THE GOD HUNTERS

by William Kelley ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 1964

An extraordinary, violent, tragic, satiric, intellectual and deeply irreligious novel by the author of Gemini (p. 568-1959) concerns Aubrey and Arnie Strycker, twins, who enter St. Titus novitiate together in their teens. However Arnie cracks under the delusions that he is both the Holy Ghost and the Devil and is removed to a sanitarium. Now, four years later, Aubrey completes his novitiate and applies for a transfer--- to the Sahara desert. He first visits his father's expensive digs, where his stepsister attempts to seduce him; then his mother's manorial house where he gets drunk. Arnie's father is a boisterous movie-tv producer; his younger sister Aline is in a Carmelite cloister. His mother, Rexfordia, a Catholic fanatic, and grandmother, Eulalia, an irascibly obscene octogenarian, complete the cast. The long narrative concludes with a bear hunt in which the schizoid Arnie, home on a visit from the sanitarium, is killed while Aubrey tracks the animal down before exiting to the Sahara. Kelley writes flamboyantly, but much of the talk is penetrating, in its merciless sexuality, thirst for scorn, and constant religious confrontations. A striking work but of arguable significance.

Pub Date: March 6, 1964

ISBN: 0595007066

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1964

Categories: FICTION