Dennis Cooper's sparely crafted novels have earned him an international
reputation - even as his subject matter has made him a controversial
figure. God Jr. is a stunningly accomplished novel that marked a new
phase in Cooper's noteworthy career.
God Jr. is the story of Jim, a father who survived the car crash that
killed his teenage son, Tommy. Tommy was distant, transfixed by video
games and pop culture, and a mystery to the man who raised him. Now,
disabled by the accident, yearning somehow to absolve his own guilt over
the crash, Jim becomes obsessed with a mysterious building Tommy drew
repetitively in a notebook before he died. As the fixation grows, Jim
starts to take on elements of his son - at the expense of his job and
marriage - but is he connecting with who Tommy truly was?
A tender, wrenching look at guilt, grief, and the tenuous bonds of
family, God Jr. is unlike anything Dennis Cooper has yet written. It
is a triumphant achievement from one of our finest writers.