BVBook Verdict
Essential Read

Jesus' Son

by Denis Johnson · 1992

Literary Fiction · ranked #66 in category

A series of linked stories following an unnamed narrator through drugs, violence and accidental encounters in the American Midwest of the 1970s. Johnson's prose is hallucinatory and precise, shot through with dark comedy and unexpected grace — a study of addiction and its specific distortions of time, memory and moral awareness.

UK: Bookshop.org US: Print on Amazon Kindle Audiobook

UK visitors: Bookshop.org supports independent bookshops. All links open a search — never a specific listing. As an Amazon Associate and Bookshop.org affiliate we earn from qualifying purchases.

The verdict

Category
Literary Fiction
First published
1992 · 1990s
Author
Denis Johnson
Standing
Essential Read

If you liked this

More literary fiction worth your shelf. See the full books like Jesus' Son list. Or try our book club guide.

Beloved Toni Morrison · 1987 Editor's Choice See details →
The Stranger Albert Camus · 1942 Essential Read See details →
The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro · 1989 Essential Read See details →
Atonement Ian McEwan · 2001 Essential Read See details →
The Secret History Donna Tartt · 1992 Essential Read See details →
The Goldfinch Donna Tartt · 2014 Essential Read See details →

Featured in

Ready to read it?

Get Jesus' Son

Buy at Bookshop.org → Print on Amazon → Kindle edition Audiobook

As an Amazon Associate, Bookshop.org and CJ Affiliate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Magzter

Between books? Read magazines too.

Book readers love Magzter — 10,000+ magazines and newspapers on any device, 50% off the annual GOLD plan.

Start Reading — 50% off Annual Plan →