Bibbia al neon", mentre aveva spedito "Una banda di idioti", di cui gli editori, cestinandolo, confermarono la teoria secondo cui quando al mondo compare un genio, gli idioti fanno banda contro di lui.
Entrambi i romanzi uscirono postumi dopo il ritrovamento dei manoscritti da parte della madre dell’autore, e nel 1981 "Una banda di idioti" ha vinto il Pulitzer.
È lecito pensare che se un editore lo avesse capito e pubblicato, forse oggi ci sarebbe uno straordinario, ironico, anziano scrittore in più.
Si direbbe che "La Bibbia al neon" è un bel libro, "Una banda di idioti" un classico, e chissà cosa avremmo letto poi dal genio di Toole…

http://mondobalordo.wordpress.com (less)

like · see review

Jun 14, 2010 Ashley Bradley rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the most surprising books I have ever read. Though I was already aware of Toole's genius, because of Confederacy of Dunces, I went into it wondering just how great it could be. He wrote this story when he was 16, and I thought the only reason it was published was because of his Mother's struggle to get it published. They say you aren't fully appreciated until your gone. In the introduction of this book, a family friend of Toole's mother discusses how the two found the story shorty...more

like · see review

Jan 23, 2010 Oscar rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: drama, mainstream, míos, 5-estrellas, mis-obras-maestras, favorites

Da pena pensar dónde podría haber llegado John Kennedy Toole de no haberse suicidado a tan temprana edad. Sin lugar a dudas era un genio. 'La Biblia de neón' fue la primera novela que escribió, siendo apenas un adolescente, y sólo puedo decir que es una obra con fuerza, con imágenes indelebles que permanecen a fuego en la memoria tras varias horas después de su lectura.

Toole nos cuenta la historia de David y de su familia en un pueblo sureño de Estados Unidos, cuya población, o la mayor parte de...more

1 like · like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Sleepy Consci...: Chapter Five - War. What is it good for?	7	1	01 mag. 18:10
The Sleepy Consci...: Chapter Three - Mrs. Watkins is a bitch!	8	3	30 apr. 17:22
The Sleepy Consci...: Chapter Six - Aunt Mae. Friend or foe?	5	1	30 apr. 12:31
The Sleepy Consci...: Chapter One - First Impressions	3	3	25 apr. 21:52
The Sleepy Consci...: Chapter Two - House on a Hill	2	2	25 apr. 21:48

combine
Other Editions (18)

More editions...

Genres

Literature

13 users

Classics

11 users

Novels

11 users

Literature > American

9 users

Religion

5 users

American > Southern

5 users

Family

4 users

American > American Fiction

3 users

Gothic > Southern Gothic

3 users

Modern

3 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About John Kennedy Toole

John Kennedy Toole was an American novelist from New Orleans, Louisiana, best known for his novel A Confederacy of Dunces.

Toole's novels remained unpublished during his lifetime. Some years after his death by suicide, Toole's mother brought the manuscript of A Confederacy of Dunces to the attention of the novelist Walker Percy, who ushered the book into print. In 1981 Toole was posthumously awarde...more

More about John Kennedy Toole...

Books by John Kennedy Toole

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About La Bibbia al neon

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from The Neon Bible

“I was getting tired about what the preacher called Christian. Anything he did was Christian, and the people in his church believed it, too. If he stole some book he didn't like from the library, or made the radio station play only part of the day on Sunday, or took somebody off to the state poor home, he called it Christian. I never had much religious training, and I never went to Sunday school because we didn't belong to the church when I was old enough to go, but I thought I knew what believing in Christ meant, and it wasn't half the things the preacher did.” — 4 people liked it

“But I knew the way the people in the town thought about things. They always had some time left over from their life to bother about other people and what they did. They thought they had to get together to help other people out, like the time they got together about the woman who let a colored man borrow her car and told her the best place for her was up north with all the other nigger lovers, and the time they got the veterans with overseas wives out. If you were different from anybody in town, you had to get out. That's why everybody was so much alike. The way they talked, what they did, what they liked, what they hated. If somebody got to hate something and he was the right person, everybody had to hate it too, or people began to hate the ones who didn't hate it. They used to tell us in school to think for yourself, but you couldn't do that in the town. You had to think what your father thought all his life, and that was what everybody thought.” — 3 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: The Neon Bible
avg rating	preview: The Neon Bible Goodreads rating: 3.62 (2586 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54123.The_Neon_Bible?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347668653l/54123.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54123.The_Neon_Bible?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole[/url]

The Neon Bible

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website