First published 1952
Haunted by his past, Hazel Motes returns home intent on rejecting his faith. But when he falls under the sway of a crooked street preacher, Hazel doubles down, founding his own "Church Without Christ" to out-cynic the charlatan. As Hazel's obsession spirals, he's drawn into a surreal journey of self-destruction, desperate to purge the spiritual from his life once and for all. Yet the more he strives to divorce himself from God, the tighter the bonds become, leading to a climactic reckoning between man and the divine.
Genres: classics, christian-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: redemption, unreliable-narrator
232 pages · Paperback · Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Content warnings: mental-illness