Some amazingly excellent essays, powerful and with a strong voice, and others that just don't do it for me--or for others, judging from fellow Goodreaders' reviews below. Starts off strong: "Upon This Rock" gives insight not so much into Christian rock as into the lives and personalities of a few young, poor intense southern Christian guys, and "Feet in Smoke" is an amazingly personal window into the author's brother's slow emergence from a coma--fascinating delusions and conversations as the young man's mind comes back to full cognition.

I'd also highly recommend reading "mr. Lytle," about a beyond-accentric Southern man of letters and the author's odd apprenticeship/servantship with him; and "Michael" for a sympathetic and wholistic look at Michael Jackson. I also liked ""The Last Wailer" and found "Violence of the Lambs" compelling, and "Unnamed Caves" to hold some interest. I couldn't get past the first few paragraphs of the other essays.

My suggestion is to try each one I mentioned by title, see what you think, and read on--or not.