<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>With this eruptive debut novel, Lee Durkee...has just kicked in the door of Southern literature. --<em>Salon</em><p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p>Meet Mississippi teenager Noel Weatherspoon: ghost-seeing insomniac, endearing dopehead, wanna-be erotic photographer, and possible Baptist faith healer. Noel, who prefers <em>The Exorcist</em> to <em>Ecclesiastes</em>, must navigate a world of Bible-thumpers, born-again Christians, and a stepfather who bears an uncanny resemblance to Billy Graham. Darkly comic and lyrically moving, <em>Rides of the Midway</em> introduces a formidable talent in contemporary fiction.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>Durkee handles Noel's odyssey with grace and style, crafting sentences so beautiful that you stop to read them twice...<em>Rides of the Midway</em>, Lee Durkee's assured, richly imagined debut novel, is a raucous tour through this scorched landscape of faith.--John Freeman "Time Out New York"<br><br>Durkee has given the coming-of-age novel enough twists to make his version seem something else entirely--a ghost story, perhaps, mixed with a sexual comedy and slice-of-working-class Southern life.--Matthew Flamm "New York Times Book Review"<br><br>Durkee writes with a southern accent that doesn't smother a unique voice, and his roller-coaster ride of a story leaves a reader breathless and waiting for more.-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"<br><br>Mississippi-raised author Lee Durkee portrays his hero's feckless dissolution with considerable comic flair and a sharp eye for regional manners, good and bad...readers will finish the book feeling they've been treated to quite a ride.--Paul Gray "Time"<br>