Reviews

Nebraska by George Whitmore

rpmirabella's review against another edition

5.0

George Whitmore died of complications from AIDS two years after the publication of “Nebraska.” He was in his early forties. Another member of a lost generation of artists and writers taken by the plague. It’s a shame he published so little fiction, because “Nebraska” is a work of dark beauty. I read it thinking: this is a classic. Why had I never heard of it before? I bought a first edition hardcover for 99 cents after the writer, Dale Peck, posted about it on twitter. I now count it among a very small group of novels that feel special and strange, like found objects. It will remain on my bookshelf forever. It is not easy and not optimistic, but there is hope within. Of course, the hope comes with a dash of pain. A brutal, honest book about the long-term ramifications of shame.