A Handbook of American Prayer Author:Lucius Shepard Its called A Handbook of Americn Prayer . . .Which gives it a self-referential, meta-fictional layer of meaning, as if this novel --- on the surface a neo-realistic, noir-ish satire in the manner of Nathanael West -- is actually the very book eing described by its narrator, suggesting that the prayers herein and the stories and digressive interl... more »udes and reflections, the unfolding drama surrounding its composition and reception and the suthor's fate for having writen it are themselves ur=American prayers. Asif the very act of writing fiction, of telling a story, is perhaps a prayerful act.« less